Smooth Talking Love Shark

Anna Calvi has unleashed a second - and the opening - track from her upcoming guest-star laden EP, Is This All There Is?, landing in March.

For God's Lonely Man, Anna chooses none other than Iggy Pop and they create a compelling, electric partnership, accompanied by a hefty bass and drum driven beast. You'd be forgiven for thinkking that it's Iggy who sings the lyrical snippet used for today's title but it fact it's Anna.

Familiar though the tune may be - it immediately reminded me of Ladyhawke & Broods' 2021 collaboration Guilty Love - it's a strident tune all by itself. As with yesterday, the video is in monochrome - an accidental theme for this week? 

It's beautiful in it's simplicity as Anna switches between rolling and throwing herself over and away from Iggy and an electric guitar. Iggy remains shirtless (naturally) and still, the light and shade playing over his wrinkled flesh telling its own story within a story.

Great stuff and I'm looking forward to the rest of the EP, featuring Laurie Anderson and Matt Berninger from The National. For now, to add a splash of colour, here's track two released first, I See A Darkness featuring Perfume Genius. 

Another compelling video-cum-short-film, which cleverly plays a few seconds of God's Lonely Man, pumping from a pub/club as a woman waits outside.

Is This All There Is? is avaialble for pre-order now from Bandcamp. 

I couldn't stretch to £19.99 for vinyl or £12.99 for CD (both plus postage) for a 4-track EP but I had planned to shell out £3.99 for the digital format. Unfortunately, my connection crashed at the moment of checkout and, after a couple of failed attempts to complete the transaction in the closing minutes of Bandcamp Friday, I then ran out of time. I'm going to wait patiently until the next one on 6th March and try again.

The Sound Of A Brand New World

1986 was either a good year or a really, really terrible year for music, it's always subjective, isn't it? 

Whilst Wham! and The Police called it a day, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure became huge, Q magazine launched, Doctor Who faced The Trial Of A Time Lord both on- and off-screen, not least for the limpest version of the theme tune to date, whilst John Barry did alright at the Oscars with his soundtrack for Out Of Africa. Bizarrely, given my parents' spartan music collection, my mum actually bought this latter. On vinyl, too.

Anyway, none of the above feature in today's 8-song, 46-minute selection of 12" mixes. Instead, it's a mix of hits and non-hits, (quite a few) cover versions and songs that should be more deeply etched in the collective consciousness but had to make way for numerous singles from No Jacket Required by Phil Collins and The Chicken Song by Spitting Image instead. 

Train Of Thought was a-ha's fourth single from their debut album and third consecutive Top Ten, peaking at #8 in April 1986. The video is a similar mix of animation and live action that made Take On Me unforgettable. The animation by Michael Patterson actually originated as his student film at the California Institute of the Arts so predates his work on Take On Me. Unfortunately, the video is less memorable.

I paid little attention to Love And Money in 1986 but have come back to them in more recent years due to following the many and varied 21st Century exploits of former members James Grant, Paul McGeechan, Stuart Kerr, Bobby Paterson, Gordon Wilson and Douglas MacIntyre. Dear John is a 12" vinyl rip so the quality of the recording doesn't match the quality of the song. Not that the publlic noticed, it failed to dent the UK charts.

Similarly, Sparks seemed to be a spent force in the UK in the 1980s. They had just one charting single in the decade; Change managed to scrape to #85 in July 1985. Fingertips was a cover of the Stevie Wonder song, a rare step away from the Mael Brothers' focus on writing their own material. Both it - and Sparks' 1980s output - deserved more love over here than it got and it's wonderful writing four decades later in the knowledge that they've subsequently been embraced as the legends that they are.

Radio Head by Talking Heads has the dubious distinction of being the song that inspired the name of Thom Yorke and chums' own band, though generally that's the only inspiring thing about this song. I don't mind the music from the True Stories album and film, though it's a far cry from the essential early albums. Full Force clearly thought so too and felt obliged to drop in a sample from Once In A Lifetime to pep things up. 

No-one's going to argue that Communards' cover of Don't Leave Me This Way was a deserved #1, but Jeanie Tracy had a go the year before with her own version, produced by close friend Sylvester. In 1986, a re-edit by Razormaid co-founder Joseph Watt appeared on his 12 By 12 album and it's fair to say that I would have equally moved at the school disco if they'd popped this platter on.

