Last One I Promise . . . Well Mebbie

This will be the last christmas track, well unlesss I have an urge to post something else.

I eventually got a copy of this on 7" single earlier this year while digging through the boxes on the floor in Head on one of my trips to Belfast. I already had the single sided seven with the vocal version but the choral version had alluded me up until then.

At the weekend I was thinking while making up a cd of Christmas tunes. Why didn't Blondie ever do a Christmas tune, if the Ramones could produce the brilliance that is  Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) what could Blondie have done?

Frightened Rabbit - It's Christmas So We'll Stop

Smiles In The Sunshine And Tears In The Rain

Right! we're off for part three of our summer vacances. This time a bit closer to home, Machrihanish,  probably less than a hundred miles as the crowflies but 169 miles and four and a half hours by road and we won't be detouring across the isle of Arran this time.

The week will either be spent on the beach playing football and building sandcastles and being eaten alive at night by midges or sitting in the caravan playing Connect 4 and impersonating Kofi Annan while Max and Leo try to batter lumps out of each other due to extreme boredom. Still I have a Brookmyre to finish and then Karl Marlentes Matterhorn to try and tackle.

As I am a lazy git and have been away much of this last week,  I have had no chance to do any posts not even a Friday dance one you will be glad to read, so nothing to see or hear here until either next Saturday or Sunday. We will not be coming home early this time I hope!

I will leave you with a track from a track from a tour only ep by Frightend Rabbit which features the dulcet tones of Tracyanne Campbell. I have been meaning to post acouple of early Camera Obscura tracks for a while now but just haven't gotten round to it.

Frightened Rabbit - Fuck This Place

Poke

This is the track I wanted to post on Sunday but the lyrics didn't exactly fit with wishing newly weds all the best for the future.

When you see Frightened Rabbit live, this is always a highlight, usually the first encore and Scott sings it solo with an acoustic guitar. I think that it is an absolutley beautiful piece of music with some of the saddest lyrics.

The Midnight Organ Fight and the live cd are albums that rarely a week will go by that I will not at least play two or three tracks off of. I wish I could say the same about the follow up, although a good album I don't have the same kind of affinity for it, I've tried but I think that I just love the second album too much.

Frightened Rabbit - Poke

Our Lips Are Sealed

Swiss Adam posted The Fun Boy Three last night and as soon as I saw the post this song popped into my mind not the superior Fun Boy Three version but this rather anaemic version by the Go-Go's.

The song was written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin and is the first track on the Go-Go's album, The Beauty And The Beat. In 2000 Rolling Stone put this in their top 100 Greatest Pop Songs Ever, the song is good but not that good, I could probably list a hundred Motown and Stax songs which are superior to this (no offence Terry), which just reinforces my view that Rolling Stone was always shit.

I had a mate at school, whose dad ordered Rolling Stone from John Menzies (we're talking the mid 80's) and remember reading it and thinking, this is pish, then again the guy mentioned did have albums by Melanie and the Grateful Dead and on their annual  two week vacation  to Florida would tape Radio M.O.R or whatever the fuck it was called   and B would make me sit and listen to it upon his return which was always a joy and just reinforced my love of Billy Bragg and Roddy Frame, but I digress.

The Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed 

and when we're on the subject of go-go girls

Frightened Rabbit - Go-Go Girls

Am I Really Such A Sadsack? Part One

I stopped by Crying All The Way To The Chip Shop, where londonlee has posted a scene from one of my favourite films of my youth, Diner. In the scene, Shrevie is trying to explain, albeit rather scarily the merits of his record collection and the importance of filing said pieces of vinyl to a rather ambivalent Beth (Ellen Barkin), the scene encapsulates rather well how serious some people take music and in the end you feel rather sorry for Shrevie and the pathetic specimen of a man that he is.

