Halle Festival Belgium 16th July 2005

 

Here is a 'Norfolk Coast' heavy set from the band's appearance at the Halle Festival in Belgium back in the summer of 2005. An early outing for 'Sommat Outanowt' here. A decent sounding recording for a Saturday morning. Many thanks to Yesican for sharing this file. Much appreciated!

WAV: https://we.tl/t-N0x6tfLgCsgvVgOf

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-x6XUVNSNs8yzvSR2

The Price (Uxbridge Football Club 22nd December 1990) and Buzzcocks (Stardust Ballroom Hollywood 12th December 1979) - Got It Covered #1

 

Early yesterday evening, at the end of another working week, I picked up a pen and paper and put my mind to bands that have covered other people's songs (as mentioned earlier, it didn't take long for it to dawn on me that such a list would include nearly every band who have ever got to stage two of being in a band i.e. picking up an instrument (stage one of course involving coming up with a band name!)).

For some reason, one of the first bands that came to mind were The Price. A previous recording that I posted on here (Angler's Retreat, West Drayton... on here somewhere) saw them plating 'Ever Fallen In Love...' and 'Turning Japanese'. On this recording from Uxbridge Football Club where they played with TV Smith's Cheap at Christmas time 1990 they played a different Buzzcocks cover, the brilliant 'You Say You Don't Love Me' from their third studio album, 'A Different Kind Of Tension' released in 1979. 

I cannot recall why I was not at this gig.... the one in Uxbridge as opposed to the one in Hollywood. I can only assume that so close to Christmas I may have gone back to Sussex for the break.

A search for a flyer for this gig lead me to The Price's Facebook page, from which it became apparent that this gig was an early post on the Aural Sculptors site, but one that was lost in the technological ether as a consequence of the demise of the Rapidshare platform. So here it is again, with some artwork now. 

At the time Leigh posted a comment on this gig:

'I remember this show - Cheap were great as usual, and although our performance was somewhat hampered by our singer Malcolm over-indulging in Christmas spirit we played well too.

I saw Cheap play many times and they were rarely less than excellent. T'V. tells me that their one and only album 'R.I.P. - Everything Must Go!' is about to be reissued with extra tracks, which is good news as it means that more people may get to discover this criminally underrated band.

Incidentally The Price will be reforming to play at The London Punk Festival at The 229 Club in London on the last weekend of September, where I'm also playing with Ruts D.C. and T.V. Smith - as you say Adrian, the lengths I'll go to to avoid getting a normal job... (note this post is from 2012!)

Cheers - Leigh'

MP3: https://we.tl/t-zBnaemLa0EPXzci6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-62A3Yf1oL2iyUvF3

And so to the original. 'You Say You Don't Love Me' is a Pete Shelley penned lament to unrequited love (on record at least he must have been one of the 'unluckiest in love' individuals in Greater Manchester!). The song appears on side one ('The Rose On The Chocolate Box'... side two being 'The Thorn Beneath The Rose'!) of 'A Different Kind Of Tension', the band's last before their original parting of the ways. 

'You say you don't love me

Well, that's alright with me, 'cause I have got the time

To wait in case someday you maybe change your mind

I've decided not to make the same mistakes this time around

As I'm tired of having heartaches, I've been thinking and I've found

I don't want to live in a dream, I want something real

And I think I understand now the way that you feel.'

Here are Buzzcocks on the US West Coast at the end of '79, promoting the album that had been released in the UK back in September.

But who did they play with in Los Angeles that December. The gig ad below indicates that the Alleycats and the Zippers provided support on the night. And I checked that the 12th December 1979 did fall on a Wednesday. Elsewhere on the net is a poster for the same date indicating that Squeeze were on the bill. It may be the case, but Squeeze had been in the US in April of that year supporting The Tubes and they appear to have been playing dates in the UK that bookend this Hollywood gig (Squeeze at St Mary College, London on 24th November (as part of a UK tour) and at Lewisham Odeon on 22nd December with the Police). Are there any Buzzcocks/Squeeze aficionado reading this who can set the record straight on this point?

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-4AKjogJRSDX5vdRK

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Fm4ZPjTgBqEyPE4w

Covered Innit!

