Happy Birthday King of Synthpop

 

Today Vince Clarke turns 65 and it is time to pay tribute to his work here. Born in Essex he studied violin and piano. Influenced by Sparks, Human League and Fat Gadget he formed with a schoolmate a short lived band which became Depeche Mode after Martin Gore and Dave Gahan joined the band. Clarke wrote the most of the songs for their debut album Speak & Spell, a record that changed everything in synthpop. Not only that they were an all-synthesizer band, they were clever enough to write songs with great hooks.

Shortly after this album he left the band, because the sound of them got a darker touch and he formed with Alison Moyet, another schoolmate, Yazoo. They released two albums and with Upstairs at Eric's they reached the charts. Since then, it has become clear that Clarke's songs need a great voice to come to full fruition.

As erratic as he appears, he dedicated himself to a new project after the second album and founded The Assembly. But not much more than Never, Never, in which Feargal Sharkey is allowed to sing, remained.

With his next project he found a destination for the next years. In Andy Bell, he found a voice that would shape the sound of Erasure through an advertisement in Melody Maker.

In 2003 Erasure released Other People's Songs an album with cover versions in which the cover version by Steve Harley stands out above all (because it is also a great song).

Happy birthday Vince

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Enjoy this week's selection of a ride through various genres.

1958: Big Bopper

1970: Chicago

1978: Human League

1972: Seals & Croft

1991: Pearl Jam

1965: The Yardbirds

1978: Donna Summer

1958: Bo Diddley

1982: The Jam

1966: The Lovin' Spoonful

1969: John Lennon

1976: Blue Oyster Cult

1986: Run DMC

1989: Public Enemy

1974: Dobi Gray

1974: Stevie Wonder

1979: The B-52's

Red Hot And Blue

 

As announced last week, a small series of songs with Red, Hot or Blue in their titles starts today. As always, the selection is eclectic and, apart from the color, has no further context.

Let's start with Nick Cave and a song from Peaky Blinders a British drama series set in Birmingham around 100 years ago. The song fits perfectly with the gloomy mood that this series exudes.

Nick Cave - Red Right Hand

The next one is a song from my very younger days when glam was all around and Marc Bolan was on his highest level.

T. Rex - Hot Love

We finish today with a song Bob Dylan released 1975 on his great Blood On The Tracks album. One of the songs and stories by him I love most.

Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue

Monday's Long Song

 

When I was rummaging through my record collection to find another long song, I came across an old record by Louis Tillet. Tillet was an Australian musician, singer/songwriter, pianist and saxophone player who came to my attention in the early eighties when he was part of Ed Kuepper's Laughing Clowns.

At that time, a wave of Australian bands came to Europe, some of which were great or just very good. The Go-Betweens, Birthday Party and the Triffids are just a few to mention here. While many of these bands wrote catchy or brute songs, Louis Tillet turned to the darker side of music. Many of his songs are rooted in the blues and are performed with piano, saxophone and a sparse guitar and dominated by his voice, which sounds like an aged Nick Cave. This song is from his 2001 live album Live @ the Basement and is typical of his sound.

Louis Tillet - Window Pane

New Song On Sunday

 

Today's song is from Florence Road, a four piece all female band from Ireland. They started as a student band with cover songs. It may be the future way to attract attention, but they have decided to release different cover versions like Billie Eilish and Kate Bush on TikTok. Immediately they had a million followers and record companies took notice.

The result is nothing more and nothing less than a great indie-pop song about the end of a relationship. A song with clear structures, indie guitars, catchy hooks and the clear voice of Lily Aron. I would be surprised if this song wasn't often played on the radio.

The Field

 

Devonté Hynes aka Blood Orange has returned after several years with a song from his forthcoming album. To be honest, I have not been a big fan of his music. Excellently produced songs, a great voice, but they have never really convinced me.

His latest song, however, was able to inspire me. An atmospherically dense, almost weightless composition between avant-pop, ambient soul and indie melancholy. The song begins with a delicate sample of Durutti Column's Sing to Me - a reference that also sets the emotional tone: introspective, warm, nostalgic. 

In the accompanying video - shot and directed by Hynes himself - we see him wandering through vast English landscapes with friends. The clip is like an alternative to urban restlessness: airy, decelerated, almost meditative - just like his song.

Wicked Game

 

 Chris Isaak is 69 years old today. A reason to listen to some of his songs once again. With his gentle voice and atmospheric reverbs, Chris Isaak has created a unique musical signature that transcends the boundaries of his rockabilly and country influences.