Although I'm a fan of much of Boy George's music, I've not really connected to Culture Club, then and now. Gusto Blusto, featured here, was the second single from From Luxury To Heartache... in the USA and Canada, at least. Over here, we got God Thank You Woman. The latter stalled at #31. I'm not sure that Gusto Blusto would have fared any better. 

I'd known about The Residents for years, though I wasn't all that familiar with their music. I spotted the 12" single of Kaw-Liga in a secondhand record shop and was sufficiently intrigued to buy it and I'm glad I did. A cover of a Hank Williams song from 1953, it opens with a shuffling beat ripped from inspired by Billie Jean. The full 12" version runs to nine and a half minutes, the original aka album version runs to about half that, just as good.

Wrapping things up is Iggy Pop and David Bowie, reuniting as performer and producer for the first time in a decade, with greeat commercial results for the former. Blah Blah Blah will never be my go-to Iggy album but I enjoy it for what it is and the time it captured. I also ended up buying all the 12" singles, though the label had an annoying habit of recycling tracks for B-sides. The extended remix of Fire Girl was a 12" A-side then re-appeared on the B-side of Isolation the same year.

Sunday's selection will feature another trip back in time, for a different kind of dance music.

1) Train Of Thought (U.S. Mix By Steve Thompson): a-ha

2) Dear John (Extended Mix By John 'Tokes' Potoker): Love And Money

3) Fingertips (Extended Club Version By Steve Bates) (Cover of Stevie Wonder): Sparks

4) Radio Head (Extended Mix By Full Force & Glenn Rosenstein): Talking Heads

5) Don't Leave Me This Way (Re-Edited By Joseph Watt) (Cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes): Jeanie Tracy

6) Gusto Blusto (Rock Mix By Arif Mardin & Lew Hahn): Culture Club

7) Kaw-Liga (Album Version By The Cryptic Corporation aka Hardy Fox & Homer Flynn) (Cover of Hank Williams): The Residents

8) Fire Girl (Remix By David Bowie & David Richards): Iggy Pop

The Sound Of A Brand New World (45:47) (GD) (M)

Upon A Mouse #3: You Made Me Shiver With A Real Thrill

For this week's third and final final dip into The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time series, which originated at No Badger Required, my #18 pick is the debut album by The Stooges.

If that seems a bit harsh, you may be aggrieved to learn that The Stooges didn't even make the official NBR 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time. Competition was stiff, to say the least.

In my case, The Stooges (the album) was an album I came to pretty late. And by late, I mean three and a half decades after it was first released. 

Being a mid-80s teen, I was aware of Iggy Pop, but I pretty much had no idea that he was in The Stooges until the end of the decade, and then mainly because every guitar band plying their trade on the Bristol live circuit would play I Wanna Be Your Dog or No Fun. 

There was also the cover of 1969 by The Sisters Of Mercy on my brother's copy of the Alice 12" single, which wound it's way onto one of my mixtapes around the same time.

So I didn’t get to listen to The Stooges’ debut album in full until 2005 when I bought the 2CD expanded edition, including the released version and original mixes, both produced by John Cale.

Whichever disc I listen to, what a fucking record. 

And then, in addition to the above mentioned songs, and amongst the scuzzy garage rock that inspired a slew of musical genres, the original Side One (track 3 of 8 on the CD) closes with the 10-minute tripped out, slowed down epic We Will Fall. Bonkers!

The second CD contains original or alternate versions of the entire album, bar We Will Fall, with a couple of versions apiece of the three big hitters. The standout for me though is Ann, expanded from the official album's three minutes to nearly eight, offering a different introduction and an extended squally guitar freakout to close. I like the brevity of the original, but this is something else.

I was very late to the party, but The Stooges retained the power to  thrill and inspire, more than three decades after the album emerged kicking and screaming into the world. Having listened to it several times again in the past month, it still does.

 

 

Today's completely unrelated movie snap off the telly is The Stepfather, a 1987 film starring Terry O'Quinn, who I am familiar with almost exclusively from his role as John Locke in the long-running TV series Lost. 

Not Just A Drummer

The sad news emerged yesterday that Clem Burke has passed at the age of 70. 

Tributes have unsurprisingly been in great supply, from musicians, critics, fans and of course his bandmates in his career-spanning primary job, who described Clem as "not just a drummer [but] the heartbeat of Blondie". 

