A True Rock'n'Roll Rebel....

Today would have been the 84th birthday of one of the greatest guitarists of all, Link Wray. Hard to believe now that back in '58 "Rumble" was banned from the radio for fear that it might incite gang violence.

Most people may know him as the “Rumble Man”,but he was way more than just that one song. His influence on guitar players is heard all around the world and his presence is heard everyday by people who don’t even know his name. Link broke the mould, if Rock and Roll is the sound of rebellion, then the world of  Rock and Roll owes a lifetime debt to Link Wray's importance as a truly iconic figure of electric guitar history.

Link Wray put the dirt,the grime,the true rebelliousness into rock’n’roll...

Answer Me, Why Won't You Answer Me?

 

I started working in record stores back in the late 80's, not long after I discovered the joys of gigs. My first full year with a music "specialist" was 1989 and even now some of the music from that year gets a regular spin. 

De La Soul released the groundbreaking Three Feet High and Rising , Lou Reed released his finest album in years with New York , The Pixies released their classic Doolittle as well as cracking albums from The Blue Nile, The Mary Chain, The Wedding Present and The Cure. It was such a good year that even Dylan and The Stones managed to release great albums with Oh Mercy and Steel Wheels respectively.

But for me the album of '89 has to be Technique where the mighty New Order perfected their irresistible blend of guitar and dance music. Many a day was passed in the store listening to an album that is somehow simultaneously depressing and uplifting. Every second of this music is perfect and even if Barney is never going to win an awards for singer of the year he should be recognised for his lyrics which perfectly complement the music. This album put New Order firmly at the forefront of the burgeoning Madchester scene with all the young whippersnappers getting all the glory but Barney, Hooky et al knew that they were the real Kings Of Manchester.

New Order -  Run

My Hands Are Held Up High.....

And as expected fun was had.................

Having never seen The Selecter live I wasn't sure what to expect but I wasn't disappointed. While not as popular as The Specials, Madness or The Beat you still sometimes forget what great songs The Selecter had and they pulled out all the big guns tonight. Too Much Pressure, Three Minute Hero, On My Radio and many more still sounded incredibly fresh and exciting. Glad to see there were a lot of pork pie hats on show, although mostly from people the wrong side of 50. Still everyone seemed to enjoy the show. The band were tight, Pauline Black sounded great and overall a great gig.

The following night saw The Alarm hit the stage at the same venue and Mike Peters and co were up for it right from the off. Two hours later and the energy was still bouncing off the stage. Yes, they are a bit pompous and po faced but they know how to write a tune and produced all the biggies at Oran Mor. 68 Guns, Blaze Of Glory (cue : hands in the air !!!), Absolute Reality and many more assisted in me losing my voice for most of the following day.

More and more I am really loving Oran Mor as a venue and it now seems to be the venue of choice for a lot of acts which can only be a good thing.

Nostalgia Rules Ok...............

This weekend sees a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. Two gigs in two nights from bands that I sort of grew up with.

Some friends I have known for years see The Alarm as a bit pompous and they probably are but I've always had a soft spot for them and have somehow managed never to see them live. All that will change on Saturday at Oran Mor where I will have my hands raised aloft belting out the words to Blaze Of Glory. Cannae wait for a bit of pompous, overblown nostalgia on Saturday.

I was a tad too young to fully appreciate The Selecter back in the day being only about 11 when they burst onto the scene. Despite my tender years I still had the skinny tie and the pork pie hat that I proudly wore to my weekly under 18's disco (do they still call them that ?). I was more of a Madness and Specials fan but still vaguely recall having a dance to Three Minute Hero at said disco.

Not sure what to expect either night but fun will be had.........

 

Rock On Scotland....

Having just finished reading today's Sunday Herald article on the top 50 Scottish albums of 2012 I proceeded to Spotify to have a listen to some of them just to see if in the words of said paper's Alan Morrison "it's hard not to agree that something special is happening".

After a couple of hours listening to as many of the featured bands as time would allow I would have to agree that the music coming out of this small country of ours is every bit as good as what is happening elsewhere in music at the moment.

I would also have to agree with Alan that "Scotland is home to people who lead their musical field. For reasons mentioned at the start of December I have missed out on a lot of new music this year but will try and rectify that in 2013. To be honest a good majority of the bands listed in the Top 5o are largely unknown to me but quite a few will be investigated further in 2013.

How I managed to bypass the likes of The Unwinding Hours, We Are The Physics and Lau I do not know. However as I've always had a soft spot for a short, sharp tune  special mention must go to Chris Devotion and the Expectations' distillation of the finer moments of modern purveyors of the two and a half minute tune such as The Gaslight Anthem and The Hives.

As I will have no internet access tomorrow I would like to wish all the visitors to the site all the best for 2013 and hope to god that it is far better than the year that is thankfully almost over.

Happy New Year one and all, when it comes....

Live Is Life...