He released several album in the late eighties with less success, although they weren't bad at all. But sometimes you need a little luck for your breakthrough. This happened to him as David Lynch selected Wicked Game for a key scene in Wild At Heart. This song then reached top positions in the charts.

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

Another example of how a career progresses when one of your songs is used in a feature film is Tito & Tarantula. Formed in 1992 in Los Angeles as a fun project they crossed the way of Roberto Rodriguez. They wrote a couple of songs for his debut movie Desperado. He also hired the band for his next big hit From Dusk to Dawn, in which they performed in the table dance bar Titty Twister.

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Another week, another journey into musical history.

Enjoy.

1965: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles

1972: Alice Cooper

1972: Chi Coltrane

1967: Jefferson Airplane

1977: Heart

1977: Bob Seger

1980: Diana Ross

1982: Dexy's Midnight Runners

1969: Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin

1980: Joy Division

1983: Bananarama

Red Hot And Blue

 

Red Hot + Blue is a compilation album from 1990, which was conceived as a tribute to Cole Porter and on which well-known musicians recorded contemporary cover versions of songs by the famous Broadway and film composer.

The album is the first in a series of benefit albums released by the Red Hot Organization in support of AIDS relief projects in various countries.

I also bought the album back then and was amazed at what great songs Cole Porter wrote and how they could be interpreted in a contemporary way. When I listened to the album again recently, I had the idea of creating a series of songs with red, hot and blue in the title. Stay tuned to see what comes in the next few weeks.

Monday's Long Song

 

In the mid-seventies, when music threatened to become boring, the German music magazine Sounds discovered reggae for itself and featured it extensively. This is how I became aware of Jamaican music and started to immerse myself more deeply in this sound.

To start with, it was the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, which then led me to classic roots reggae. One of the first ragga records I bought was Heart of the Congos by The Congos in 1977. From the very beginning I was impressed by the clarity and beauty of the songs, also because there were great singers at work who were able to use their tenor, falsetto and baritone exquisitely.

What I didn't know at the time and only noticed as a side note was that Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry produced this album in his Black Ark Studio. I now realize why this album became an early masterpiece of roots reggae.

The Congos - Congoman

New Song On Sunday

 

A major heatwave has been spreading across southern Germany for several days and 37 degrees is expected today. It looks like summer has arrived in full force. As every year, the newspapers try to present us with the ultimate summer hit, but these songs usually don't appeal to my taste.

My suggestion would be the new song by RAYE, a London-based R&B/soul singer and songwriter who has been on my radar for a while, but I haven't found the time to feature her here yet. Together with Mark Ronson, a British producer, she has now released a song that is convincing in its nonchalance and laid-back soul. The subtle use of horns allows RAYE's wonderful voice to shine.

The first few notes immediately make you think of Amy Winehouse in her prime, but that's probably down to Mark Ronson, who produced Amy back then. Nevertheless, it's a soul-pop classic from this year.

Rewind

 

 First of all, it's good to know that The Feelies are still around and that they haven't lost the desire to release new material. It was unexpected to hear that they released a new album full of cover versions the recorded during the last decades until now. 

All songs have the typical touch of the band: fast played twangy guitars over a hectic drums ans inspired by The Velvets and Lou Reed. I loved them from the first time I listened to Crazy Rhythms a ground breaking album back in 1980.

Now they covered songs by Patti Smith, Neil Young and Iggy Pop and made them sound like one of them. Some may say who needs another couple of cover versions and I say probably only me and other nostalgics who have always liked this sound.

Appear Disappear

 

Swiss industrial band The Young Gods are back with a new album. To be honest, I forgot them although I always liked them in their early days around the mid eighties. I expected nothing but the same dense sound carried by massive guitars, which they characterized at the time.

However, it is surprising that the album is so diverse. Powerful drums set the pace and industrial guitars run riot. Samples and electronic sounds also blend harmoniously into their sound. Perhaps the best album in this genre this year.

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Welcome to another journey to well-known, long-forgotten and classic songs from the last 40 years.

1967: Pink Floyd

1978: Jackson Browne

1963: The Kingsmen

1971: Bill Withers

1971: The Who

1976: Blondie

1978: The Clash

1971: Rolling Stones

1970: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

1970: The Knack

1984: Nick Cave

1973: David Bowie

1989: The B-52's

1975: Elton John

1989: Indigo Girls

Very Human Features

 

Last year The Bug Club appeared on my radar on the recommendation of JC, sadly too late for my year's end list. I enjoyed their album On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System because this Welsh duo brought back the lightness of indie songs in a time when everything has to be perfect.