Clem's much-lauded work ethic was played out in the number of records he appeared on outside of Blondie, including Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Wanda Jackson, Pete Townshend, Iggy Pop and Nancy Sinatra. Oh, and Mark Owen from Take That.

I've picked half a dozen of Clem's extracurricular activities from YouTube, a few of which have proper videos. Like 'em or not, they're all better for having Clem playing on them.

1) Run Like A Villain: Iggy Pop (1982)

2) Blue Guitars: Vivabeat (1986)

3) King Of Confusion (Cover of The Go-Go's): The Coolies ft. Kathy Valentine & Clem Burke (2023)

4) Child: Mark Owen (1996)

5) Revenge: Eurythmics (1981)

6) Where Were You: Adult Net (1989)

The motherlode of course is Clem's contribution to (every single one of) Blondie's eleven albums, six between 1976's self-titled debut and 1982's The Hunter, and five more from 1999's No Exit to 2017's Pollinator.

Clem's contribution cannot be understated. Just listen to Heart Of Glass, Denis, Atomic, Rapture. And he was cool, so cool. 

You can find my 45-minute selection of Blondie circa '76-'82 from August 2023 here

In August 1999, I was lucky enough to see Blondie perform live in Long Island, New York on their No Exit tour. I reflected on the gig and recreated the setlist in August 2022, which can be found here

You're laying down a different kind of beat now, Clem, but the echo of your heartbeat will stay with us. Thanks for everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Altered Perceptions

Side 2 of an 80s mixtape recorded 26th November 1999.

Another compilation that's taken me ages to return to, Side 1 making an appearance here in November 2023. Better late than never...!

In 1987, Get It On by T. Rex was re-released with a new remix by Tony Visconti. I don't remember why exactly, as the (rather excellent) Best Of The 20th Century Boy compilation had already been out for a couple of years and there was no jeans ad tie-in as far as I recall. There were two 12" singles with new extended versions: the Dawn Mix on yellow vinyl and the Dusk Mix on blue vinyl; I've got both, there's not a lot of difference between the two.

Propaganda's second single was Duel, a gorgeous slice of Germanic pop. On the flip side was its roughneck relation, Jewel, Claudia Brücken's sweet voice replaced by Susanne Freytag's shouty vocals. Similarly, their album A Secret Wish was mirrored with a remix companion, Wishful Thinking. It's a bit hit-and-mix, but the remix of Duel/Jewel is superb, creating a sublime duet between Susanne and Claudia.

Love Like Blood is arguably Killing Joke's defining song and originally came out in two extended 12" single formats. Not content with that, producer Zeus B. Held had a go at the song, providing the flip side to his other remix of 1986 single Adorations. This one adds a few contemporary remix touches, including some crowd noises for some reason, to firmly root the song in the mid-1980s.

I do have the 12" single of More by Doctor & The Medics, which features a remix by an up-and-coming artist called William Orbit. Unfortunately, I don't have a MP3 rip and couldn't find an alternative on t'internet. So, I've grabbed the intro from the video version and spliced it with a slight edit of the album version and Hey Presto! a DIY extended version to fill the void. Derivative it may be, but I like this song.

Derivative is not a word that could be used to describe Peek-A-Boo by Siouxsie & The Banshees. When I first heard it in 1988, I was thrilled by this change of direction for the band. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is less experimental and more familiar, but the impact of this song hasn't diminished. Peek-A-Boo was released on 7", 12" (two of 'em) and CD single. The eight minute Silver Dollar Mix which appeared on the limited edition 12" single is in fact an edit; the full length version appeared in the USA and runs for another two minutes.

Whilst Siouxsie and co were trying to push themselves in a new direction, by 1988 Iggy Pop had pretty much gone full hair metal. I like the album Instinct but it's dumb rock, even by Iggy's standards, though unapologetically so. I first heard this remix of Cold Metal on the Sounds Blasts! 1 EP, a freebie 7" single with music paper Sounds that also featured The Blue Aeroplanes (yay!), Fishbone (mmmm) and the Dan Reed Network (meh). 

Closing out this compilation is my favourite version of Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the Carnage remix by Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson following the standard ZTT format of instrumental first half and vocal second half. However, they also chuck in a few vocal snippets from Nash, Peds and Mark taken from throwaway B-side 'interviews', which add a bit of colour. 