Once upon a time in  a faraway place...in fact it was just the other night we were reminiscing in the pub (as you do) about first and best gigs. You know the kind of night where you get a couple of slightly inebriated blokes of a certain age who love their music and whenever the opportunity arises they start talking bollocks about their fave tunes, albums, singers, gigs etc...

I genuinely feel blessed to have been to the amount of gigs over the years that I have. I was a relative latecomer to the gig scene, going to my first gig at the age of sixteen. I had always loved music but going to see a live band was a whole new experience. Anyways my first taste of live music was The Cramps at the ever wonderful Glasgow Barrowland. One of the best live bands ever at one of the best venues ever. It could only really go downhill from there but fortunately it didn't.

Within a few months I had seen New Order, The Wedding Present, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stranglers and New York's finest, The Ramones. Just in case anyone was thinking that it was a role call of all that was good in music at the time suffice to say I did go and see a lot of pish also - step forward Fields Of The Nephilim, The Mission and many other equally dodgy bands...

Picking a fave in over 20 years of gig going is of course very subjective and nigh on impossible to choose. Would it be The Strokes at King Tuts, Springsteen at Hampden, Edwyn Collins return to live performance at Oran Mor, The Pixies at the QMU. Who knows really but what I do know is that I owe a big thank you to the lads who persuaded me to go to see The Cramps all those years ago for instilling in me a lifelong passion to see someone perform live no matter whether it is in a tiny backroom pub or a stadium.

And yes, like the great man Peely I will still be traipsing along to see some live music when most "normal" people have chose to grow up.

Easy Pieces...

I did not intend on posting anything tonight but when I came in from work I put on an album that I had not listened to for years and thought I might as well post some musings on it.

Easy Pieces originally came out in November 1985 as the follow up to, in my opinion, one of the best debut albums of all time in Rattlesnakes. The mood is definitely more melancholy than Rattlesnakes but also contains some of his best "pop" songs in tracks like Lost Weekend. Many of the tracks are as good as those on Rattlesnakes but overall it somehow lacks the consistency of their debut offering. Tracks like Brand New Friend and Rich are amongst the best tracks Lloyd Cole has released and the album as a whole has some of his best tunes and lyrics. Something about the album reminds me of Aztec Camera's second album Knife. Not musically, just the difficulty of following up a classic album and releasing one with many great tunes but not quite matching the wonder of their debuts.

Sadly the album appears to be unavailableat the moment but if you can get hold of a copy it's well worth investigating.

It's That Time Again....

Anyone who took the time to view Spools Paradise over the last couple of years will have noticed that I have not posted anything since Feb 27th. This is neither the time or place to bore everyone with the reasons for my "enforced absence". All I will say is that my life has changed beyond all recognition due to the break up of my marriage and that I have not really had the motivation to post anything since Feb.

However a very dear friend persuaded me the other night to do a Best Of 2012 posting. I have probably listened to less music this year than any other year in the last 30 odd years but there have been some absolute gems that have excited me in 2012.

More so than any other year recently I have found myself reverting to the safety net of familiarity so the role call this year of my faves mostly comprises artists that I have listened to over the years who have produced some of the best work of 2012...

Dexys returned with Mick Talbot on board and produced one of the most rousing and soulful albums of the year. Most people I know either love or hate Dylan. I personally fall into the former and this year he released his 35th album and somehow managed to compress a century worth of American music into an hour or so. Patti Smith returned with Banga , an album full of honesty, optimism and that eternally stunning voice that was one of the year's delights. Weller continues to experiment, Paul Buchanan released his first solo album of contemporary late night piano ballads and Springsteen released the "unofficial" follow up to Born In The USA in the wonderful Wrecking Ball. As far as new albums go my fave has been Boys and Girls from Alabama Shakes. Voice of the year must go to Britany Howard. There's nothing formulaic going on on Boys & Girls despite its lack of originality. It may not be the most original album released this year with hints of Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Otis Redding, The Stones, Creedence and many others throughout but it is still a stunning, raw, emotive debut. I saw them live a few weeks back at The Barras and they were even better live where the songs really came to life and Brittany could really let rip and showcase that voice to full effect.

Hello Goodbye....

For personal reasons I shall be taking a break from Spools Paradise for, hopefully, a short while. As anyone who reads the blog on a fairly regular basis will know my recent posts have been few and far between which is for the same reason.

I love doing the blog and will still try and do the odd posting here and there as well as still trying to check out all the fine blogs that are on the Paradise Links section on the right hand side of the blog.

Much as I love doing the blog, however, sometimes there are more important things in life and whilst I try to sort those things out the blog will have to take a back seat.

Finally I just want to say a big thanks to all those who regularly view and support the blog - you know who you are - it is very much appreciated.

Soothing Sunday....

Sometimes you don't really need to write anything to accompany a wonderful piece of music....this is one such occasion...

Simply sublime for a Sunday morning...

The Impressions - Young Mods Forgotten Story