Now they return with a new album and they are still searching for the perfect melody. Their sound is a symbiosis of driving guitars, pointed rhythms and lyrics that look at the everyday with subtle irony. 

The Bug Club deliver a record that doesn't give a damn about conventions. Garage rock meets lo-fi indie, punk pop meets anti-folk. I've rarely heard anything so charming this year.

Monday's Long Song

 

A few days back I came back to an album that I didn't listen to without any reason for many years. The Lonesome Crowded West was the second album by Modest Mouse before they signed to a big company. Modest Mouse were at these days an typical American band somewhere between the Pixies, Meat Puppets and early Pavement. Their songs cannot be assigned to any particular style. Too many musical influences can be recognized without any particular one dominating. Trucker Atlas is one of them. A rolling bass and simple drums form the basis for guitar riffs and screamed vocals. The song progresses constantly and inexorably until a break occurs and the speed is suddenly reduced and the focus is on improvisation. Probably one of the songs I would play if I were driving through America's West in a convertible.

Modest Mouse - Truckers Atlas

New Song On Sunday

 

These days Leeds based record label Paisley Dark Records release a new song by Jay-Son, a DJ from whom I never heard before and some research has not made me any smarter. Anyway, it's a kind of chugging, slow shuffle for a late night dancefloors. Added with some breaks, acid electronics and spoken words he created a hypnotic mood. Surely not the next big thing but far too good to be overlooked.

Little Kind

 

In a week where it feels like a music legend has died every day, it's good to look at newly released music again. A few days ago Hugo Nicolson, a British music producer and DJ, who worked together with Andrew Weatherall on Primal Scream's Screamadelica and also with Julian Cope, David Holmes and Shack released a new EP Black Stick. 

On three songs and one edit he takes us to a journey with layered with acid synths, deep basslines, and emotive melodies. A little tour de force on prog-house and kosmische motorik beats but always with a warm sound.

Brian Wilson

 

Yesterday the sad news arrived that Brian Wilson died at the age of 82. Music lost with Wilson and Sly Stone two fantastic artists in only one week - what a mess. Brian Wilson was the head of the Beach Boys which was famous in the sixties and gave us unforgettable surf songs in the 60's. 

As a composer and arranger he was always looking for the perfect pop song and back in time the Beach Boys were competitors with the Beatles. Presumably this competitive pressure led him into drugs and depression, from which he did not emerge for a long time.

His legacy is that he wrote songs with godlike harmonies and songs that are very close to a perfect pop song. No he can sing together with his brothers Dennis and Carl in heaven.

Rest in peace, Brian

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Welcome to another journey through the time and various musical styles.

1960: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates

1965: James Brown

1982: The Clash

1971: Janis Joplin

1984: The Bluebells

1970: The Kinks

1981: The Specials

1981: The Go-Go's

1969: The Cambers Brothers

1975: Janis Ian

1975: Jim Croce

1979: The Cure

Boomerang

 

Last year French producer and DJ Antoine Harispuru aka Golden Bug released his last album Piscolabis II, a weird mixture of disco-dub, electronica and psychedelic. During this year he released step by step remixes of the songs from this album.

The last one is the rework by Froid and it makes the song darker and a bit more flutes and spaced out than the original without leaving the guitar work by Lionel Limiñanas and the distorted grooves too far behind.

Monday's Long Song

 

This weeks song comes from Babe Ruth, a band from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. A band named after one of the earliest baseball idols in US. A left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who was famous for more than 700 homeruns. 

They released their first album First Base in 1972 and it was a hybrid of late 60's blues-rock and prog with often long lasting improvisations. They didn't have success in their homeland but get well known across the ocean and Germany. They didn't had any hit but their well known song was The Mexican a song where they pick up some Ennio Morricone tunes and a sparkling guitar. Joke is another example that prog could be worth a listen.

Babe Ruth - Joker

Back From Bristol

 

Last Thursday around midnight I returned from my trip to Bristol for BlogCon 25. While the start on Monday was more than bumpy after my flight was postponed to the next day because KLM booked another plane with a lower capacity, I had a wonderful time with great people. I really enjoyed hanging around with you for a couple of days, having great conversations and exploring Bristol with all of it's highlights and pubs. Thanks to all of you bloggers for welcome me with open arms. You are fantastic. And thanks C, Alyson & Roddy and John for the gifts. Finally some songs from our youth you might remember.