The only other film which, comes close to conveying the, some would say,  sorry life of the record collector is High Fidelity. When I first read the book there was a passage which got me to thinking, god I wish that would happen to me and I started to feel rather envious of Rob until I got a grip and reminded myself that it was a mere work of fiction but then again what if that happened. The scene was not in the finished film, however it has been posted on YouTube.

If you want to watch it you will have to click on the link as the embedding has been disabled for some reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Esanwk37c

I have always had a couple of problems with this scenario from the first time I read the book.

Firstly, the guy couldn't have thought that much of his collection in the first place if he left it and ran away with a young thing. Surely he knew what the consequences would be?

My second problem with the passage/scene is Rob's, frankly pathetic response when the wife says that she only wants fifty quid for the whole priceless collection. All that, "I couldn't do that to another collector" is bollocks, I don't know anybody who in that situation would walk away, no matter how straight your moral backbone was , it's sheer nonsense, you would be down at the cash machine in a shot, insisting that the lady go with you, just in case some other guy was to turn up while you were getting the cash. Anyway,  if you combine it with my highly plausible  argument in point one, then there really is no moral quandary anyway, as the guy didn't deserve the vinyl in the first place.

I used to have nightmares about coming home and finding that L, in a fit of pique had taken all of my records out and made one huge ashtray out of them in the back garden. It was my only worry. I have had to move them all on a couple of occasions and know exactly how much time and effort goes into shifting them, so I reasoned that if some burglar with such good taste managed to get them out of the house and whisked away without anybody being alerted then he (as it would most certainly be a male) deserved the haul.

A couple of years ago I was asked by somebody what record I would save if I only had time to get one out of the house? This thought troubled me, I would be so indecisive that the house would probably come crashing down around me while I was trying to choose. This preyed on my mind for quite a time until I came up with the solution.

So I bought 2 very good quality Swan flight cases, one which could holds 100 12" records and one which could hold 200" 7" ones.

A lot of difficult choices had to be made as to which records warranted inclusion in the boxes and the decisions were not made on financial value as quite a few of the records which are worth money such as the first Fireman album, were never in the running. It took some time but the contents haven't changed that much since then, there have been  a few old ones that have had to make way for certain new ones but no major upheavels. At the moment I am debating as to whether the mighty Fall should have a box all of their own or would it be enough just to save the vinyl I have in the boxes and the Peel sessions box set.

Anyway, to the point of the post, does this information and the further disclosures to be made make me a sadsack or just someone with a healthy interest in music? I know which L believes.

Here are 2 records from the afore mentioned boxes

From the 7" box

Frightened Rabbit -  Head Rolls Off

and the twelves

Slam - Positive Education

A Live Review Of Sorts.

I don't do concert reviews as I tend to spend my time just enjoying gigs as opposed to getting the set order correct and being in review mode, however Tart has asked me to report back on her 2 favorite bands, so I will. If you wish to find out details of running order etc you should have no trouble as there were at least 4 people, who to me looked like weans sitting on the pews of Queen's Hall furtively making notes in little pads all the way through

I made Edinburgh from the other side of Manchester in just over 3 hrs, not bad going. There I found that the doors did not open at 7 as on the tickets and found myself queuing to get into a gig for the first time in many a year.

The first band who's name I cannot remember did absolutely nothing for me, they weren't bad or anything just not my kind of thing. So sorry, I'm sure they're all great people but just not for me so I didn't pay very much attention to them but still kept quiet.

Meursault, on the other hand were guaranteed my undivided attention and for the rather short 25 minute set they did, they did not disappoint, they exceeded my expectations, especially A Small Stretch Of Land which was quite beautiful. I will need to investigate further because this short set has just whetted my appetite and will need to see them do a full set.

One thing though, why the fuck do people persist in talking all the way through the support act at gigs? I have come to hear the bands, all of them even the ones I don't particularly like and couldn't give a flying fuck how drunk you were last night or who you got off with. If you have no interest in the band stay in the fucking bar. It is the height of ignorance to stand/sit and talk all the way through.

