Junk Garage

Side 2 of a mixtape recorded by my friend Stuart, circa August 1991.

There was an excellent post from JC (could it be anything else?) at The Vinyl Villain on Thursday, titled State Of The Blogging Nation, which provoked a great response from readers and fellow bloggers alike. Whether we read and comment, or write and post, it's the passion for music and the tangible sense of community that keeps bringing us back. I regularly read dozens of music blogs, some of which are updated daily, others weekly, others considerably less so. I try to comment as much as possible, but it's increasingly hard to keep up, especially since committing last year to posting on Dubhed every day for as long as I can keep being inspired.

A guaranteed daily visit is Charity Chic Music as I read with awe about Stevie's latest find for mere pennies in his never' ending search for charity shop gems. Friday's post featured Pere Ubu's 1990 album Worlds In Collision and one of the two songs he showcased was I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue. This was almost certainly the second Pere Ubu song I ever heard (after Waiting For Mary) and came courtesy of another trusty tape from my friend Stuart. We'd been apart for a year whilst I was working and travelling Australia, so this was a kind of "welcome home" mixtape, summing up what he had been listening to recently.

 

Renegade Soundwave are hugely underappreciated, in my opinion. Actually, I've just realised that this is their first appearance on this blog, so clearly by me too! Soundclash and RSW In Dub were incredible sonic slabs that demanded repeat listening and whilst it was a few years before their respective follow ups, they maintained a singular sound before their premature end. Murder Music is a great example and a perfect opener to Side 2.

 

Tracks 2 & 3 were lifted directly as the opening two songs on The Island Tape, a Select magazine freebie cassette, but Julian Cope's magnum opus Peggy Suicide was an immediate purchase on my return whilst - bizarrely, in retropect - it was a couple of years later with Bone Machine that I finally bought a Tom Waits album. I borrowed and taped Stuart's copy of Out Of Time but, of course, R.E.M. achieved global domination with this, so I was already familiar with most of the songs from constant radio and MTV rotation.

 

I was largely ignorant of Bob Dylan at this time (dismissive even, given his association with The Travelling Wilburys), so it was a bold move to an 11-minute epic on, but it paid off. Desolation Row remains one of my favourite Dylan songs. Despite being 3 decades older than most of the other songs, fits perfectly , sandwiched between one of This Mortal Coil's (& Kim Deal's) and R.E.M.'s finest moments.

 

We saw The Fat Lady Sings supporting The Psychedelic Furs in 1990 and in Stuart's opinion, they were the highlight of the night. He's followed them and subsequently singer/songwriter Nick Kelly's solo exploits ever since.

 

I've tweaked the playlist slightly, for practical reasons: I don't have the original album version of Aeroplane Blues, only the "LA Mix" from the Volume CD/magazine series. It sounds like a rougher, earlier mix to these untrained ears, but my box of Volume is buried in the attic somewhere so I can't check the detail.

 

I've also swapped the album version of Hang On St. Christopher from The Island Tape for the USA-only 12" version as (a) you may be less familiar with this one and (b) it bolsters the running time, which was running a bit short on the original tape.

Junk Garage (American pronunciation of the latter) is a phrase taken from R.E.M.'s Country Feedback. 

 

Junk Collage (do you see what I did there?) by me, ripped from various magazines and adverts. I can easily spot Buddy Holly and Christian Slater in there. I think the main picture was a toilet wall backdrop to a photo of a music artist, but I've forgotten who.

Some of the typeface has worn away, but you get a sneak preview of what will eventually pop up when I post Side 1. The reason I didn't go with that one today is that the tape opens with an expletive-ridden intro, but one which segues perfectly into a Neil Young & Crazy Horse track. I'm debating whether it stays, goes or is edited in some way before posting. Watch this space...it might be a while.

 

1) Murder Music (Album Version): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

2) Hang On St. Christopher (Extended Remixed Version By Tchad Blake): Tom Waits (1987)

3) Double Vegetation (Album Version): Julian Cope (1991)

4) You And Your Sister (Cover of Chris Bell): This Mortal Coil ft. Kim Deal & Tanya Donelly (1991)

5) Desolation Row: Bob Dylan (1965)

6) Country Feedback (Album Version): R.E.M. (1991)

7) Aeroplane Blues (LA Mix): The Blue Aeroplanes (1991)

8) Sexy Eiffel Towers: Bow Wow Wow (1980)

9) I Hear They Smoke The Barbecue: Pere Ubu (1990)

10) Twist (Album Version): The Fat Lady Sings (1991)

11) Safesurfer (Reprise): Julian Cope (1991)

 

1965: Highway 61 Revisited: 5 

1980: Your Cassette Pet: 8

1987: Hang On St. Christopher (USA 12"): 2

1989: Soundclash: 1

1990: Worlds In Collision: 9

1991: Blood: 4 

1991: Out Of Time: 6

1991: Peggy Suicide: 3, 11

1991: Twist: 10

1991: Volume Two: 7

 

Side Two (45:59) (Box) (Mega)