Off to Bristol

 

This early morning I am moving to #BlogCon25 a gathering of bloggers you might know well. For me it is another blind date of meeting mates I know from the blogosphere during the last years. I am sure we will have a great time in Bristol and for me it would be a highlight of the year. There will be no more posts until next weekend and here are some videos of artists from this place. Enjoy and have also a great time until next week.

Always & The End

 

Another obscure single, released by Gothenburg's Höga Nord Rekords came to my ears these days. Tecwaa, the musical project by York based producer and DJ Paul Fawcett. Always & The End is a chugging piece of psychedelia, deep house and dub. Sometimes it seems that a sitar is playing all over the song that fits perfect to the hypnotic groove of this song. An artist, worth to dive deeper in his output.

Chris

 

Yesterday was the funeral of my friend of many years. The funeral service was fitting for his life and we friends gathered afterwards for a final toast to him. Nocturne by Mark Lanegan was the last song he requested for his funeral.

Rest in peace, Chris

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

My weekly ride through music history continues with some all time classics.

1977: Elvis Costello

1977: Sex Pistols

1977: Garland Jeffreys

1969: Neil Diamond

1971: Carole King

1971: Marvin Gaye

1967: Cream

1971: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway

1979: The Records

1985: Fine Young Cannibals

1969: Sly and the Family Stone

1959: Sam Cooke

1988: Patti Smith

Monday's Long Song

 

It's always a good day to remember the music of the Beta Band. Formed in Edinburgh almost 30 years ago, they have surprised us with their musical diversity. Someone once described them as post-rave lo-fi psychedelic art-rock-pop and that's not even wrong. They've incorporated their influences on their There E.P.'s and pulled off the near impossible.

SWC once wrote for an ICA about She's The One: I'll put in as simple as it ist. She's The One is the sweetest, most smile inducing an best song the Beta Ban ever made. After all this is a simple song, that chant (a common theme, you will find). A song which gains more power with each repetition, than takes your focus so much that the climax almost burst out of nowhere. A brilliant way to spend eight and a half minutes.

There is nothing to add.

Beta Band - She's The One

Slow Is Smooth

 

Tonight is the final of the German Football Cup, which would be nothing worth mentioning if VfB Stuttgart didn't get the chance to lift the trophy once again after almost 30 years. Stuttgart played a sensational season last year and finished second to be allowed to play in the Champions League this year. Which they did more than passably well. These additional games and bad luck with injuries meant that no more than 9th place was possible this season. All the greater the chance of being able to play internationally again next season with a win. Which, with all due respect, should be possible against an opponent that was promoted to the third division last week.

Today's song is from Viper Patrol, a band I don't know much and I couldn't find much more about them that they released their songs via Berlin's NEIN label. They are active since a couple of years and move on the ground of post-punk disco. Stickem convinced with a pulsing bass, echoed guitars and bleeps. An unexpected find.

Sixty Six

 

Today is my birthday and I'm 66 years old. In my younger years, I could never have imagined that I would be this old. But with a bit of luck and a positive attitude towards life, I'm now closer to 70 than 60. I don't want to complain about the age either, because in the end it's just a number and says nothing about the person, no matter what they've been through.

When I was looking for a song with 66 in the title, I kept coming across the classic Route 66, but I didn't want to use it today. Instead, my choice fell on a song that Linton Kwesi Johnson released on his second album Bass Culture, which has lost none of its luster even today.

Street 66 told of a raid on a house party where revelers were ready to meet violence with violence. This was no fantasy: reggae dances were frequently broken up by police, batons drawn. After one such invasion, Dennis Bovell suffered a spell in jail on charges later dismissed on appeal.

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Street 66

On this day in in 1946 George Best was born in Belfast. He is best known for his successful career at Manchester United. Best, who is equally strong with both feet, combined the typical strengths of a winger in the form of great pace and acceleration with a strong goal threat. 

He had his best time in 1968, when he won the European Cup with Manchester United. Unfortunately, he had problems with his alcohol consumption throughout his life, which ultimately cost him his life.

In 1987 Leeds' Wedding Present released their debut album George Best. Still a classic in fast indie rock. David Gedge wrote pop anthems that never stop working, songs whose lines could not be more honest. Sometimes soft and quiet, sometimes beguiling and loud.

