Miscellaneous - April/May 2005

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 21 / 6 / 2005

intro

In the latest instalment in his 'Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie'series, Dixie Ernill writes about the joys of compilation tapes at work and summer vinyl purchases

APRIL 2005 I always like April as it signals the start of Summer (in theory at least), but my time available to spend trawling round record shops is slashed as my Saturday afternoons are devoted to partaking in the honourable English pursuit of Cricket. As a result my rabid spending falls off, but I still manage to keep up to date with a clutch of new release singles each week. Feeder, Departure, Hard-Fi, Art Brut, the Editors, Thee Unstrung, the Rakes, the Others, Arcade Fire, VHS or Beta, Garbage, Razorlight, Paddingtons, Interpol, Tears, Athlete and the Forest all release 7” and all find their way to chez Dixie! Of the above the Editors 'Munich' and Arcade Fire 'Neighbourhood' really stand out, but I am still yet to hear the defining song of the year. The one that I play to death, but still love in years to come. This kind of brings me onto an interesting project I was set by a work colleague. As a recent policy change at work we have been allowed music playing whilst we indulge in the day to day grind of bean counting or whatever it is we do to earn our board and lodgings. As a result I have regularly subjected my fellow bean counters to the joys of my compilation tapes. Dazzling them with a heady mix of cult classics and obscure tracks from my collection, with the odd vaguely well known song (often Northern Soul or from the 60's) thrown in to prevent a lynching! Anyway, back to the task. A younger member of staff suggested I knock up a tape chronicling my favourite song from each of the last 25 years (1979 to 2004, as 2005 is only part way through). The only rule being that no artist could appear more than once except as part of a group and then as a solo artist (e.g. The Smiths & Morrissey). On the face of it it sounded easy, but when I got down to the nitty gritty I soon realised that there would be some tough decisions to make each year, especially in the mid 80’s when there was so much classic indie-pop to choose from. Another thing I also discovered was that if I were to choose 25 songs from the above era and could have the same artist several times, then it would be dominated by a few groups (The Smiths, the Brilliant Corners, the Wedding Present) and that the majority of the songs would be culled from 1983 to 1989. In case it is of interest, the list is here in full. I’m sure it’ll start a debate somewhere and I’m certain no one else’s list would be identical. That is why music is so fascinating:- 1979 – Boys Don’t Cry (The Cure) 1980 – Going Underground (The Jam) 1981 – Sorry For Laughing (Josef K) 1982 – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Soft Cell) 1983 – Talk About The Passion (REM) 1984 – What Difference Does It Make? (The Smiths) 1985 – Lost Weekend (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions) 1986 – Meet Me On Tuesdays (The Brilliant Corners) 1987 – Drive Drive Drive (The Man From Del Monte) 1988 – Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft (The Wedding Present) 1989 – I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses) 1990 – Hey!wire (Cud) 1991 – Still A World Away (The Popguns) 1992 – A To Fade In (Adorable) 1993 – City Sickness (The Tindersticks) 1994 – Now My Heart Is Full (Morrissey) 1995 – Olympian (Gene) 1996 – To Sir With Love (The Trash Can Sinatras) 1997 – Tranquilizer (Geneva) 1998 – 2.45 (Polak) 1999 – Titanic (I Am Kloot) 2000 – Come On Let’s Go (Broadcast) 2001 – NYC (Interpol) 2002 – Careless (Cinerama) 2003 – The Hippies Don’t Know (The Experimental Pop Band) 2004 – Lost The Plot (The Dears) On the live front, I catch up with 'At Swim Two Birds' in a basement café in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. It’s a bizarre, almost Bohemian, occasion with a select gathering of folk huddled into a small space to watch the singing half (Roger Quigley) of the Montgolfier Brothers performing in his solo project. It is a special show and certainly lights up an otherwise dull Sunday evening. I also find myself at a Cradle of Filth gig with a