The Hurt In My Heart

This one happened very quickly. PJ Harvey's song came up on a shuffle and suddenly I was following a thread from one song to the other. A dozen songs later, a Dubhed selection was born.

The less obvious connection between all of these choices is that I haven't listened to the source albums in quite a while, the various EPs even more so, a timely reminder that I need to dig them out for the full experience.

 

Swansway is a gentler version of Siouxsie's debut solo single Into A Swan from 2007 and it's stunning. Likewise, the Tanya Donelly and Kristin Hersh songs, which subsequently appeared on the Lovesongs For Underdogs and Sky Motel albums respectively but which I only own due to the versions appearing on EP releases.

 

The Deep Field by Joan As Police Woman was lent to me by a friend and every listen reminds me what a great album it. As is i don’t know who needs to hear this..., the debut album from Sarah Tomberlin, a chance discovery when she supported Angel Olsen on tour a couple of years ago.

 

Rita Lynch has been a staple of the Bristol live music scene for decades and her albums have continued to capture her on-stage fire and lyrical bite, as evidenced by her eighth (I think) in 2022, Mrs. Lynch. Smile is taken from her 2010 album, What Am I?

 

Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen collaborated on a one-off single, the 80s power ballad-infused Like I Used To, so their pairing here seemed an obvious choice. I have pretty much everything that Angel has recorded; conversely relatively little by Sharon, which I need to address.

 

On a similar note, there were slim pickings in my collection for Julia Holter and Phoebe Bridgers. Both of these choices came from music magazine cover-mounted CDs and I've yet to buy the source albums in either case. Another reminder that I just don't have the time or money to keep up with all of the music that I'd like to explore more....

 

Lisa Germano first came to my attention via the Inconsiderate Bitch EP on 4AD, label boss Ivo Watts-Russell taking her debut album Happiness (at the time only released in the USA) and remixing several tracks to stunning effect before releasing it to a wider audience. Puppet is a prime example of this, the versions on the 4AD EP and album proving to be standout tracks on both releases. I got the original album many years later, which if nothing else proves that Puppet was a great song to begin with. So, what better way to wrap up this selection? 

 

1) Big Exit (Album Version): PJ Harvey (2000)

2) Les Jeux To You: Julia Holter (2018)

3) Swansway: Siouxsie (2007)

4) Smile: Rita Lynch (2010)

5) Chinese Satellite: Phoebe Bridgers (2020)

6) Nervous: Joan As Police Woman (2011)

7) Swoon: Tanya Donelly (1996)

8) collect caller: Tomberlin (2022)

9) Echo (Single Version): Kristin Hersh (1999)

10) You Shadow: Sharon Van Etten (2019)

11) Intern: Angel Olsen (2016)

12) Puppet (US Album Version): Lisa Germano (1993)

 

1993: Happiness (USA): 12

1996: Sliding And Diving EP: 7 

1999: Echo EP: 9

2000: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea: 1

2007: Into A Swan EP: 3

2010: What Am I?: 4 

2011: The Deep Field: 6

2016: My Woman: 11

2018: Aviary: 2

2019: Remind Me Tomorrow: 10

2020: Punisher: 5

2022: i don’t know who needs to hear this...: 8

The Hurt In My Heart (46:06) (KF) (Mega)

RAW

Back to my birthplace Bristol for a legend of the live circuit, Rita Lynch. I've belatedly and retrospectively tried to keep a record of the gigs that I've been to but it's fair to say that there are many that have been lost to the mists of time, especially the pay-on-the-door, ad-hoc stumbles into a pub or club to catch some live music, substances coursing through your body and nothing but the moment to live for.

On that basis, I may well have seen Rita Lynch live on stage even more often than Julian Cope, who I've seen a lot. Add to the list Rita's annual appearances at the Ashton Court Festival and I'm likely to be easily into double figures. Sadly, no crumpled, faded tickets, memories of setlists or who I was with to jog the memory.

Yet Rita Lynch is unforgettable, a force of nature and writer of some of the most caustic, visceral, real songs you've never heard. This month's Bandcamp Friday was my prompt to make up for lost time and buy five of Rita's back catalogue albums. Everything else I bought at the same time has had to be put to one side as I lost myself again in Rita's music. 

 

An Iffypedia quote describes Rita Lynch as "P.J. Harvey meets At The Drive-In". It's an easy comparison particularly because Rita and Polly were ploughing a similar musical furrow in the late 80s/early 90s. However, there's so much more than that and so much that cannot be described as anything but Rita herself, no comparison.

Amongst my purchases was what, as far as I can tell, was Rita's last album, 2018's Backwards. A poke around You Tube unearthed a video for It's Good To See You, filmed at the Star And Garter pub in Montpelier, a familar haunt back in the day.

 

The most recent recording I've been able to find is a single, Waves, released in July 2020 but presumably filmed pre-lockdown on Clevedon bandstand, on the seafront, a short walk from the pier in one direction and the miniature railway in the other (or at least, it was when I last visited). It's a beautiful, acoustic-and-violin driven thing and quite a different from what you'll hear on today's selection.

 

Happily, there's a fair bit of Rita Lynch performing live available on YouTube, including Tied To You taken from a Visual Radio Arts soundcheck in July 2017 and a wonderful in-crowd snippet from Rita's gig at The Plough Inn in Easton from June of this year. It doesn't matter how big or small the stage is, Rita totally owns it. What a legend.

Being Saturday, I've gone for a 10-song selection from my 5-album purchase to shake your bones and rattle your brain cells, songs to dance to and think about, themes that are sadly all-too relevant in the present day. All done in just over 30 minutes so that you press repeat and start all over again.

 

When I'll pulling together songs for a Dubhed Selection, I'll stick the longlist of songs into folder or playlist called RAW, playing around with sequences, deciding which songs make the cut and which are saved for another time. I did the same for today's Rita Lynch selection and whilst the title is usually taken from a line in one of the featured songs, I couldn't think of a better name for this one than RAW.

1) On The Dole (2011)

2) Tearaway (2014)

3) If This Is Love (2008)

4) Imitation (2014)

5) D.U. (2010) 

6) Hey You (2018)

7) Judas Kiss (2010)

8) Glad You Got Away (2011)

9) He'll Be Far From You (2008)

10) Wild And Free (2018)

2008: Good Advice: 3, 9

2010: What Am I?: 5, 7

2011: Crack On: 1, 8

2014: Anti Social: 2, 4

2018: Backwards: 6, 10

RAW (30:59)