Vinyl #41 - The Pretenders

I Go To Sleep - 7" single

I've always had a soft spot for The Pretenders, but usually their rockier stuff.

This is at the other end of the spectrum completely, not like their usual stuff. The clue is that it's a cover of a Ray Davies song who, of course, was Chrissie Hynde's partner at the time. It's a powerful and intense ballad.

Interestingly The Kinks never released a version, it was originally released by a band called The Applejacks (never heard of them!)

Here's the music: https://youtu.be/uIpfsMdf0LQ

Vinyl #40 - Sheila Hylton

"The Bed's Too Big Without You" (7" inch single)

I always liked The Police song "Bed's Too Big Without You" but in 1980 - a year after the original - this version was released on the always-reliable Island Records and I fell in love with it. 

I didn't know Sheila Hylton, not many people did as she was only a part-time singer when not working as an air hostess for Air Jamaica, but there's something about this version that works for me. The clue to that may be in the credits - arranged by the crack Jamaican rhythm team of Sly & Robbie; I've always loved their work whether it's Black Uhuru or Grace Jones. Produced by Harry J - again a legendary producer (remember 'The Liquidator' by Harry J's Allstars?).

So great song by Sting, no doubt about that, and I love both versions but this one just nips ahead.

Here's the music:  https://youtu.be/MHG-hI5tMbE

Vinyl #39 - The Jam

"The Modern World" (7" single)

One of the Jam's early singles, released in October 1977 (42 years ago!!) the only single off their second album. Already Paul Weller was marked out as a spokesperson for his generation and this song - part of his manifesto for youth over the 'old guard' - cemented that position further. Here's the music:
https://youtu.be/oWrd9XuSKZg

Just looking at the front cover of the picture sleeve underlines how young these guys were - Weller was 18 and still living in Woking with his parents. The maturity of his lyrics and the power of the songs marked The Jam out as something different. I saw The Jam in their prime in 1978 at Portsmouth Guildhall and for a three-piece they blew the place apart.

The Jam didn't really fit into the standard punk categorisation but their attitude was completely punk. Weller drew on all his influences though - soul, motown and mod -especially when shaping the sound and look of the band. Just look at the B-sides to this single, The Jam's live versions of two soul classics but played at break neck punk speed. Well worth a listen and showing that The Jam were never going to be pigeon-holed into a single musical genre. Remember these songs were recorded 11th September 1977 at the 100 Club on Oxford Street - the so-called 'home' of punk rock. Quite brilliant.

https://youtu.be/Hu1X2c3o8YQ

Vinyl #38 - Sex Pistols

"Never Mind The Bollocks" (album)

Decided to do something different this time with an album which I've been re-visiting. Not just any album though - one of my Top 3 albums ever.

It's hard to overstate the impact the Sex Pistols had on changing the face of popular music in the UK (and probably elsewhere). No Pistols - no Nirvana. no Foo Fighters, no Arctic Monkeys, no Idles, no numerous snivelling indie guitar bands that have followed. The Pistols set the future template by pressing 'reset' on the whole fat and overblown rock music industry in the 1970's where success was measured by the length of both the drum solo and the lead singers hair.

The Pistols made this one album before they imploded amongst death, squalor and recriminations and I for one am glad it ended then. They leave a perfect one album legacy. Forget the outtakes, bootlegs, live recordings and fairy tale rubbish subsequently recorded by the rotting corpse of the band - that's just corporate vultures wringing as much money they can out of the Pistols 'brand'. Forget the non-music antics, the swearing on TV, the circus that they became.

Instead let's focus on the one proper album they made. It has certainly lost none of it's edginess and power. It still captures the UK in 1977 but it still remains relevant and immediate. It still smacks you in the face, sonically and lyrically.

What makes it so good? Well it's the combination of Steve Jones's multi-layered power chords and his licks that sit in between the lines (Jones has been a criminally under-rated guitarist); Paul Cook's rocksteady and crashing beat and drum fills, and his unusually clever and frequent use of the ride cymbal; John Lydon's (nee Rotten) snarling, spitting vocals along with his nihilistic lyrics. And last but not least original bassist Glen Matlock's eye for a melody and a hook (the band effectively ceased musically when Matlock was sacked by McLaren for being 'too musical'; McLaren wanted a cartoon punk in the band and got one with Sid Vicious who couldn't even play the bass - the bass parts on 'Never Mind The Bollocks' are played by guitarist Steve Jones).