The Wedding Present - My Favorite Dress

I couldn't resist to feature With 66 Years, a very famous schlager by Udo Jürgens (please don't blame me, Dirk) from the seventies. Jürgens is a classic trained piano player who had several hit singles 50 years ago. In this song he describes that live is starting when you turn into 66.

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

There are no words necessary for this songs. Just jump back in time.

1968: Steppenwolf

1973: Billy Presaton

1978: Dire Straits

1981: The Tubes

1983: Big Country

1970: Mungo Jerry

1970: Joni Mitchell

1969: Thunderclap Newman

1968: Donovan

1979: Robert Palmer

1992: The Cure

Organize Your Movement

 

Exotic Gardens is the side project by Peaking Light's Aaron Coyes. Recorded during the pandemic days the album shows his excursions into the fields of psychedelic, dub and haunting guitar lines. The songs are more raw than before but it makes them more interesting. The almost 10 minutes on Organize Your Movement has everything that makes him different to others. Wonderful bass lines meet Roland 303 meet industrial noise meet post-punk and finally meet dub. Well worth a listen.

Monday's Long Song

 

In 1976 David Bowie released Station To Station an album that marked a transition for him. While he explored the soul and funk path on Young Americans and before he made Low with Brian Eno he released an album that wasn't an easy cost. Many people couldn't deal with this album at these days because it was unexpected that Bowie explored krautrock and the sound of Neu! and Kraftwerk. The title song is split in two parts. Starting slow with a hypnotic march and industrial noises it turns into a majestic groove that lasts for the rest of the song. The song has some kind of beautiful, intensely romantic melancholy that still grabs me after many years.

David Bowie - Station To Station

New Song On Sunday

 

Working Batterie is a ne collaboration by New York based producer and multi-instrumentalist Pierre de Gaillande and Minutemen's Mike Watt. Batterie is the French word for drums and so many of the songs starts with them played by different drummers and Watt's joins with his bass. It is a mixture that spreads from pop-rock to jazz-punk and many in between. It is always great to hear Mike Watt playing the bass and at the best moments it remains to Watt's joyness of experimentation. Get more here.

Horror Clowns Are Dickheads

 

Yesterday, HMHB announced the release of their new album for next month. It certainly won't be the next big thing, but as heard on the pre-release single, but Nigel Blackwell stays true to his line. Short, grating songs with satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. Good to have them back again.

Have a great weekend.

Midnight Express

 

A few days ago Adam introduced us to Klangkollektor, a project by Lars Fischer, originally known as the drummer of Nuremberg's Psychedelic Cumbia band. His second album Dubtapes 2 inspired me to dive deeper into his music. 

On Dubtapes 1 Fischer played all synths, piano, bass and percussion by himself and did also the programming, dub mixing and editing. The result are soundscapes for your head. Very good krautrock-Balearic psyche with a lot of dubby elements. Great stuff.

No Tears

 

Yesterday the sad news arrived that one of my oldest friends died after a short suffering with lung-cancer. I met him in the early eighties when our pub was looking for a football team, where we played for many years. Most of the mates in our team were also DJ-ing at the pub. While many others surfed on the funk, jazz and soul wave me an he were the one who played new music. I remember that he first brought Tuxedomoon to my ears. A band founded in San Francisco by violonist Blaine Reininger in 1977 together with saxophonist and keyboardist Steven Brown in the burgeoning punk and new wave scene.

Tuxedomoon didn't got the credits in America they should have but in Europe with their first single No Tears. It was the song Chris introduced me to the band and became an essential part when we was on the controls. A song with a distinctive buzzsaw guitar, painfully distorted vocals and a thin, tinny beat prompted us to open our guests' ears to new music.

Over the next decades, together with the other core members Peter Principle and singer Winston Tong, they created a musical cocktail that used elements of classical music, jazz and rock avant-garde alongside their beloved synths. With In A Manner Of Speaking they released in 1985 an underground hit with less synths and a chords picking guitar and something of a new folk song. 

During this time they wrote songs that were not only enjoyed by dark wave fans, because they created something unique in their structure and rendition.

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Like the weeks before another eclectic mix of songs from times long gone by. Have a nice journey and good memories.

1967: Jefferson Airplane

1972: Tanya Tucker

1977: The Clash

1991: Jane's Addiction

1988: John Mellencamp

1970: Free

1992: The Cure

1984: The Style Council

1995: Prince & The Revolution