As with my previous post, I've tracked down the videos for each song, or TV performances where these aren't available. The clip for Jewel by Propaganda is a real treat. The others run the range from so so serious (Killing Joke) to stunning (Siouxsie) to silly (Doctor & The Medics) to... well, you've just got to see Iggy Pop's video to wonder how many cans of hairspray the film crew got through for this one.

And then there's Two Tribes, possibly one of the greatest videos ever made. If a band tried to do that today, the pustulous orange turd would probably buy MTV, install himself as CEO and shut it down. That's if the barrel chested bareback rider hadn't already dealt with them permanently.

 
1) Get It On (Dusk Mix) (Tony Visconti 87 Remix): T. Rex (1987)

2) Jewelled (Remix By Robert Kraushaar & Paul Morley): Propaganda (1985)

3) Love Like Blood (The '86 Remix By Zeus B. Held): Killing Joke (1986)

4) More (Full Video Version By Doctor & The Medics & Graham Meek): Doctor & The Medics (1987)

5) Peek-A-Boo (Silver Dollar Mix By Mike Hedges) (Edit): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1988)

6) Cold Metal (Rock Version By Andy Wallace): Iggy Pop (1988)

7) Two Tribes (Carnage) (Remix By Trevor Horn & Stephen Lipson): Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1984)

Side Two (46:06) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Quite Noughtie Enough

I'm going to spend a large chunk of this post talking about someone else's blog and posts, but bear with me, there's a brand new Dubhed selection waiting for you at the end.

SWC at the ever-excellent No Badger Required has just concluded The Noughty Forty, a countdown of the greatest albums of the 2000s. All voted for by a Musical Jury, assembled from music blog creators and commenters from around the globe. 

 

NBR is an essential read anyway, not a single one feeling like it's been dashed off in the seconds that the idea itself is forming (yes, I'm looking at myself here). There's something even more impressive about series like this though, not least the sheer amount of effort that goes into planning, coordinating and curating the posts. And of course it sparks debate, anticipation and - let's be honest - a degree of feverish excitement as it reaches the Top Ten. 

I was privileged once again to be a Musical Jury Member for this series. SWC assigns aliases to all and I won't reveal mine here, though my arch or overly earnest comments may be a giveaway. 

I was pleased with the #1 choice, an artist and album I voted for though not my top scorer (which made the Top 10, but not the Top 5). Back in the summer, when this was just a plan taking shape in SWC's mind, he invited potential Musical Jury Members to submit their own nominations. 

Over 300 nominations were submitted. Of these, SWC presented us with a longlist of 74, from which to pick our Top 20. After totting up the scores, The Noughty Forty was finalised, with a few surprises and an eleventh hour vote tipping the balance between the top two.

SWC not only delivered The Noughty Forty, but preceded it with ten of Not Quite The Greatest Albums Of The 00s, also sharing the albums that made #41 & #42 in the final list. The series was then bookended with four Honorable Mentions, meaning that NBR readers were treated to 56 albums in total. 

 

I won't spoil things by posting the various lists here. If you haven't already followed the countdown on No Badger Required, go and check it out. You'll get to experience some great music, some controversial voting decisions and best of all, some top notch writing that brings the whole thing to life. 

No Badger Required is 3 years old this month and November will see another series, this time focusing on the number 3. Not in the way that you might expect, of course, but naturally it's going to be required reading for the next 30 days. SWC sets the bar high, so much so that I'm on the Dubhed ladder, head tilted as far back as it will go, straining to see the bar up above me. 

A constant inspiration and pace setter. Here's to you, SWC, and many more years of NBR to come.

So... what of today's selection?

Well, back at the beginning, when I was invited to submit nominations for the best albums of the 2000s, I applied some rules of my own. The most obvious one being that I had to own the albums, either physically or digitally, in their entirety. 

 

This - and the subsequent Noughty Forty - immediately highlighted how many contenders where I had a few songs, but not the entire album. Examples being The Streets, Radiohead, The Strokes and Grandaddy.

The other dawning realisation when following the final run down was how many albums from the 2000s I'd never even heard in full at all. Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, The Horrors, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Long Blondes. I'm working on it now.

The other rule which I mostly followed was to exclude nominations for an album which I thought would receive multiple votes from the MJMs and would therefore be a shoo in for the longlist, if not the final 40. Therefore, I left out LCD Soundsystem, Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand and The White Stripes, to name a few. 