mate whom I often drag along with me to see complete unknowns, so I couldn’t really refuse. I’m not a metal fan, but as a visual spectacle it was okay(fire, dancing creatures, gothic theatre etc.). The final gig I see in April is I Am Kloot at the Ritz in Manchester. It’s the first time I’ve ever gone to a sold out gig without a ticket. As luck would have it, I meet a girl with a spare and so get in for cost price. The band lay on a decent spread of tracks from all three of their excellent albums and leave the home crowd fully satisfied. MAY 2005 May is a problem month when you’re trying to cut down on vinyl expenditure (as I am) because of the two bank holidays. Basically it gives me two days to snap up newly released records and then when Saturday comes it feels like a new week so I splash out again. I rack up an impressive (of sorts) 25 new singles and 5 new CDs and as a result the gig going is halted for a month. In truth there wasn’t really anyone I wanted to see, but I’m sure I would have found something if needs be. On the singles front, the Coral’s radio friendly 'In The Morning', Maximo Park’s buzzing 'Graffiti' with the genius “I’ll do graffiti if you sing to me in French” hook, the Magic Numbers’s feel good summer smash 'Forever Lost', Turin Brakes 'Fishing For A Dream', Doves’ dreamy 'Snowden', Amsterdam’s Peel-endorsed 'Does This Train Stop On Merseyside' and Anthony and the Johnsons’ mesmerising 'Hope There’s Someone' are the pick. There are also decent efforts from the Dears, Battle, Idlewild, the Killers (but as a previous b-side and the 1 billionth single from their LP it does lose some appeal – I mean there’s cashing in and there’s cashing in and that is blatant cashing in!), Coldplay (great song, but do they really need some no mark like me bigging them up?), the Rifles, Kaiser Chiefs, Arcade Fire, British Sea Power, Sons and Daughters, Bravery and new Manchester band, Keith (remember the name!). The other singles that don’t hit the mark despite some hype or tip off somewhere are the Futureheads (at best a beggarman’s Maximo Park), Stands (not as good as their earlier ones), Wolfman (don’t ask), White Stripes (I’ve got all the other UK singles and at 99p what’s the harm?), Demon Summer and Jose Gonzales (thanks for the tip Rob!). The Coral’s new LP, 'The Invisible Invasion', is reasonable stuff, but I’ve never really allowed myself to become immersed into their world and as such it’ll only ever be a solid 7 out of 10. Maximo Park’s debut LP, 'A Certain Trigger', is a different story. It is packed with urgent guitars, brilliant and sometimes odd lyrics and some great singles. Lines like “Your eyes look so big when so close” and “I’m not an acrobat, I can’t perform those tricks for you” could only have been written by someone who has endured the same moments of total longing for someone forever out of reach as I have. As such the album would be a fully deserved 9/10. Both come with bonus live discs, which is a trend that has recently started and long may it continue. I also secure a compilation of the Flatmates releases, on the hard-working Cherry Red label. Those familiar to this site will have read Martin Whitehead’s potted history of the Flatmates, but for the un-enlightened, they were a female-fronted Bristol based indie-pop band from the mid/late 80’s. They paved the way for the likes of the Darling Buds, the Primitives and Lush, but never got the recognition they deserved, which sadly is all too often the case. Definitely worth seeking out. God bless paypal as well this month as I make a vital purchase from overseas (The U S of A, no less) and get my itchy fingers on the two CD’s by cult New York combo, My Favorite (note US spelling). Having only heard two tracks previously and going off a biography that states that the singer has a fondness for 1980’s English indie bands, I am more than happy to part with a measly twenty quid (all in). I am not disappointed. They don’t turn out to be the bastard child of the Smiths (though one song does mention Morrissey & Marr!), the Brilliant Corners and the Popguns, but they do take elements from all and are a great find. So much for cutting down the spending this month…….still I’ll try to next month….yeah right!

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