The production is a total wall of sound but never muddied, listening on headphones you get to hear these constituent parts in all their individual and combined glory.

The iconic album cover by artist Jamie Reid has been much copied but never bettered, it suited the contents perfectly.

The hype and 'notoriety' surrounding the Sex Pistols has unfortunately meant that most people's focus has not been on the music. It's worth revisiting this album which captured the punk zeitgeist in 40 minutes of perfect music and words.

Here's the music:

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm29866883

Vinyl #37 - Holly and The Italians

"Tell That Girl To Shut Up" (7" single)

Don't know a lot about this group, just a great catchy pop/rock single released at the tail end of 1979, I have a faded memory that I saw them supporting The Clash but I might be wrong.

I didn't buy anything else by her/them, but this single still stands the test of time.

I do know that Transvision Vamp recorded a version of it which became quite a big hit in the 1980's.

Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/mhV39CSf3CA

Vinyl #36 - Dead or Alive

"You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" - 7" single

A classic single that I liked the minute it was released in 1984. I was aware of Pete Burns from the Liverpool punk scene in the late 1970's but he never found fame until he wrote and sang this dance pop jewel.

It eventually went to number 1 in the charts and the key to it's catchiness is the names of the producers - the genius hit factory that is Stock, Aitken and Waterman (although it's mostly Pete Waterman who was responsible for this one). This was their first number one record before they went on to Kylie, Jason et al.

Of course Pete Burns could never really follow this tune (an impossible task) but he continue to find fame on TV and for other reasons until he died in 2016 aged just 57.

On a personal level, I remember dancing at clubs and parties to this record, it never failed to get people on the dance floor (that's still the case today). And I've always had a soft spot for song titles that (have parentheses).

Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/PGNiXGX2nLU

Vinyl #35 - John Lennon

"Nobody Told Me" (7" single)

Choosing between Lennon and McCartney is a bit like choosing between lager and bitter - sometimes I like one, other days I like the other. I've always admired Macca's purer pop writing, the sheer brilliance of the hooks; but on the other hand Lennon's agit-pop protest songs always had a deeper meaning and expressed his inner feelings with less shiny varnish.

So...this song is a strange one, it combines Lennon's poppier side with his usual lyrical dexterity. Recorded not long before his death, but not finished and released until some four years later, it did pretty well in the charts as I recall. I wouldn't call it typical Lennon, it's just a cracking tune.

I've never listened to the B side I'm afraid as I don't rate Yoko as a musician.

Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/cuuhsqA95iA

Vinyl #34 - Bob Marley & The Wailers

"Could You Be Loved" (7" single)

This single sparks a lot of memories. Specifically​,​ dancing to it on a Saturday night at Nero's, the premier (ahem) nightclub in Portsmouth, located opposite the pier in Southsea (since pulled down and replaced with a development of apartments on the land apparently owned by one Mr H​.​ Redknapp).

​This song was where Bob Marley broke ​out of the reggae-only brigade, cleverly maintaining his roots, but adding a gloss of commercialism which significantly widened his audience.

Anyway, I didn't care about all of that, I just danced to it on the multi-coloured uplit floor (think Saturday Night Fever) at Nero's. Happy daze.

It's a difficult song not to at least shake a leg at.

Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/g3t6YDnGXAc

Vinyl #33 - The Jam

"When You're Young"/"Smithers-Jones" (7" single)

Back in the days when bands regularly recorded and issued singles that were not included on albums, The Jam were one of the finest exponents of this fine thing to do.

'When You're Young' is arguably their finest 'stand-alone' single (although 'Strange Town' may run it close). A brilliant slab of Weller's anger-pop, a paean to youth, a celebration of not-being-old. 

Released in August 1979 just before my 17th birthday, it spoke directly to me and I lapped it up. Look at the picture sleeve, how young do Paul, Rick and Bruce look? The latter in classic mod black Fred Perry polo, Paul in paisley shirt a la Small Faces.

This was The Jam at their prime.