Not that my 20 nominations were by any means albums that I didn't consider to be anything other than essential listens. Or, so obscure that mine would be the only nomination. I mean, White Bread Black Beer by Scritti Politti had to be Top 30, if not higher, surely?

Of my 20 suggestions, 1 made the Not Quite The Greatest Albums Of The 00s list, 1 featured in the Honorable Mentions and 1 in The Noughty Forty...the Top 30 in fact, though it's no spoiler to say that it wasn't Scritti Poliiti.

So, 17 of my 20 nominations didn't get even a whiff of fame. One other artist did make the lower reaches of the countdown, though not with the album that I nominated!

However, all of this of course inspired today's selection. Without fear or favour, I've randomly selected 12 to create a snappy compilation to entertain for the next three quarters of an hour. 

 

Hopefully, a few of them will provoke an "Oh, yeah!" response. Others may be unfamiliar, but inspire a search to check out the rest of the album, which will undoubtedly be worth your time and effort.

It's an eclectic mix, as always. Back in 2000, it was hard to imagine that it would be 2024 before The The's next full band, non-soundtrack album would appear. Sadly, we're still waiting for Green Gartside's follow up to White Bread Black Beer, and each year hope diminishes. A couple of artists - Mark Linkous and Mark Lanegan - have passed on, leaving us with a rich musical legacy, these collaborative albums included.

Mark Lanegan's association with electronic artists Soulsavers was perhaps no surprise, given his voracious appetite for working with others across multiple musical genres. What was unexpected was N.A.S.A.'s 2009 album The Spirit Of Apollo, not least from it's dizzying spread of guest artists, but that their number included Tom Waits, here 'duetting' with rapper Kool Keith.

There are a few albums that didn't make my nominations list, partly because I thought that no-one else would submit them, partly because I will deliver on my promise to SWC a seeming eternity ago to submit a Nearly Perfect Albums guest post for his consideration. I need to get on with it!

In the meantime, enjoy this companion piece/celebration of an inspirational blog, as it's likely back to the usual nonsense on Saturday.

 

1) The Whisperers: The The (2000)

2) Paris Is Burning: Ladyhawke (2008)

3) Superstylin': Groove Armada (2001)

4) It's A Funny Thing: Edwyn Collins (2002)

5) Road To No Regret: Scritti Politti (2006)

6) Pain: Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse ft. Iggy Pop (2009)

7) Ghosts Of You And Me: Soulsavers ft. Mark Lanegan (2007)

8) The Moss: Daníel Ágúst (2005)

9) Something Inside Of Me: The Coral (2005)

10) Huddle Formation: The Go! Team (2004)

11) Young Bride: Midlake (2006)

12) Spacious Thoughts: N.A.S.A. ft. Tom Waits & Kool Keith (2009)

2000: Naked Self: 1

2001: Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub): 3

2002: Doctor Syntax: 4

2004: Thunder, Lightning, Strike: 10

2005: Swallowed A Star: 8

2005: The Invisible Invasion: 9 

2006: The Trials Of Van Occupanther: 11

2006: White Bread Black Beer: 5 

2007: It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land: 7

2008: Ladyhawke: 2

2009: Dark Night Of The Soul: 6

2009: The Spirit Of Apollo: 12

Not Quite Noughtie Enough (46:09) (KF) (Mega)

Decade IV: 1986

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded 8th April 1990.

Okay, so we're back with the OG Decade tapes that I compiled in 1990, a new decade and the end of my teens ahead, ten years of life-shaping music behind me.

Time to address the elephant in the room. You may have noticed from the track listing below and in the previous fortnight that the selection leans heavily on alternative, guitar-based music, and very little in the way of club or pop music. 

Yes, I will admit that as well as receiving my first proper Valentine's card and the same person agreeing to be my first proper girlfriend, I was beginning to tap into my inner Goth. I think I bought my first pair of winkle picker boots with shiny buckles around age 15. And the shirts. Oh, the shirts. My local Boots was also doing quite well out of my regular custom for hair gel and hairspray. Yep, I was quite the catch. I don't know what she was thinking.

Anyway, for all that, the parallel story of my teens was also my propensity for a pop song. My nascent record collection happily included the likes of Heaven 17, Bronski Beat, Erasure, Giorgio Moroder with Phil Oakey, Pet Shop Boys, Cameo, Madonna, Propaganda and so on. 

