Massive Waits...And Then Boots On The Ground

Massive Attack.

Tom Waits.

Does any more need to be said?

(Post script, Friday 17th)

As it happens, yes, as a few hours later the full length length version and accompanying video was released.

Ol' 55

Tom Waits for no man... but he's always there for me.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Dave-hed Selection

In the same month that we lost David Lynch and David Bowie, I also take a moment to remember my friend Dave. 

When I first posted about Dave in 2022, I shared a link to a song called Amazing Dave by CocknBullKid aka Anita Blay aka CocknBullKid released in 2010, the year after Dave passed. 

At the time I wrote that "This may be the only song in my collection that includes the name Dave in the title, but it's a good one."

I've had a rummage around and, looking for Dave and David in the song title, it turns out that I had quite a few to choose from. I've picked ten, plus two songs featuring two Daves and a David, which had to be included. And, inevitably, ending with CocknBullKid.

I think after an understandable groan, Dave would have liked this selection. I hope you do too.

Cheers, Dave. 

 

1) A Song Called Dave: The Comsat Angels (1995)

2) David Bowie Never Had To: Stephen Solo (2017)

3) Like Queer David: Earl Brutus (1996)

4) David Jones (Is On His Way): The Times (1985)

5) Parade (Cover of Magazine): Dave Formula ft. David McAlmont (2010)

6) Dave Balfe, What's Got Into You? (Tamworth Session, Part II): Julian Cope & The Teardrop Explodes (2021)

7) David's Last Summer: Pulp (1994)

8) David's Soul (Demo): Tindersticks (1998)

9) Star Of David: The Field Mice (1991)

10) Brother: Humanist ft. Dave Gahan (2024)

11) Dave The Butcher: Tom Waits (1983)

12) Amazing Dave: CocknBullKid (2010)

1983: Swordfishtrombones: 11

1985: Boys About Town EP: 4

1991: For Keeps: 9

1994: His 'n' Hers: 7

1995: The Glamour: 1

1996: I'm New EP: 3

2004: Simple Pleasure (Expanded Edition): 8

2010: Amazing Dave EP: 12

2010: Satellite Sweetheart: 5

2017: Pii2: 2

2021: Cold War Psychedelia: 6

2024: On The Edge Of A Lost And Lonely World: 10

Dave-hed Selection (46:13) (KF) (Mega)

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)

Gin Your Bum

Never one to pass up the opportunity of shoehorning in a bad pun, spoonerism or in today's case a malapropism, this post offers up a trio of tunes based on gin.

"Gin makes you maudlin," I was once advised by a sage/soak in a pub and apart from the occasional batch of homemade sloe gin or rhubarb gin*, I rarely touch the stuff.

 

Trawling my music collection, I am spoilt for choice when it comes to wine, beer or whisky. Less so for gin, it appears. 

 

However, in November 1999 The Divine Comedy unleashed a classic standalone single to promote a Best Of compilation, with Gin Soaked Boy. There was even a moody monochrome video featuring Neil Hannon watching horse racing! But, as ever, the real star turn is Hannon's handy way with a lyric. I love this song.

No relation of course to the equally wonderful Gin Soaked Boy by Tom Waits from his 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.

Next up is Pet Shop Boys with a fabulous B-side from 2009 titled Gin And Jag. I hadn't particularly followed the Boys' career and was particularly negligent in the 21st Century. Thank goodness then for JC over at The Vinyl Villain, who provided a year long, comprehensive series focusing on PSB singles. 

 

I got to hear Gin And Jag for the first time in May 2023 when it was featured in Part 19 of the series. JC included the song's lyrics, introducing Gin And Jag as "one of those songs which benefits from repeated listens." And he's right of course.

As the song inevitably doesn't have an official video and all of the YouTube clips feature a static image, I've instead plumped for a fan-made remix, which at least has gone to the additional effort of some animated/slideshow stills.

JBoy's Dusk Remix of Gin And Jag dates from 2011 and is one of only two videos/remixes (both PSB) posted to YouTube by JBoyOTown, to give them their full nom de plume. The original was downtempo, this ups the beats a little, giving it a slightly more trip hop feel and stripping away some of the layers of the studio version whilst retaining Neil Tennant's full vocals and acerbic lyrics. A good effort.

Given the loose gin theme, I feel obliged to include US pop rockers Gin Blossoms, who were apparently big in the early 1990s, split in 1997 and reformed in 2001 (arguably a shorter gap than many artists leave between albums, but there you are) and apparently continuing to this day.

Found Out About You is the sole song by Gin Blossoms in my music collection. No idea how I came about owning it, but I can tell you that it was originally released in 1989 for the debut album Dusted. 

 

This is a re-recorded version, released as a single and featured on breakthrough album New Miserable Experience. Single and album peaked in the UK at #40 (April 1994) and #53 (March 1994) respectively.

Based on this return visit, I remain unlikely to seek out further Gin Blossoms experiences unless someone suggests otherwise.

Anyway, don't be maudlin, it's Thursday and apparently Thursday's child has far to go! Just don't forget to come back here tomorrow for some Friday loving and giving.

* It probably doesn't need to be said, but I don't actually make the gin. It's the cheap, shop-bought stuff, infused for up to 12 months with rhubarb that I've plucked from the garden in the summer or sloes that I've foraged in the wild, just after the first frost of the year. What I like about both is that they don't taste of gin in the slightest.

