Eat Our Dust Weller! Golden Brown At Number One (6th February 1982)

Being a bit of a nerd I have been part of a pub quiz team (the same one no less) for 32 years! The pubs whose quizzes we have participated in invariably have a music round. One round theme that has reoccurred over the years runs along the lines of big songs that missed the No. 1 chart position, unjustly or not. The classic example is the dreadful 'Shaddap You Face', a novelty hit by the Australian/American Joe Dolce that kept the Ultravox anthem 'Vienna' off the coveted number one slot. Such was the overblown pomposity of the song that half of the UK's record buying public sniggered at such a turn of events and continue to do so more than forty years later!

The example relevant to these humble pages is that a race to No.1 between The Stranglers and The Jam (two of the biggest survivors of the first wave of punk) played out in early 1982 and this too has been a quiz question on several occasions. The problem for The Stranglers was that despite having achieved significant radio play for the first time in years with the quirky, out of character waltz of 'Golden Brown' the competition in February 1982 was stiff, specifically in the form of Weller's mob who released 'A Town Called Malice/Precious as a double A-side. Arguably The Jam were the biggest band in the UK at this time and 'Malice' saw The Jam at the top of their game, both in terms of Weller's lyricism as well as the musical punch they were then delivering. And so it was that the Official UK chart saw 'A Town Called Malice' streak up the chart (the single is seen here in the Melody Maker Chart as a new entry, straight in at number eight (as of 6th February)), rapidly reaching number one, thereby denying The Stranglers the greatest measure of chart success.

However, look closely at the singles chart below, the number one is no less than 'Golden Brown'! The music paper Melody Maker was always rather apart from its UK music weekly rivals, long being a champion of 'real musicianship' which roughly translated to folk and jazz. In this spirit of stubborn independence they continued to produce their own UK single and album chart that was not infrequently at odds with the Official UK Chart returns. So in a nutshell, 'Golden Brown' did reach No. 1.... you just have to look in the right places.

So, next time that particular question surfaces in a pub quiz, maybe I should point out the factual error.... but then again I might just get docked points for being an annoying smart arse!

As an aside, the Official UK Chart has also published a Top 40 of favourite No. 2s (record wise!). Take a look at the esteemed company that 'Golden Brown' is keeping. Sandwiched between James's 'Sit Down' (a song I loath!) and 'Waterloo Sunset' (one of the greatest British pop songs of all time). Seeing the Ray Davies composition there, a parallel comes to mind.... 'A Town Called Malice' is surely a 'Dead End Street' for the 1980's.

And even if 'Golden Brown was pipped at the post by 'Malice', it's no disgrace and I can think of a host of worse songs to lose out to.

'It's-a not so bad, it's-a nice-a place

Ah shaddap-a you face!'

The Gig That Mobilised Manchester? Lesser Free Trade Hall 20th July 1976

 

As much as I would love to conjure up a pristine recording of this famed gig I can't I am afraid. However, whilst this is not a new post (the link goes back to July 2023), such is the gravity of this particular anniversary it is worth directing people back to the 'I Swear I Was There' documentary DVD.

Having arranged a gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in June, Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto brought the Pistols back for a return fixture just six weeks later. This gig would be Buzzcocks first 'proper' gig (they weren't ready to play the June date)... oh and the actual first Buzzcocks gig occurred in April at the Bolton Institute of Technology.

Sex Pistols

(Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester 20th July 1976)

The story does not warrant a retelling here, watch the film for chapter and verse on that score. Suffice to say that if the 4th June gig was sparsely attended, the few that were there did a good job of spreading the word that something extraordinary was in the making and the return of the rag-tag cockney quartet was not something that the savvy ones should miss. And they didn't. On this night fifty years ago the Pistols played once more, watched by an audience that included the movers and shakers to be that would propel Manchester to a position of music prominence for the next 20 years or so.

It got press to from Jonh Ingham in the 31st July issue of Sounds too!

(Review from the collection of John Maher)

Here's the link to the DVD..... 'I Swear I Was There'.

What Brian Did Next - Tanz Der Youth Music Machine London 10th August 1978

 

This month, 'Vive Le Rock' magazine must be congratulated on the publication of their 'Damned Annual', a brilliant compilation of articles, interviews, Q&A sessions with key players in the band's long career. As good as the annual undoubtably is, it set me to thinking about all of the side projects, new bands etc etc that have an association with 'brand Damned'. It's a job for Pete Frame I reckon!

The White Cats

King

Doctors of Madness

Lords of the New Church

The Doomed

Naz Nomad

The Phantom Chords

The Sensible Grey Cells

Professor and the Madman

...

The list goes on and on.

One of the first new ventures was from Brian James who formed a band called Tanz Der Youth after departing from The Damned.

Sounds (20th May 1978)

New Musical Express (20th May 1978)

Record Mirror (20th May 1978)

Sounds (10th June 1978)

New Musical Express (30th September 1978)

Sounds (30th September 1978)

Blink and you will have missed them. In their brief existence they released one single on Radar Records, 'I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry' backed with 'Delay'. Their other 'achievement' was getting a support slot on Black Sabbath's 'Never Say Die!' tour, another short lived venture with TDY quitting the tour seven dates in after successive bottle receptions!