The reason why you're seeing little of that here is that, when I had the idea in 1990 of recording a themed series of mixtapes covering the 1980s, I already had the overarching title, Decade. I also had the thought that there would be a second, parallel series of more club/pop-oriented songs, acknowledging my love of the 12" single and called Decadance (sic). I never got around to recording any of the latter series, but maybe an idea to revisit here one day...

I will also add that whilst I enjoyed a bit of gnarly guitar, I despised Bon Jovi with a passion. No surprise that at school, I was in the minority, as the bobbins hair metallers were especially popular with my female friends. Thankfully, my girlfriend was an exception, in many ways but crucially in her indifference to the hirsute charms of Jon and the lads.

Scene set, here’s the mixtape.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood open up, though a band very much on the downward slide by 1986. I bought the single but more out of a weakening sense of loyalty and I didn't even bother with the accompanying album, Liverpool, at the time. And I echoed the howls of protest when an interview with comic writing legend Alan Moore on Channel 4's The Tube was abruptly cut short to segue to the video of Warriors (Of The Wasteland). It wasn't Frankie's fault of course, but they bore the brunt of my disgruntlement.

John Lydon had made a triumphant return with Public Image Ltd. and the single Rise, ahead of an album that depending on the format you bought was titled 'Album', 'Cassette' or 'Compact Disc' or 'untitled', if you want to be contrary. Co-produced with Bill Laswell, it's big on percussion, like the musical equivalent of a left hook from Mike Tyson (who became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in November 1986, fact fans). I love 'Album' for lots of reasons, and follow up single Home is one of them.

The Godfathers are next in line, matching Tyson's left hook with a piledriver to the head. I bought I Want Everything on 12" and played it loud. My mum understandably hated it. Tick.

I'm not sure my parents were fans of Gene Loves Jezebel but for all their backcombing, lipstick and chiffon, Sweetest Thing was a brilliant pop song. This is one brotherly reunion that isn't likely to happen until hell freezes over, though there's much to love in their early 80s albums. Sweetest Thing only got to #75 in the UK yet Discover reached #32, the only UK Top 40 album in their career.

A perhaps surprising return for Wall Of Voodoo, after their first appearance in 1983. Mexican Radio had a least been a minor hit (#64). Far Side Of Crazy failed to make even that much of an impression, despite the added appeal of 12" B-side Dance You F***ers (the label's censorship, not mine!). I didn't buy this first time around though I acquired Far Side Of Crazy when it was itself included as a B-side to follow single, a cover of The Beach Boys' Do It Again, which fared equally poorly with record buyers in general. Andy Prieboy was now lead singer and it's worth mentioning that former frontman Stan Ridgway had a #4 hit with Camouflage in July 1986. That must have stung a little.

Also on the comeback trail was Iggy Pop, aided and abetted yet again by David Bowie, with a phenomenally successful album, Blah Blah Blah, to boot. Cry For Love was the opening salvo and whilst Iggy enjoyed greater success with the follow up cover of Real Wild Child, I prefer this.

I mentioned earlier that Bronski Beat didn't make it into this series, though Jimmy Somerville's next project does. I thought The Communards was a brilliant next step and the musical partnership with Richard Coles produced some fabulous music, politically charged pop, beautifully arranged and sung, with incisive, insightful lyrics. Disenchanted is perhaps the prime example of this. It could be taken as an update or reflection on Smalltown Boy, though it's many other things too. And that wonderful descending piano chord at the bridge. A shame that The Communards are generally remembered for their 80s revival of disco classics. All hits and all good, but they were so, so much more than that.

Depeche Mode began the second phase of their career in 1986, following the mega-selling Singles 81-85 compilation. Many of my classmates referred to them as 'Depress Mode', though my friend Ady and I were increasingly committed to this new direction. 1986 would bring the Black Celebration album and my first ever live gig, seeing Dave and the lads at the Colston Hall in Bristol. I loved lead single Stripped and I bought the 5-track 12" single without having heard a note of the song. I didn't need to. Still hits the spot, four decades on.

My first proper girlfriend and I shared a love of Talk Talk. The Colour Of Spring and it's attendant singles came out as our young romance was blossoming and so the music inevitably became very special for us both. To be truthful, Give It Up was 'our song' - sadly prescient, given that our relationship lasted mere months - yet I have had an enduring love for Living In Another World as it's arguably the least Talk Talk-like song that they ever recorded. And I love it for that.

