I Hear You Singin' In The Wires

I couldn't have failed to notice that Flea's album Honora was out, but it was pretty much on the periphery until I came across this beautiful cover of Wichita Lineman, featuring Nick Cave,

It's a wonderfully restrained and understated version, delicately constructed around upright bass, tender guitar and gentle percussion, underpinning Nick's world weary voice. Flea's musical contribution is the flumpet, which I'd never heard of before now and had to look up, which eases in during the break and drifts back out again, to great effect.

The original narrative, of a lineman perched high up a telephone pole in the middle of nowhere, on a call to his girlfriend, takes on an extra dimension with the gravitas of Cave's vocals. I can now imagine the titular character as a career lifer, been doing this all his life, doesn't know anything else, aches to be at home with his wife but is afraid of the void that giving up his job would create.

Or maybe it resonates because it's striking a chord with my own life right now. Either way, a compelling cover and a reason to check out Honora in full.

It would be remiss of me not to include the very first version of Wichita Lineman that I heard (or at least remember hearing), on the 1982 compilation Music Of Quality And Distinction: Volume One by B.E.F. aka British Electric Foundation aka two thirds of Heaven 17, namely Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh.

For their version, they roped in their H17 colleague Glenn Gregory and, for me, it hit the spot, on-point vocals and a duet of saxophone (actually two, played by Glenn and Ian) and acoustic guitar, courtesy of David Lockwood.

That was enough to encourage me to seek out the original version of Wichita Lineman, written by Jimmy Webb and recorded by Glenn Campbell. Vastly different in arrangement from the covers in 1982 and 2026, but an astonishing performance from Glenn. 

Wichita Lineman was released as a single in 1968 and, as this performance from 1972 demonstrates, only grew in impact as the years passed. 

Possibly Webb and Campbell's finest moment, in already illustrious respective careers and one of my favourite songs of all time.

I am a lineman for the county

And I drive the main roads

Searchin' in the sun

For another overload

I hear you singin' in the wires

I can hear you through the whine

And the Wichita lineman

Is still on the line

I know I need a small vacation

But it don't look like rain

If it snows that stretch down south

Will never stand the strain

And I need you more than want you

And I want you for all time

And the Wichita lineman

Is still on the line

And I need you more than want you

And I want you for all time

And the Wichita lineman

Is still on the line

Time For Another Party!

I don't often post about an artist in quick succession, but I had unfinished business with Heaven 17. Wednesday's post of Heaven 17 12" mixes was originally intended as a single, 15-track, 90 minute behemoth. I just had one problem: much as I love and wanted to include This Is Mine, I've never been satisfied with any of the 12" versions. 

This Is Mine was originally released on 7", 12" (with fold out poster) and limited remix 12". Across the formats you'll find the Single Version, Extended Version, Mine (an instrumental version), Filmix and Cinemix. The version of the latter on the European 12" is nearly 3 minutes longer than it's UK counterpart, but none of them really do it for me. 

 

One of my early music blog discoveries in the early 2000s was Dreamtime, picking up the baton of Razormaid, Art Of Mix and their ilk and producing new, ultra-extended re-edits of 1980s classics. I liked the idea, even if the execution was often only as good as the variable source material. The blog was retired in 2012, the victim of numerous DMCA notices, but a few edits subsequently resurfaced on Dreamtime's Soundcloud page and various YouTube places, including this one.

The Dreamtime Mix of This Is Mine is nearly 10 minutes long and starts off brilliantly, switching between different mixes. Ultimately, it's let down by a couple of jarring changes in vinyl source and playing speed and it was far too long for this selection. I ended up creating a very simple edit of my own, essentially taking the Album Version and, inspired by the Dreamtime Mix, overlaying a couple of elements from the end of the Filmix to create a longer intro. In reverse, I also created a reprise to close this selection by taking the Album Version intro and splicing that with an offcut of the Filmix outro. I'm not going to pretend it's any better than the others, but I do at least get a version of This Is Mine that I like and a selection that more or less matches the C90-friendly run time of Wednesday's part 1.

Sandwiched between the coffee-fueled re-edits, you'll find another bunch of Heaven 17 favourites, including a few album tracks that received the remix treatment and appeared as 12" B-sides, as well as 1986's Endless compilation. 

 

Today's selection is dedicated to Mike and Echorich...East Side, West Side, the world moves on!

