25 For 25, Part Two

Following up from last week's first half, today's 13-song selection rounds out the 25 For 25 highlights of the year so far. 

 

I've been fortunate enough to see two of these artists live on stage in the last couple of months, and with any luck by the time year end comes around, I'll have seen another two, also for the very first time.

 

I had an opportunity to see another this summer, with tickets for a "secret", "intimate" 5k capacity gig in Bristol, which I thought Lady K might be interested in going to. When I broached the subject, she gave me a withering look and said that they were "stuck in the 2010s".

 

I don't know what made me feel older: Lady K's reference to the 2010s - which I consider to be yesterday - as ancient history, or Mrs. K suggestion that a middle-aged man going on his own to a show with potentially a predominantly teen audience might draw attention for all the wrong reasons. I didn't go.

 

I leave you to hazard a guess at the opportunity that I passed up. 

 

Speaking of older, I've previously seen three other of today's featured artists, all who crashed into the public consciousness in the 1980s and/or 1990s. and have released great new music in the past 12 months.

 

Things change over time and my enthusiasm for certain things in my youth may have waned somewhat in passing decades, but my passion for music remains undimmed. 

1) Waiting: Yvonne Lyon & Boo Hewerdine (Things Found In Books)

2) Slow Emotion Replayed: The The (Slow Emotion Replayed EP)

3) Monday Murder: YUNGBLUD (Idols)

4) Rubber Inner Tube: Mark Rae ft. Heidi Haswell (New Town Ghosts)

5) Space Station Mantra: Andy Bell (Pinball Wanderer)

6) Metrosexual Man: Davey Woodward (Mumbo In The Jumbo)

7) Kicking Up Dust: F.O. Machete (Mother Of A Thousand)

8) On The Missing: Later Youth ft. Lissie (Living History)

9) Being Baptised (Piano Version): Manic Street Preachers (Critical Thinking (Deluxe Edition))

10) Portland Town: Heavenly (Portland Town EP)

11) pond song: Wet Leg (moisturizer)

12) Fuckboy: Billy Nomates (Mary And The Hyenas OST)

13) Moonlight Hotel: Charlie Noordewier (Moonlight Hotel EP)

Side Two (45:21) (GD) (M)

You're Welcome Here

A dip into my shopping bag from last week's Bandcamp Friday bonanza, a mix of new releases and 'catch up' purchases.

Heavy Heavy was the first album by Young Fathers that I bought, and I really liked it. I also got to see them perform live (kind of) when they joined Massive Attack on stage for three songs at last year's ACT 1.5 concert in Bristol.

Second album White Men Are Black Men Too has been made available as Name Your Price, so it was straight in the bag on Friday. Get Started is the closing song.

Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, the 10th album - and first in six years - by Edwyn Collins, was out in March. I enjoyed the singles that preceded it, but this is also a primer for seeing Edwyn live in concert for the first - and last - time in September.

The Bridge Hotel appears two thirds of the way through, a wonderful paean to the real-life guest house in Helmsdale.

For one day only, most of Ibibio Sound Machine's digital catalogue was available as Name Your Price, which was an opportunity for me to plug the gaps in my collection, including the second studio album, Uyai.

I previously had the excellent Richard Norris remixes of side one closer Joy (Idaresit), and the album version is a welcome addition to my collection.

I've been a fan of Los Angeles-based Black Market, with their dub reimagining of iconic artists and music. In my bag this time were EPs by The Clash and Talking Heads and, going back to my entry point, the Thin White Dub EP. 

Posing the question, "What if David Bowie spent the summer of 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica with King Tubby instead of Philadelphia?", the EP recreates four songs: Young Americans, Modern Love, Station To Station and TVC15. 

The attention to detail is impeccable and the dub-infused versions are completely believable.

Another delightful discovery, also hailing from Scotland and released in March, is Things Found In Books by Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine. 

I'll admit that I was very familiar with Boo, having been a fan of his music since first hearing Graceland and Mahalia by The Bible nearly 40 years ago, but I knew next to nothing about Yvonne. 

It's a brisk album - 15 songs in 36 minutes - but does exactly what it set out to do. Vocally, Yvonne and Boo are a great pairing, with delicate acoustic chords and wistful horn elements providing an effective backdrop to their vignettes of imagined lives.

All I Have Is Now And This Little Patch Of Blue, Boo

Regretfully, I had to pass on the opportunity to see Boo Hewerdine play at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath last Thursday. To console myself, I've found a couple of live performances, an appearance on The Tube and one (home) video.

 

First up is Boo's full set for the Celtic Connections festival in January 2015. Filmed at the CCA (Centre for Contemporary Arts) in Glasgow for the BBC, Boo plays four songs - Patience Of Angels, It's A Small World (written the night before), Dragonflies, Bible Pages and Funny Bones - linked with his dry wit and amusing asides. A lovely way to spend (less than) 20 minutes.

 

Here's another setlist perennial, Honey Be Good, written and recorded by Boo when he was fronting The Bible. The song originally appeared on The Bible's second album Eureka in 1988. This performance is from the Acoustic Roots festival in Dalton, Lancashire on 15th May 2019.

 

I'd got on board with The Bible from the start, back when they had an exclamation mark and released their first couple of singles and debut album on Norwich-based Backs Records. The first single I bought was their second single, on shiny black vinyl in a silver sleeve, a tribute to Mahalia Jackson, who at age 15 I'd never heard of before.

That was enough for me to buy the album Walking The Ghost Back Home, which I thought was great. One of those weird dilemmas as a schoolkid though, loving the band but not wishing to add 'The Bible' to the names scrawled over my bag and school books. I'm guessing contemporary fans of The Church may have had the same problem...

 

To close, here's a relatively recent (2021) video of Boo performing the song It's A Beautiful Night in front of the window of his home in Glasgow and sporting a rather magnificent beard. 

The Chapel Arts Centre in Bath seems to be a favoured venue for Boo when he's out and about on tour, so I'm hoping I'll be able to catch him next time around...

 

If you've enjoyed this short virtual tour, there's plenty more to enjoy (and buy) from this master craftsman over at Bandcamp.