After committing the crime of not including either E=MC² or Medicine Show in my 1985 mixtape - all the more unforgivable, as This Is Big Audio Dynamite was one of my favourite albums of that year - here they are at last. C'mon Every Beatbox was released to announce the arrival of second album, No. 10, Upping Street. It's a cracking single, from it's familiar riff on Eddie Cochran's C'mon Everybody, to Sam Sever's deft editing and scratching, to Mick Jones and Don Letts' superb trade offs. The 12" version is even better, even if my vinyl rip is sounding to my ragged ears like it might be running a tad too fast....

My second crime is the paucity of Julian Cope in this series. Apart from his appearance with The Teardrop Explodes in 1981, this side marks the first sample from Julian's solo career. Though what an example! World Shut Your Mouth had been demo'd but never finished before the Teardrops, er, imploded. It then provided the title of Julian's first album in 1984 though omitting the song itself.

World Shut Your Mouth finally saw the light of day at summer's end in 1986, the song beefed up by US producer Ed Stasium, famed for his work with Ramones, and with a remix 12" by fellow Americans Trouble Funk. This was a different Cope for sure: sexy, pouting, leather clad; though the climbing frame mike stand was a sure sign that he was still bonkers as ever. The Saint Julian album also proved to be a huge success (#11 in the UK) and for a brief moment, the world did shut its mouth and pay attention. 

Another hugely underrated and underappreciated act is It's Immaterial. Driving Away From Home had been a surprise Top 20 hit in April 1986 and the record label reasonably thought that Ed's Funky Diner, a flop single in 1985 yet an equally brilliant and quirky song, deserved another shot. 

As before, Ed's Funky Diner was given the full format treatment: 7", 7" double pack with an extra single, 12", limited edition remix 12". It did better than before, though by better I mean a peak of #65. Their debut album got a few places higher and that was the end of the band as a chart-troubling entity. Thankfully, despite a series of unfortunate events in the intervening decades, It's Immaterial are actively recording and releasing music in the 21st century and the world is a better place for it.

1) Warriors (Of The Wasteland) (Single Version): Frankie Goes To Hollywood

2) Home (Single Version): Public Image Ltd.

3) I Want Everything (Single Version): The Godfathers

4) Sweetest Thing (Album Version): Gene Loves Jezebel

5) Far Side Of Crazy (Remix): Wall Of Voodoo

6) Cry For Love (7 Inch Edit): Iggy Pop

7) Disenchanted (Album Version): The Communards

8) Stripped (Single Version): Depeche Mode

9) Living In Another World (Single Version): Talk Talk

10) C'mon Every Beatbox (Extended Vocal Version): Big Audio Dynamite

11) World Shut Your Mouth (Album Version): Julian Cope

12) Ed's Funky Diner (Album Version): It's Immaterial

12th January 1986: Seven Days In Sammystown (# n/a): 5

23rd February 1986: Black Celebration (#15): 8

16th March 1986: The Colour Of Spring (#48): 9

23rd March 1986: Discover (#75): 4

27th April 1986: Album (#75): 2

1st June 1986: Communards (#29): 7

3rd August 1986: Life's Hard And Then You Die (#65): 12

7th September 1986: Sun Arise / I Want Everything EP (# n/a): 3

12th October 1986: No. 10, Upping St. (#51): 10

19th October 1986: Saint Julian (#19): 11

26th October 1986: Blah Blah Blah (# n/a): 6

23rd November 1986: Liverpool (#19): 1

Side One (46:19) (GD) (M)

A Different Donald

Celebrating Donald Sutherland, 17th July 1935 to 20th June 2024.

A brilliant actor, Martin over at New Amusements nailed it with a succinct and spot-on summation of his star turn in the 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, also a personal favourite. 

Donald brought an intensity to every role that he played, sometimes seemingly effortlessly, always enhanced by those piercing blue eyes. In ...Bodysnatchers, you could absolutely believe that Donald's character had gone for days without sleep and was running on empty...and that final scene. Stayed with me for a long time!

It was also a joy to see Donald appear in the video for Cloudbusting along with Kate Bush. Frankly, whatever he was in was better for his presence. Much is made of Will Smith's against-type role in 1993's Six Degrees Of Separation, but it stands or falls on the dynamic with the couple that his character encounters. It works because Donald and Stockard Channing were cast in the roles. Worth watching if you can track it down.

