Category: Alternative (Page 154 of 155)

The Teardrop Explodes: “Count To Ten And Run For Cover”

November 29, 2005 / Will Harris

Man, I’ve forgotten how many mix tapes I made for people that had this song as their title cut.

The Teardrop Explodes are mostly remembered for being Julian Cope’s baby, but most of the songs on Everybody Wants to Shag…The Teardrop Explodes were as much the work of one David Balfe, who co-founded Zoo Records with Bill “The KLF” Drummond. The material on Everybody Wants To Shag was originally recorded back in the early ’80s, but it didn’t see release until 1990. “Count to Ten and Run for Cover” is one of those songs that charges out of the gate and doesn’t stop until…well, until it’s over. A lot of the tracks on this disc have been described as “New Wave synth rock,” and that’s as good a description as any. It’s a right fist pounder.

Alternative, Deep Cuts, Songs

What’s next? Andy Rourke hocks his old set lists…?

November 29, 2005 / Will Harris

According to Morrissey-Solo.com, Mike Joyce – former drummer for the Smiths – was on BBC Radio 6 the other night, plugging the fact that he’s going to be selling a bunch of his rare Smiths stuff on eBay, apparently including tapes of heretofore-unreleased songs. (He played one of the tracks, an instrumental.)

I’m sure he’s going to be making claims that it’s all Morrissey and Marr’s fault for not splitting up royalties accordingly back in the old days, but, c’mon, man, you used to be the drummer for the Smiths, and you went on to play with th the Buzzcocks, Public Image Ltd., Sinead O’Connor, and Julian Cope, which I’m sure weren’t gigs you did out of the kindness of your heart. Where’d all the money go? Has it really reached the point where you have to start hocking memorabilia like this…?

Alternative, Artists, News

Whatever happened to…

November 28, 2005 / Will Harris

…the Real People?

They emerged in 1991, in that unfortunate time frame where anyone who wasn’t Nirvana was shit out of luck…but it was even worse if you were a Britpop band. This was post-Stone Roses and Happy Mondays but pre-Oasis and pre-Blur, and, buddy, if you can name more than a handful of British bands to emerge during that window, you either wrote for the NME or worked for a record store. But the Real People were the brainchild of Tony and Chris Griffiths, who knew how to write a great hook. Their first, self-titled disc was solid – the song “The Truth” remains one of the best pop songs of the early ’90s – but the second disc, “What’s On The Inside,” took five years to hit stores…and, although it was a strong, more Beatlesque effort, it came out on an indie label (Granite Records?) and never made it beyond UK release. (I stumbled upon my copy in NYC…and, for Shep Medskerbone’s amusement, I should note that I bought it the same day I picked up the Lightning Seeds’ “Dizzy Heights.”) After that, the band vanished into thin air. They don’t even have a website anymore, and searches for the individual band members doesn’t turn up much. The most recent information I can find comes from this interview, but it’s from 2001, suggests that the band were working on a new disc, but…it never emerged, apparently. There’s also a site that has photos from 2004, but the band’s own website seems nonexistent; it’s a message board that requires approval to access…but I requested approval 2 weeks ago and haven’t heard a word.

Come on, guys, wherefore art thou…?

Alternative, Lost Bands, Pop

XTC: “That’s Really Super, Supergirl”

November 28, 2005 / Will Harris

It’s arguable that there are no true deep cuts amongst the songs on Skylarking, the most popular of all XTC’s albums, but “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” isn’t generally one of the tracks that gets mentioned when the album is discussed. With percussion samples from Utopia’s Deface The Music – none too surprising when one recalls that Todd Rundgren was the album’s producer – it’s one of the best pop songs on the disc…and that’s high praise. Plus, you gotta love lyrics like, “That’s really super, Supergirl / How you’re changing all the world’s weather / But you couldn’t put us back together / Now I’m feeling like I’m tethered / Deep inside your Fortress of Solitude / Don’t mean to be rude / But I used to feel super.” For the record, there’s also a demo of the track on the fourth volume of Andy Partridge’s Fuzzy Warbles discs, where he claims, “That’s Streaky The Supercat on harmonica.” Possibly not…

Alternative, Deep Cuts, Pop, Songs

Bullz-Eye is caught by the fuzz

November 25, 2005 / David Medsker

It’s funny how a lack of mainstream success can be a good thing. Supergrass was one of the titans of England’s Brit Pop scene in the mid ‘90s, but while their peers went on to varying degrees of stardom in the States (Oasis had the big album, Blur had the big single, Elastica had the big beer jingle), the closest Supergrass got to mainstream success in the US was the inclusion of “Alright” on the “Clueless” soundtrack.

Call it a happy accident, then. Where those other bands have either imploded or become a shell of their former selves, Supergrass are still going strong. Their newest album, Road to Rouen, is one of their best yet. Bullz-Eye had a chat by phone with ‘Grass drummer Danny Goffey, who was at his home in merry old England, making dinner for his kids.

Bullz-Eye: Well, let’s get right to it, and talk about the new record. This is the album that I expected you to make the last time around.

Danny Goffey: Uh huh.

BE: It just seemed like a more logical progression from the third album than the previous one.

DG: We weren’t really too sure what we were doing (when making Life on Other Planets, the band’s previous album). Maybe if we didn’t have a producer last time, we may have been more accustomed to making an album like this. Um, we just wanted to do another kind of pop album rather than a straight-ahead album.

BE: That’s interesting, the comment about the producer. Was he forcing you to do more I Should Coco kind of stuff?

DG: Not really. I think at that time, we were more up for playing some hectic songs, the faster kind of songs, you know. I don’t think he forced us to do anything, we were just in a certain frame of mind.

BE: The songwriting on this album seems a lot different to me. Your songs have always been really direct in the past, but the song structures on this album felt a little more exploratory. Was that a conscious decision on your part, or did it just kind of happen?

DG: It was a kind of conscious decision to make an album that didn’t have a three- minute single, something that had more of a mellow vibe about it. There have been those obscure tracks that have been on the album that no one probably had heard, because people just buy our singles or see just what’s on the charts or on the radio. So yeah, we wanted to make sure that that side of us come out of us a bit more, you know, and that we didn’t just pick some radio friendly song to release.

You can read the rest of the interview with Danny Goffey here.

Alternative, Interviews