Although there is only one official release to their name, they left some traces in the record, in the form of this gig from August 1978 at the Music Machine in Camden and a John Peel Session (both released unofficially). 

So that was Tanz Der Youth, an sonic experiment that Brian's audience were perhaps not yet prepared for. The music very much brings to mind early XTC and Magazine, so quite a departure from anything that he had done with The Damned!

Next stop Euroman Cometh with his old pal Jean Jacques.

I have included what I believe to be the correct track listing on the artwork (versus the file names). Thanks to the original Dime uploader (theGrape).

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ggbhjZkf6LCbR3rX

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-QnMScNkyJuY1Lomm

The Damned's Phantasmagoria Is 41 Today!

 

There was a thread that appeared on the 'Punk's Not Dead, But I'm Not Far Off' FaceBook page today, the 41st anniversary of the release of 'Phantasmagoria' that was discussing whether or not it was a shit album! I was a little surprised by this. As a fan of pretty much everything that the band have done over the past 50 years, I have to say that I rate 'Phantasmagoria' pretty highly in the ranking of their studio albums.

It wasn't far into the '80s that punk was particularly out of vogue. With all of the frills of New Romanticism and an all pervading attitude of 'We Just Wanna Have Fun!' infecting the charts, there was little room for anger and chaos anymore. The same music writers who were extolling the virtues of punk a few years before now dismissed the music and the musicians as old hat and irrelevant. If you happened to be one of those old and down punk bands, there were just two options available... adapt or die. In the case of The Damned, other circumstances were coming into play. Sensible, the clown prince of punk, had stumbled into a solo career and was now the property of Saturday morning kid's TV programming. Moreover, the band were for a time without any record company backing. The future was not looking good. 

Then 'Phantasmagoria' happened and the band's fortunes were very much reversed. Fortunately, the band were old enough not to be recognised by a new cohort of the record buying public, but not too old to get airplay and TV time when the hits came. Thus is was that this album saved the band's life and for a time (admittedly a pretty short time) The Damned were once again the flavour of the month.

The Damned heeded the warnings and did indeed adapt. Not everyone followed that example.... think about The Clash!

It was a very different album from what came before it. But, there is no denying that it is one of the most consistent and complete albums that the band ever recorded.

I think that I read somewhere once that the album was very much admired by JJ at the time and was his Walkman (I'm sure he would have had one!) companion. Well, you've gotta keep an eye on the competition! 

So here is a recording from one of the dates from the so-called 'Big Tour' of 1985.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-uXEpgrWd3ZHyCc0t

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-XoHACc64kEfZ6NGy

Live At The Cathedral BBC Radio Interviews - Lynval Golding And Horace Panter (The Specials)

 

'Live From The Cathedral'... no surprises I have been playing this a lot this week. It is the perfect statement with which to conclude an extraordinary career. For sure, the rate of attrition within the band over the years has been rather high with the result that of the Magnificent 7 that rode out of Coventry in 1978, only three original members were there to play amongst the shattered spires of the old Coventry Cathedral back in July 2019. Down to three, but their power was not diminished. This fond live farewell is the perfect antidote to all of the political shit that we are wading through right now. It could be 1979.... only it's worse, much worse.

In the week of its release Lynval and Horace were to be seen, or rather heard hotfooting from station to station to plug the album on the airwaves. They talk of 2 Tone, Coventry and of course Terry.

In the words of Terry Hall, 'Love! Love! Love!'

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-dxhw7eci11esZLjs

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-pR4PoTotYm5iqWfY

Festival Hall Corby 23rd July 1980

 

I had a request last week from the Black Country which no sooner was it passed on than DomP was able to fulfil it. It was for The Stranglers in Corby in July 1980. It is a recording that has appeared on these pages in the past 2011. Here are those files again in FLAC format, with artwork and just a bit of Dom’s audio jiggery-pokery. Phil Coxon wrote some words about this gig for a tour diary piece that he did for the official website a few years back.

The band played Corby as a benefit for local steelworkers. This was quite unusual in that The Stranglers have never seemed to plat so many benefit gigs, but also Corby then as now has never been prominent on the live circuit. Nevertheless, The Stranglers were in the hall and playing songs for a song (the tickets were cheaply priced!). The circumstances of the gig should have been such that the evening could have been a fantastic event. Instead the band were treated to a punk rock style circa 1976 i.e. they faced a torrent of gob. The salivary flow persisted throughout the gig, much to the annoyance of the band who departed from the stage after a set of just 13 songs. Look at that set and imagine paying more attention to producing oral ammunition than listening to that! The mentality of some folk!?

And many thanks DomP!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-iJdgEJNhRRdRyP31

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Bh1VOmetKCxs3zS9

Tous Sur Le Pont Festival Blois 11th July 2007

 

 A second anniversary gig in one day! Here are the band at the Tous Sur Le Pont Festival in Blois in this day in 2007. Quite a nice sounding recording from what seems to have been quite a short lived festival (2003 to 2008) as sadly many of them seem to be.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-dz1OSqB6Xf2kwQ6F

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-HncBcNXdbyKKBx6r

For some reason the folder I have on my PC relating to this gig also includes a photo of Sid heartily  enjoying himself - I assume that it was taken at this festival.