Big Rock Candy Mountain....

There have been a couple of articles in the papers over the last week or so about plans to create a state of the art Scottish Rock 'n' Roll museum and Hall Of Fame next to the new Transport Museum on the Clyde. This blog does not need to tell people about the wealth of musical talent (and Wet Wet Wet!!) to come out Scotland over the last 50 odd years so it is about time that it was celebrated in this way.

In last week's Sunday Herald there is a family tree of Scottish Rock 'n' Roll that doesn't just concentrate on the big name bands but has the likes of The Pastels, BMX Bandits, The Delgados and Arab Strap amongst many others.

As with things of this nature there are inevitably going to be bands that were not included who deserve a seat at the table... step forward Alex Taylor

Alex deserves her place for her work with The Shop Assistants but also for producing one of the best singles released by any Scottish band in Big Rock Candy Mountain.

The Motorcycle Boy were formed in East Kilbride by Alex and ex members of Meat Whiplash and in '87 released the classic Big Rock Candy Mountain which sadly proved to be their highpoint. After signing to Chrysalis and not fulfilling their potential they split in early 1990.

Big Rock Candy Mountain reached Number 2 in the Indie Chart and got to 21 in The Festive 50 and is up there with the finest to have come out of this small but musically vast country.

The Motorcycle Boy - Big Rock Candy Mountain
The Motorcycle Boy - His Latest Flame

Gil Scott-Heron 1949-2011

I have just heard the very sad news 'bout Gil Scott-Heron. Although he rejected the title of "Godfather Of Rap" there is no doubting the influence that he had and still has on the hip hop/rap scene both musically and lyrically, being one of the first musicians to explore the social and political issues of his day. Gil Scott preferred to think of his music as "bluesology" or quite simply "black American music".

Whatever way it is labelled there is no question that he inspired a generation of musicians and along with Curtis Mayfield is one of the unsung heroes of black music. His most famous works are the tracks he recorded in the 70's that reflected the turbulence and uncertainty of the times with music that was at turns angry, defiant and regretful with some of the finest poetical commentary committed to record by any musician.

I first came across Gil Scott-Heron in the late 1980's when, after hearing his name being bandied about by the likes of Del La Soul and Chuck D, I picked up a copy on vinyl of The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron for 50p in a record store's closing down sale and was instantly a fan. Turned out to be one of the best 50p's I spent on a record and still gets a regular spin in these quarters.

After releasing no new studio material for 16 years he came back last year with one of the best albums of 2010 in I'm New Here , an album that showed he was still capable of producing work of depth and soulfulness that few others could even dream of.

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Lady Day And John Coltrane
Me And The Devil

Good And Gone....

The Screaming Blue Messiahs' website describes them as an unholy amalgam of blues, punk, country and rockabilly. Sounds like a bloody amalgam to these ears. They first came to public notice through the great man, Peel who was a big fan of their debut single Good and Gone. Lead singer/guitarist Bill Carter came from the Pete townsend/Wilco Johnson school of guitar playing, attacking the guitar with barely contained ferocity.

Debut album, Gun Shy, was a much needed tonic at the time to the synth pop that was sweeping the nation in the mid 80's but despite Peel's best efforts and some blistering live shows the nation failed to succumb to Messiahs fever.

Screaming Blue Messiahs - Good and Gone

Sounds Waves 3....

I was always more of an N.M.E. or Melody Maker reader back in the day but would be partial to picking up a copy of Sounds when they had a 7" single stuck to the front cover. Quite often you would get live versions of tracks that were not available elsewhere so they were always worth getting hold of.

As a public service I feel it is my duty to post some of the tracks here for your listening pleasure. Both these tracks are from the A side of the 3rd single they gave away and feature 2 bands that have both featured before on Spools Paradise and therefore need no introduction....

Listen to that lovely crackle of vinyl....

The Sugarcubes - Motor Crash

The Wedding Present - Go Out And Get'Em Boy (Live At The Reading Majestic)

Spit 'N' Polish....

Following on from yesterday's post, the other CD I bought over in Stockholm comes courtesy of Glasgow's finest country/roots label Spit 'n' Polish. The label is a division of Shoeshine Records that specializes in all things country/folk/roots that started in 2000 with the album that John Peel described as "my favourite album of the last 10 years and possibly my life", Laura Cantrell's "Not The Trembin' Kind".

Don't know much else bout the label but the CD does have some pretty decent stuff on it including this cracking tune from Amy Rigby. After having a look on Wiki it turns out that Amy is married to Wreckless Eric and has been releasing solo material since 1996. Not quite sure how I have managed to miss Amy Rigby up 'til now but I can feel a bit of music buying coming upon me....

Amy Rigby - Don't Ever Change

A Bit Of Sunday Northern Soul....

I have just returned from a trip to Stockholm, hence the lack of postings for the last week. If we can manage it we try and do a city break annually and this year thought we would try somewhere a bit different to the places we normally go to like Paris or Prague. And as Stockholm had come highly recommended we thought why not give it a try. After being there for most of last week I can easily see why anyone we spoke to who had been there spoke so fondly of it. It is a truly beautiful European capital that is well worth visiting.

Obviously no city break is complete without visiting some record stores whilst there and Stockholm certainly had a few decent ones, in particular Larry's Corner and Pet Sounds are well worth an hour, or three, of your time.

I didn't buy as much as I expected as music, along with most other things in Stockholm is expensive but I did get a couple of decent compilations, the first of which was a Northern Soul which has about 30 tracks of which I could happily have posted almost every track as the standard is that good but have whittled it down to these 2 stonking tunes

Hope you enjoy....