I cannot think of many bands within any genre that have not at some point dipped their toes into the ocean of cover versions. Would be musicians invariably start off learning to play songs they like, other people's songs, before they have the confidence and competence to write original material. Covers can also be used to fill out a band's set when their own stuff is first being molded into a set. Equally, I have heard many covers played as part of soundchecks over the years. Hey, at the end of the day the majority of musicians are pretty open about their own influences and are quite happy at some stage in a career to give those influences a nod of appreciation in the shape of a cover version.

I have said it before that, in my opinion at least, the best covers are those that give something to the song that is absent in the original. I guess the El Dorado of a cover version is to record a song such that whilst a cover of someone else's song, the version becomes the definitive version, one that eclipses the original.

So, just thinking of another thread, to give me something to think about if nothing else, I am going to run a covers thread. These posts will feature a recording that includes a cover followed by a recording of a band's set containing the original (or if not the original, a version that is the most widely known version).

Bear with me...

The Damned Hot Point Festival Lausanne Switzerland 31st August 1988

 

Well it seems to be a busy and poignant week this week for The Damned. Friends are on the Continent this Easter weekend for European dates leading up to their big 50th gig at Wembley Arena. As such it seems right and proper to upload something from them in acknowledgement of another milestone that the band's of '76/'77 did not in their wildest imaginings expect to see, least of all The Damned.... they first threw in the towel 49 years ago in 1977!!

In 1988 they were in Switzerland playing the Hot Point Festival and what a festival it promised to be with a line up of The Damned, Motorhead, Johnny Thunders and Siouxsie & The Banshees. Maybe Switzerland was the place to congregate if you could claim that you were once in a punk band. The Stranglers had played the Paleo Festival the previous month in Nyon, a little further along the banks on Lake Geneva.

I wonder who the surprise guest was?

At this stage in the game, Dave was in the process of metamorphosing from Nosferatu to Dark Elvis... his Phantom Chords project was not far around the corner at this stage.

DVD image: https://we.tl/t-7zcOU0aaiYypvM9c

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-GckMuFq9qU9ebTCx

The March Violets Melkweg Amsterdam 7th October 1983

 

Here's another one from The March Violets when they played at the Melkweg in Amsterdam in October 1983. Originally acquainted with and associated with the Sisters of Mercy (via Leeds and the fact that their first release was on the Sisters' 'Merciful Release' label), latterly they were more aligned with the likes of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Xmal Deutschland and they shared the stage with both bands on numerous occasions.

Consistently labelled as 'Goth', more importantly, The March Violets are a band of the post-punk era who were able to offer something edgy and different at a time (early to mid-'80's) when so much music in the UK turned to shit.

The March Violets are playing dates in the UK in the summer.

Thanks as ever to Peter for this one!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-82HUjweqpEg8sGKS

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-XanzbUtMMPN7ZbmS

New Musical Express (8th January 1983)

The Courettes The Tube Dusseldorf 13th October 2022

 

Gigs on board boats seems to be a thing that is rising in popularity in the last couple of years. The Courettes are afloat from today on Little Steven's Underground Garage Cruise 2. This sails from Miami to Mexico... could be worse, imagine the UK equivalent... Harwich to the Hook of Holland over a wet Easter weekend sailing into the eye of Storm Dave!

Flavia's prepared!

With luck, Trump will keep the USAF away from the Gulf of Mexico and The Courettes will make it back to the UK in good time for their appearance with The Damned on April 11th.

Many thanks to Peter for another great Courettes gig. Cheers!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-gfb7Un2mV3umsMdm

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-xnXUoNZFU44O5X16

Le Chabada Angers 3rd April 2012

 

Okay then, here an incomplete recording of the band playing in the French city of Angers on the European leg of the 'Giants' tour. It's a shame that this is both 1) incomplete and 2) a bit bizarrely edited as the sound is quite good. The editing is either an indication that this was a broadcast or that the taper was not a fan of any new material, this being a gig played in 2012 featuring no material recorded after 1986!

But go easy it is this one's birthday!

MP3: https://we.tl/t-PpzmyABGPKfNMZQ0

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-2bxwFwuP52zgxp8S