 

Which clumsily dovetails into the theme of today's selection. Unlike son Kiefer, Donald didn't release any albums or play gigs at the Cheese & Grain in Frome, However, he has appeared in many, many films, and there are plenty of songs in my collection that share titles. I've got form with this, having created previous selections based on the work of Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Taylor and Juliette Binoche (possibly others, but I forget).

Unfortunately, no songs titled Six Degrees Of Separation (I do have a 12" by a band of that name, which I'll spare you) but I did run a few posts last year based on the fun variation Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon. 

 

So, an obvious starter for today's selection were The Comsat Angels, whose members include (the other) Kevin Bacon. Conveniently, they also recorded a song for 1982 album Fiction with the same name as one of Donald's most famous films. Don't Look Now, but I think I've got away with that tenuous connection!

It's an eclectic sequence of songs and artists, taking in Roxy Music, The Kingfishers, Black Uhuru, late period Ultravox and Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud collaborating with Anni Hogan and Thomas Lang. I've taken some liberties with spelling and the inclusion or omission of the definite article here and there. I've also crowbarred in a reference to Donald's starring role in 1971 film Klute, where the titular drum & bass artist appears in the song name. It also allows me to sneak Mogwai in through the back door. Just imagine if Donald had accepted a role in Gremlins, it would have been even better...!

I felt compelled to include Cloudbusting but at the eleventh hour swapped Kate Bush for a cover version that Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) recorded for a US compilation in 2010. I like it.

It seemed appropriate somehow to pick a fellow Canadian to close the selection, and Neil Young happily stepped up to the mark. Ordinary People was Robert Redford's directorial debut in 1980 and Donald is astonishing as you might expect. Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Donald was never nominated for an Academy Award, though he received an honorary Oscar in 2017.  

Not one to do things by halves, Neil Young's take on Ordinary People is an 18-minute chug-a-thon epic, with all the bells and whistles that you may expect, but doesn't feel a second too long. I don't know what Donald thought of Neil's music but I've just discovered that they did meet at least once, when they were both inducted into Canada's Walk Of Fame in 2000, along with Joni Mitchell, Michael J. Fox, Martin Short and William Shatner. Now, that must have been some dinner table conversation...!

Ninety minutes of music then that I hope will also get you looking up some more of Donald's films - Kelly's Heroes! - and rediscovering what singular, otherworldly talent Donald Sutherland is.

And the post title? Well, another take is that when I read the sad news, I wished that the Grim Reaper had come calling for a different Donald instead...

Rest easy, Mr. Sutherland, you did good.

1) Don't Look Now: The Comsat Angels (1982)

2) Casanova: Roxy Music (1974)

3) Instinct: Iggy Pop (1988)

4) Setting Sun (Edit): The Aliens (2007)

5) The Eye Of The Needle: The Kingfishers (2023)

6) Alone: Scanner & Anni Hogan ft. Thomas Lang (2016)

7) Fools Gold (7" Version By John Leckie): The Stone Roses (1989)

8) Heaven Help Us (Try) (Manyanamegamix): Zeke Manyika ft. Sylvia & The Sapphires (1984)

9) Ask The Dust: The Porch Song Anthology (2006)

10) Kelly's Heroes (Album Version): Black Grape (1995)

11) The Great Train Robbery (Dance Mix By Arthur Baker): Black Uhuru (1986) 

12) Cloudbusting (Cover of Kate Bush): Neil Halstead (2010)

13) Thee Eagle Has Landed: Genesis P-Orridge & Psychic TV (1994)

14) Summer (Klute's Weird Winter Remix By Tom Withers): Mogwai (1998)

15) Time To Kill (Album Version): Ultravox (1986)

16) Ordinary People: Neil Young (2007)

1974: Country Life: 2

1982: Fiction: 1

1984: Heaven Help Us (Try) EP: 8 

1986: The Great Train Robbery EP: 11

1986: U-Vox: 15

1988: Instinct: 3

1989: Fools Gold EP: 7 

1994: Ultradrug: 13

1995: It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah: 10 

1998: Kicking A Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed: 14

2006: Spell Of The Trembling Earth: 9

2007: Chrome Dreams II: 16

2007: Setting Sun EP: 4

2010: Sing Me To Sleep, Indie Lullabies: 12

2016: Scanni: 6

2023: Reflections In A Silver Sound: 5

A Different Donald (1:30:03) (KF) (Mega)