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)

7 To 10 Inches Longer

Side 2 of a mixtape, originally recorded 5th October 1997, collecting tracks from various 7" and 10" vinyl records, pops and crackles intact on several. Even more than an album or 12" single, there's something special about putting a 7" or 10" single on a turntable and listening to just one or two songs in succession. In the 1980s, music rags like NME, Sounds, Record Mirror and Melody Maker would occasionally tape a free 7" single to the front cover and these were often my first (and sometimes only) experience of an artist's music. 

 

Some tracks inevitably turned up on a subsequent album (Iggy Pop, Tom Waits) or deluxe reissue and/or compilation (The Woodentops, The Jesus & Mary Chain). Some remain rare and wonderful, such as one of the great lost B-sides from Prefab Sprout. The Jack Rubies and Westworld remain highlights, though I bought very little else by either of them afterwards. A quarter of a century on, for such a hotpotch of songs and artists, I quite like this collection as a whole. I hope you do too.

 

1) I Give To You (Elemental) (Remix By Barry Adamson & PK aka Paul Kendall): Nitzer Ebb (I Give To You 10") (1991)

2) Hey! Luciani (Original Version By John Leckie): The Fall (Sounds Showcase 1 7") (1987)

3) Move Me (Long Version) (Remix By Godwin Logie): The Woodentops (Everyday Living ltd 2x 7") (1986) 

4) Hot Meat (Single Version) (aka Coldsweat (Version)): The Sugarcubes (Regina ltd 7") (1989)

5) Vendetta: Prefab Sprout (Cars And Girls 10") (1988)

6) Vegas Throat Stomp: The Jack Rubies (Sonic Sounds 1 7") (1987)

7) F***in' Alone: Iggy Pop (Beside You 10") (1993)

8) Nasty 'n' Cheap (Remix By Mark Ferda): Westworld (Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo ltd 2x 10") (1987)

9) Hallelujah (In Out Mix By Steve Lillywhite): Happy Mondays ft. Kirsty MacColl (Madchester Rave On ltd 7") (1989)

10) Shake: The Jesus & Mary Chain (Happy When It Rains 10") (1987)

11) A Little Rain: Tom Waits (Goin' Out West 10") (1992)

12) Come On Home (Album Version): Everything But The Girl (Come On Home 7") (1986)

Side Two (45:17)

Side One here

W.O.R.K. Is A Four Letter Word

After what simultaneously seems like a long time and no time at all at home, Christmas and New Year is well and truly over and I'm back at work. I've mixed feelings, but today's selection will get me through the commute, at least.

Sadly, I couldn't find a place for this stone cold classic.

1) Welcome To The Working Week: Elvis Costello (1977)

2) Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad: The Clash (1978) 

3) Don't Work That Hard: Scritti Politti (1985)

4) Women Around The World At Work (Album Version): Martha & The Muffins (1981)

5) From Bed To Work: Pony Club (2004)

6) Hard Work: Teitur (2013)

7) Finest Worksong (Album Version): R.E.M. (1987)

8) Model Worker (Live @ The Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica): Magazine (1980)

9) Barnaby, Hardly Working (Version): Yo La Tengo (1989)

10) All Work And No Play (Extended Mix): Hüsker Dü (1986)

11) I Work In A Health Spa: The Go-Betweens (1986)

12) Right To Work: Chelsea (1977)

13) Birth, School, Work, Death (Extended Mix): The Godfathers (1989)

14) This Woman's Work (Director's Cut Version): Kate Bush (2011)

15) How To Hate The Working Classes: Luke Haines (2001)

16) I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue): Tom Waits (1976)

17) Fit And Working Again: The Fall (1981)

18) Let's Work Together: Canned Heat (1969)

19) At Home, At Work, At Play: Sparks (1974)

 

1969: Let's Work Together 7": 18

1974: Propaganda: 19 

1976: Small Change: 16

1977: My Aim Is True: 1

1978: Give 'Em Enough Rope: 2 

1978: The Outrageous Soundtrack From The Motion Picture "Jubilee": 12

1981: Slates: 17

1981: This Is The Ice Age: 4 

1981: Urgh! A Music War: 8

1985: Cupid & Psyche 85: 3

1986: Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely 12": 10

1987: Document: 7 

1989: Out On The Floor EP: 13

1989: President Yo La Tengo: 9

2001: Christie Malry's Own Double Entry. OST: 15

2004: Family Business: 5

2004: Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express (Expanded Edition): 11 

2011: Director's Cut: 14

2013: Story Music: 6

W.O.R.K. Is A Four Letter Word (1:14:19)

We'll Find A New Way Of Living

Farewell, Stephen Sondheim, one of the greatest songwriters of all time. A quick look and I found I have surprisingly few of his songs - all cover versions, no original cast recordings - but his songs have resonated through so many decades of my life.

 

Of my paltry collection, including Grace Jones' discofied version of Send In The Clowns, several mixes of Losing My Mind by Liza Minnelli and Little Richard's 1990s take on I Feel Pretty, there was really only one choice.

 

Somewhere (From "West Side Story"): Tom Waits (1978)

I've also got the Pet Shop Boys' version of Somewhere, but only the frenetic Trouser Enthusiasts' Single Mix and I think I need to wake up a bit more before I'm ready for that...

 

The lyrics from the original 1957 Broadway production:

 

There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us, somewhere.

There's a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time to spare,
Time to learn, time to care.

Some day,
Somewhere,
We'll find a new way of living,
We'll find a way of forgiving.
Somewhere,
Somewhere . . .

There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!