The feirt bunnies were given a rapturous welcome and indeed the crowd sang along and clapped out of time with the music so much so that at one point L thought that she was at a Runrig concert, having never frequented one I don't know what she was on about. The band were excellent and the 3 new tunes for the album which according to Scott is completed albeit with at least one song still untitled were very promising and I look forward to hearing in full as soon as possible. One grumble though, I did not like the version of Backwards Walk, always one my favorites, it lost all of the melancholy. Apart from that and the arseholes talking all the way through Meursault a wonderful night was had by all.

Frightened Rabbit - My Backwards Walk (Daytrotter session)

Finally I May Get To See Meursault Live

Tonight I'm off to see Frightened Rabbit as part of the music bit of the Festival but I'm more excited about finally getting to see Meursault, well I may get to see them. My boss decided to arrange the team meeting for today which would have been all well and good in the past as they were held in Edinburgh however the changes that were made whilst I was on holiday resulted in me joining a new team who have their meetings in Manchester, bugger. Not taking any chances on cancelled flights by FlyMaybe as soon as the meeting is over I will be on the M6 and trying to beat the Manchester to Edinburgh land speed record.

Frightened Rabbit - Heads Roll Off

Meursault - Nothing Broke

2 Gigs, One Day

Today myself and the better half are taking in not one gig but two.

At 4pm we will be at the Captain's Rest to see Frightened Rabbit, I have been so looking forward to this, you would think that it was The Fall that was playing. I had the good fortune to see them 3 times last year and they got better each time. I think seeing them in such a small venue may be something special.

Then off to Stravaigin for some excellent food and to meet the unfortunates that didn't get tickets for the "feart bunnies" as my mate calls them but did get tickets for round 2.

Then it's off to the QMU to see Airborne Toxic Event.

What makes it even better is that this is the first time that L has seen either, as being pregnant for a good part of last year she really couldn't be bothered with gigging.

Frightened Rabbit - Heads Roll Off (live) - I implore you to buy this album, even if you have the Midnight Organ Fight, as it is absolutely wonderful.

Airborne Toxic Event - The Winning Side

I also can't recommend the Airborne Toxic Event album enough either.

If you don't buy either of these albums but illegally download them don't come moaning to me when all you have to listen to is U2 or the latest X Factor guff.

Happy Days!

I have been finding it difficult to keep up this positive attitude as the week has progressed. Being incapable of not listening to the news or reading the Guardian has not helped. However yesterday I did find a reason to be cheerful.

Having failed to get tickets at the beginning of this year for the Frightened Rabbit gig at the Captain's Rest on the 31st of March I was pretty pissed off, as I had bought on import the cd of a recording by the band on a previous occasion at this pub which gave me an idea of how good it would have been to see them in such an intimate venue.

I received an email informing me that Frightened Rabbit have added a matinee show on the same date. Without consulting the better half I was on to ticketweb to purchase 2 tickets for the gig. Only after doing so did I put 2 and 2 together and realize that my wife and I would now be seeing 2 different gigs on the 31st of March. As after seeing Airborne Toxic Event a few weeks ago I decided that L really needed to see them and got us tickets for their gig at Oran Mor ( now changed to the QM) on , you've guessed it the 31st of March.

Now all I have to do is get the day off work, find a baby sitter willing to look after a 3 month old baby from 2 pm to 11ish and someone to pick my eldest up from school and everything will be sorted, easy!

It's quite weird because the last time I saw Frightened Rabbit, was the 30th November 08 and the support that night was Airborne Toxic Event.

Anyway I'm not going to post either Frightened Rabbit or Airborne Toxic Event as everybody should now have these albums and if you don't shame on you and why the fuck not? Also I don't want the same to happen to me as happened to the Vinyl Villain the other day (see here) which was pish in my humble opinion.

Sp----------d - Oh Happy Day (the band in question's lawyers also seem to be quite litigious, hence the spaces)