The B-side 'Smithers-Jones' is unusual in that it was written and sung by bassist Bruce Foxton (apart from the coda which Weller barks out). It's a very endearing tale of work and commuting, apparently based on his father as he undertook the daily slog to London only to be made redundant. This is the band version of the song, interestingly an orchestral (yes, orchestral!) version appears on The Jam's seminal near-concept album 'Setting Sons' released some three months later.

Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/kX2HHGIP3io

https://youtu.be/PMqm_UfONlE

Vinyl #32 - Patti Smith Group

"Because The Night" (7" single)

I'm not and never have been a great fan of Patti Smith's sonic output (the best thing she has done was her excellent memoirs book 'Just Kids').

However...her biggest hit is the exception - probably because it's co-written with Bruce Springsteen. It was actually a Bruce reject (he recorded a version for one of his early albums but rejected it, although since Patti had a hit with it he's since played it live) but Patti wrote a different set of lyrics and hey presto, a bona fide top 5 hit in the UK in 1978.

In fact it sounds like The Boss but with a woman's voice, the music is just like the E Street band, the driving melody keeps going and then lifts even higher. It's without doubt Patti Smith's best vocal performance and really is an all time classic single. Nice picture sleeve as well. Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/c_BcivBprM0

Vinyl #31 - Adam & The Ants

"Car Trouble" (7" single)

I'd really enjoyed Adam & The Ants 1979 album 'Dirk Wears White Sox' (I remember listening to it over and over at a girlfriend's house - she owned the album, I didn't). This was before Adam Ant hit the big time with his run of radio-friendly, chart-topping singles and albums. And before the make-up and tassles - dandy highwayman indeed!!

'Dirk Wears White Sox' is darker, seedier and much more left-field.

'Cartrouble' was one of the tracks on the album, and the single is a re-recorded version released in March 1980. It's much more radio-friendly and you can start to hear the mellowing of Adam into the pop star he became. The re-recording on the single is played by a different set of Ants than were on the album; it's the Ants who played on the big hits. So I've always seen this single as the sound of a band in transition - from cult act to mass market.

It's still a cracking song though, here it is:

https://youtu.be/moyoi0ysiE8

Vinyl #30 - Alternative TV

"Action Time Vision" (7" single)

Alternative TV were the brainchild of Mark Perry whose main claim to fame was in 1976 creating the first and best fanzine of the punk era - 'Sniffin' Glue'. A certain Danny Baker - a fellow Deptford boy - contributed with articles and we all know what happened to him. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniffin%27_Glue

Like me, Perry was a bank clerk in real life who like a lot of us wanted to play punk music rather than write about it (he managed it, it took me over 20 years!).

Most of ATV's music was pretty ordinary to be honest but I bought this 1978 single because I've always liked it's energy - typical punk/pop fare but that's no bad thing. It's the only thing I own by them, the front cover is a mini-classic too. Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/ysPSqtCaDAk

Vinyl #29 - Jonathan Richman

"Roadrunner" (7" single, no picture sleeve)



I saw Jonathan Richman live at a gig in Portsmouth a few years ago - just him and an acoustic guitar along with a drummer. Fantastic in a quirky, individual way. 

I'm pretty sure this was after he became semi-famous from his appearance up a tree singing the title track to the hit movie "There's something about Mary". See https://youtu.be/v1Ev4kebjq0

Several versions of "Roadrunner" were recorded in 1972 before this version was released and was a hit in 1977. Even this version was actually recorded in 1974, which just shows that there's a time and a place for everything. 

This was Richman's big hit (although he did have another one called "Egyptian Reggae") "Roadrunner" is classic early US indie rock, living the song's title with driving guitars, bass and drums - the early 70's influence of the Velvet Underground is very apparent. All delivered with Richman's quirky (that word again) vocal delivery. It was a great radio hit, and still stands up. It also features a brilliant ending (I love a good ending).

Interestingly the A-side (above) is credited to Jonathan Richman whilst the B-side (below) is yet another (slower) version credited to his backing band The Modern Lovers.

Here's "Roadrunner Once": https://youtu.be/6ZWoJ8_75Mo

And here's "Roadrunner Twice": https://youtu.be/lJAUoBe6K7A