1) This Is Mine (Dream Within A Dreamtime Streamix Re-Edit By Khayem) (2022)

2) We Live So Fast (Special Dance Mix) (1983)

3) Play To Win (B.E.F. Disco Mix) (1981)

4) Who'll Stop The Rain (Special Dance Mix) (1983)

5) Penthouse And Pavement (12" Mix) (1981)

6) Trouble (U.S. Club Mix By Bruce Forest) (1987)

7) Let's All Make A Bomb (New Version) (1983)

8) This Is Mine (Filmix Reprise Re-Edit By Khayem) (2022)

 

1981: Penthouse And Pavement (12"): 5

1981: Play To Win (12"): 3 

1983: Come Live With Me (12"): 7

1983: Temptation (12"): 2, 4 

1987: Double Trouble (limited edition double pack 12"): 6

2022: This Is Mine (Khayem Re-Edits) (MP3): 1, 8

Time For Another Party! (44:53)

Time For A Party!

After slowing it down yesterday, time to pump it back up today with some Heaven 17. Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware had known each other previously, but formed Heaven 17 when the latter two split from The Human League, initially launching production entity B.E.F. aka the British Electric Foundation.

I think I first took notice of Heaven 17 in 1981 when they performed Play To Win on Top Of The Pops. One of those frequent TOTP oddities in that the single only managed #46 in a 7 week run. However, it left a lasting impression because I found Glenn Gregory's facial expressions both alarming and hilarious and I couldn't work out what Ian Craig Marsh was leaning into the mic to mime. And the ponytails...! I've just found and watched it again on YouTube and it's every bit as entertaining as I remembered.

 

I probably got into Heaven 17 with either K-Tel's Modern Dance compilation, which featured both Play To Win and Penthouse And Pavement (and which I wrote about last year) or my brother's cassette of the Penthouse And Pavement album. Either way, once I had a Saturday job and some money, I got that and The Luxury Gap on vinyl, plus 12" singles when I could get them. Whilst I enjoyed Sunset Now and ..(And That's No Lie), I'd lost interest by third album How Men Are and only bought a couple more singles (Contenders and Trouble) and the Endless remix cassette compilation during the rest of the 1980s.

 

Heaven 17 enjoyed a brief resurgence of interest in the early 1990s with a trio of remixed singles and a best of compilation. Brothers In Rhythm's remix of Tempation attained #4 (two places lower than the original) and a (pretty ropey) remix of debut (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang by Rapino Brothers just bettered the original UK chart placing of #45 by scraping to #40. Penthouse And Pavement, arguably the best of three remixes, only managed 1 week and #54, three places higher than it's previous attempt at global domination in 1981.

 

The trio reunited in the late 1999s and produced new music. Ian Craig Marsh stopped touring with Heaven 17, left the band around 2007 and subsequently became a music teacher. Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware have continued as a touring concern and - pandemic permitting - will resume live performances during 2022.

 

I've approached today's selection as the first of a series, dip sampling some of the 12" versions from their 1980s heyday. It's been done before and - with the exception of the Let Me Go! / Temptation segue, I wanted to avoid a slipshod retread of the Endless compilation. I had the limited edition box set cassette, which looked lovely and (Heaven 17 Megamix aside) was an almost perfect compilation. Unfortunately, living in a very damp and cold bedsit in Derby in the mid-1990s did for it, the outer box becoming mouldy and the cassette unplayable, so I had to ditch it. 

 

This selection misses some personal favourites, including the aforementioned Play To Win and Penthouse And Pavement as well as Let's All Make A Bomb, and adds a post-Endless track with the best remix of Contenders. There will be more to come, hopefully this year!

 

In the meantime, the official Heaven 17 website still appears to be offering a free 3-track EP from 2011, if you join the mailing list.

1) ..(And That's No Lie) (Re-mixed To Enhance Its Danceability) (1985)

2) Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Extended Dance Version) (1983)

3) Contenders (U.S. Club Mix By Bruce Forest) (1987)

4) I'm Your Money (Special Fortified Dance Mix!) (1981)

5) Let Me Go! (12" Extended Version) (1982)

6) Temptation (Special Dance Mix) (ft. Carol Kenyon) (1983)

7) (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Full Length Version) (1981)

8) Sunset Now (Extended Version) (ft. Afrodiziak) (1984)

 

1981: I'm Your Money (12"): 4 

1981: (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (12") / Penthouse & Pavement: 7

1983: Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (12"): 2

1983: Temptation (12"): 6

1984: Sunset Now (12"): 8

1985: ..(And That's No Lie) (12"): 1 

1987: Double Trouble (limited edition double pack 12"): 3

Time For A Party! (46:28)

Forever Green But Not To Be Seen

If you've followed this blog for a while, you'll know that I love the music of Green Gartside and Scritti Politti. When it was announced in December 2020 that Scritti Politti would be playing Cupid & Psyche 85 in it's entirety live in concert for the first time, I got a pair of tickets for what was going to be my first live gig in over 2 years. I intentionally  went for the London date as a) it was at the weekend and b) being one of the last dates of the tour, in early October, surely it would be okay to go by then. Surely?