The Cavaliers - Hold On To My Baby
Major Lance - Investigate

Trouble In The Heartlands....

The people of Scotland have now had a couple of days to reflect upon the seismic shift in the governance of the country. I doubt that many would have predicted last Wednesday that Scottish Labour would be defeated in so many of their traditional heartlands such as Hamilton, East Kilbride, Kirkcaldy and Shettleston. But as we all now know that is the reality of the new political landscape in Scotland.

For me the defining factor was the negativity of the Labour campaign vs the positivity of the SNP campaign. The majority of people that voted for the SNP did so because they have done a pretty decent job of running Scotland as a minority government and wanted to give them another 5 years to build upon their current record. What is perhaps most worrying for The Labour Party is the broad span of support that the SNP now have, with a strong support from traditionally left leaning voters who agree with their policies on issues such as Trident and their stance on tuition fees through to voters more to the right who support them on their low taxation policies on small businesses.

Labour's core support is still there, it is the fact that they are not appealing to voters outside of those who have always voted Labour that is of concern aligned with the fact that they have no clear leader in their ranks and no policies that are distinctive enough to show voters clear blue water between them and the Nationalists.

The voting system for the Scottish Parliament was designed so that no one party had a majority but this has also been turned on it's head. Let's hope that the SNP leadership remember that this brings great responsibility as well as a great opportunity. From the mutterings thus far they seem to realise this.

The Labour party in Scotland need to re-group and gets it's act together sooner rather than later and focus outside of it's client base in order to continue to play an important role in Scottish politics.

I think the Scottish electorate have made the right choice and have given a resounding vote of confidence to Alex Salmond and his team and sincerely hope that they continue to act in the best interests of all the people of Scotland.

Over and out - and no more politics on this blog for a while. After all this is a music blog so normal service will be resumed....

Passion, Pride and Honesty....

A couple of years back I purchased a USB Turntable with the intention of putting all my vinyl on to the P.C.

It did not really turn out that way however as I have mostly just used the turntable as just that, a turntable and nothing more. Which in it's own way has been great as I have not had an actual turntable for about 10 years so it has obviously been a joy to listen to some old vinyl that had not left their sleeves for a few years. But that is about to change as I am now going back back to the original reason for buying the turntable in the first place and starting to transfer some of that wonderful vinyl onto the P.C.

I also dusted down a couple of boxes of old 45's and thought that I would pop some tracks onto the P.C. and then, at random post some of them on here.

And this was the first random choice that came out the box....

The Truth - Confusion (Hits Us Every Time)

There is a piece inside the gatefold 7" single from Chris Page that sums the band up pretty well for anyone who doesn;t know much about them :

"At a time when so many groups have become too theatrical and too distant from their audiences, The Truth are a breath of fresh air. Passion, pride and honesty reflect in exhilarating music which comes directly from their heart and soul to the audience. Listen to the irrepressible beat, the up front rhythms of the guitar and the perfect backdrop of soulful rambling hammond organ."

That just about sums up perfectly what Dennis Greaves was trying to achieve with the band and although Greaves always came across as a bit "Weller Lite" they did produce a couple of great singles in the early 80's that deserve to be heard again.

Enough Is Enough....

I wasn't going to post anything on tomorrow's Scottish Parliament elections for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I don't normally do "personal" posts and secondly most people in Scotland are probably sick of hearing about the election daily for the last 6 weeks or so and just want it over and done with.

However after reading Drew's post over here I thought I would go against type and share my views with the great blogging public. Like Drew I am quite simply fed up having to justify why I have traditionally put my X next to a party that have, amongst many other failings, blindly taken us into an illegal war in Iraq, a party that is fully supportive of keeping Trident (and using Scotland's waters as a base), a party that still claims to be the party of "the working man" while jumping into bed with Murdoch and his ilk and a party that seem to endorse a "jobs for the boys" policy within the arms length organisations of Glasgow's City Council. Enough is enough, we need a party in power in Scotland who believe in and trust the Scottish people.

And yes, there are obviously differences in opinion between Scottish Labour and the Westminster Labour Party but I still feel that they do not always have the best interests of the Scottish people at heart and have ran one of the most negative campaigns in living memory and that there is only one place that I can with total conviction put my X tomorrow and that is for the party that I think has done a good job under sometimes difficult circumstances over the last 4 years and will best support the hard working people of this great country of ours.

In their leaders' words they have done "no bad" and fully deserve another chance to lead Scotland for the next 5 years.

And always remember there are countless millions of people all over the world who would, literally, die for the chance to vote so make full use of your votes and use them wisely.

Happy voting.

Nina Simone - Feeling Good

One From The Heart....

Combining Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle together for a movie soundtrack may not sound like the most likely pairing but as evidenced by the soundtrack to One From The Heart it somehow worked.

Crystal Gayle has one of the smoothest voices in music and suffice to say Tom Waits does not but when the two got together to record the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's movie she was the perfect foil to Waits' gravelly voice. The album contains some of Waits' most accessible and heartbreaking lyrics and the arrangements are very stylish and classy. Set over one night the album captures the thoughts of two lovers and easily stands on it's own rather just working as a movie soundtrack.

Some of Waits' finest songs are on this under-rated album with songs oozing with romance and elegance that are reminiscent of the finest music of the 1940's and fits in alongside other Waits albums such as Blue Valentine and Closing Time. The album seemed to herald the end of the first installment of Waits' career before he moved on to the more esoteric sounds that started with the wonderful Swordfishtrombones.

Dismissed by some Waits' purists, One From The Heart is simply an album of absolute beauty that deserves to be heard and enjoyed for what it is...