 

I should be sitting on a train to London, with growing excitement and anticipation at seeing Green Gartside/Scritti Politti performing live on a stage for the first time since June 2007. Sadly, I’ve had to pull out of this weekend’s trip. I have loved ones who are extremely vulnerable and, whilst we’d initially discussed my going solo to London, it was both a difficult and easy decision to make. Had it been a local gig in a spacious venue, it might have been okay. As the Scritti Politti experience would involve several hours on public transport to and from London, Tube travel, the gig itself plus an overnight stay, it just wasn't an option. 

 

It probably says a lot about the fragile normality we're all living in at the moment that I literally could not give the tickets away, despite various calls out to friends, friends of friends and the wider music loving community. Add to the mix a nationwide petrol panic and people are understandably reticent about a trip to or across The Big Smoke.

JC at The Vinyl Villain made it to the Glasgow gig on Monday and posted a brilliant and heartwarming review. It not only confirmed that Green Gartside remains possessed of one of the finest voices ever, but just how much it means to get out and enjoy live music with people again. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't gutted not to be seeing Scritti Politti tonight, but some very kind people have posted songs from the Glasgow & Cardiff concerts on YouTube: a few notes into each song and my heart lifts.

So, the tickets will now go into my collection of "gigs I got tickets for, but never made it to". The irony is that, having bought the Scritti Politti tickets for London, shortly after John Grant's postponed gig at Bath Forum was rescheduled for - you guessed it - 2nd October. I still can't make it to this gig either, but I'll have more to say about that in Sunday's post...

 

Anyway, why regret when there's so much beautiful music from Green Gartside to enjoy? Today's selection shares the same name as the Forever Green mixtape I posted back in August, but is by and large the Imaginary Compilation Album (#261, to be precise) that was my debut posting on The Vinyl Villain. At the time, I stuck rigidly to the 10 songs, 5 per side of (imaginary) vinyl format. In recreating it for today's post, I realised that that there was a real imbalance in the running times. I initially considered replacing the 12" mix of Boom! There She Was with the shorter album version. Instead, I've added two bonus songs to Side Two: B.E.F.'s cover of Stevie Wonder, featuring Green on vocals, and A Place We Both Belong, which was one of two new and exclusive songs on the 2011 compilation, Absolute. I think they slot in pretty well.

This post is a thank you to Green Gartside for getting back on stage with Scritti Politti and continuing to be an inspiration. I also read that the multi-talented Rhodri Marsden - and Scritti mainstay - celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday (1st October) with the gig at Brighton. A belated happy birthday, Rhodri! Sorry I missed you all this time, hopefully I'll see you again soon.

 

Side One (25:21)

1) Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero) (UK Edit): Scritti Politti ft. Roger Troutman (1988)

2) A Little Knowledge: Scritti Politti ft. B.J. Nelson (1985)

3) Petrococadollar: Scritti Politti (2006)

4) Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me (Nice Up The Area Mix By Green Gartside & Ian Craig Marsh) (Cover of Gladys Knight & The Pips): Scritti Politti ft. Sweetie Irie (1991)

5) Flesh & Blood (Version): Scritti Politti ft. Ranking Ann (1985)

 

Side Two (24:35) 

1) Confidence: Scritti Politti (1979)

2) Tinseltown To The Boogiedown (Album Version): Scritti Politti ft. Mos Def & Lee Majors (1999)

3) Wishing Well (Cover of Anne Briggs): Green Gartside (2020)

4) Gettin’, Havin’ And Holdin’: Scritti Politti (1982)

5) I Don’t Know Why I Love You (But I Love You) (Album Version) (Cover of Stevie Wonder): B.E.F. ft. Green Gartside & Billy Preston (1991)

6) A Place We Both Belong: Scritti Politti (2011)

7) Forgiven (Live Acoustic Version) (Charles Hazlewood, BBC Radio 2, 17 May 2007): Green Gartside (2007)

 

Side One (25:21) (GD) (M)

Side Two (24:35) (GD) (M)