Here are five more tunes that stood out from my listening over the last week. Enjoy!
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 8th April 2016
Got a record collection? Want to spin those discs on a nice turntable for an appreciative bunch of vinyl enthusiasts? The Bring Your Own Vinyl Night is for you!
Held monthly in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales, this event goes from strength to strength. The idea is simple: each participant gets 15 minutes to play whatever records they want. That’s vinyl only; no CDs, MP3s, cassettes or whatever else. Just have a beer and enjoy the music.
My pal Adam was back on the decks tonight, and was the first of our crew to step up. He played a great set of songs from movies, that went something like this:
A special prize if you can name the films these songs are from! A great set from Adam, I think one of his strongest. In particular, I thought “Sleepwalk” was an exceptional track.
Then it was my turn:
Suicidal Tendencies – Possessed to Skate
Regular readers will know the story of my Suicidal records. Here’s a quick recap. Going back to the height of my skateboarding days in 1988 (or thereabouts), my friend Kelvin Bedford gave me the album “Join the Army” by Suicidal Tendencies. A few years later, as a broke student, I sold that album and another ST record to my mate Graham. Now fast forward to the recent past, and although I had the CDs, I was kicking myself for not having the vinyl anymore. They were easy enough to buy off Discogs. However, sadly Kel had passed away a couple of years ago, so I thought it would be great to have the copy he originally gave me back. I contacted Graham, and he gave me the records for free. What a gentleman! I bought him a beer or two as a thank you.
Not so brief that recap, but now you have the background. I wanted to play a track off the classic “Join the Army” record, as it was back in my collection, and this had to be it. Many fun memories of my old skateboarding days always come flooding back with this fast paced punk rock/metal hybrid. And I still listen to it when I skate nowadays (which isn’t often enough). “Possessed to Skate”. RAD.
Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger
The next song is a favourite I was introduced to in my university days. I was already a fan of the early Stooges albums, but hadn’t heard “Raw Power”. It’s a superb record, full of barely restrained energy and chaos. “Gimme Danger” is a the second song on the album, lulling the listener in to a false sense of comfort after lead track “Search and Destroy” decimates your speakers. “Gimme Danger” still has an air of menace, however – a sense that anything can, and will, go wrong. Decadent and beautiful, a masterpiece.
Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
And so on to Chris Isaak. I have the “Wicked Game” album on CD, so I can regularly bask in the warmth of Isaak’s voice and imagine desert roads, truck stops, motels and neon lights. This version is on a 7″ single that Greeny gave me for Christmas, and I’m so glad I have it. Timeless Americana that always carries a hint of David Lynch, thanks to the song being included in “Wild at Heart”. I usually drunkenly sing along to this at 2am. I’ve also attempted “Wicked Game” at Karaoke a couple of times; I think I got away with it.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Sexy Mexican Maid
One of my favourite RHCP songs ever, you can find this sensual little number on the fantastic “Mother’s Milk” record. It’s a slow funky groove that deserves to be heard more often, from one of their greatest albums. “Sexy Mexican Maid” shows the Chili Peppers exploring their sound and developing towards “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, whilst still happy to languish with their sexually charged lyrics.
So last up was Ben the Swede, who recently moved house and now had access to his full vinyl collection. The theme was bass, of different types:
And there you have it: another great night with some great songs and some very cool people.There were some killer tracks from PIL, Perrey & Kingsley, Elvis Costello and more. You can see the full playlist on the Halcyon Dreams blog here.
Thanks all – looking forward to the next Vinyl Night!
You can listen to this Bring Your Own Vinyl Night (and previous ones, too) on the Mixcloud page here.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Thanks Graham!
RIP Kelvin Bedford
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 4th December 2015
Unlike the last event, I didn’t have a theme for Bring Your Own Vinyl Night this time around. Just some tunes I fancied playing. I hadn’t even decided exactly what they would be till the show was on.
For anyone still uninitiated, the night is hosted in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales. There are two turntables and each participant gets to play 15 minutes of whatever music they want, vinyl only.
I had myself a couple of beers and rattled out this selection:
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
When you buy your first Motorhead album, you know you’ve entered the world of grown up music. Big, nasty unapologetic rocking grown up music. A song that never gets old, I was introduced to “Ace of Spades” when the band performed it on the classic “University Challenge” episode of The Young Ones. It’s just a non-stop, joyous racket that simply will not stop or slow down for anyone. Absolute perfection. I played this in memory of drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, who sadly passed away recently.
The Vapors – Turning Japanese
A New Wave/Punk Rock classic, I was donated the brilliant “Turning Japanese” by a friend. Thank you, Simon. It was supposed to be part of a tribute set that I’m still working on. It was going to be hard to follow up the adrenaline rush of the previous song, The Vapors pulled it off here though. A great power pop song that kept the pace of the set nicely.
Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene
A slight fast forward to the late 1980’s for this next track. The first track on Dinosaur Jr.’s album “Bug”, this track nicely covers the appeal of early American alternative rock. Born out of punk and hardcore, with one foot in old Black Sabbath and one in jangly pop; Dinosaur Jr. constantly delight. Reminds me of my skateboarding youth.
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
I couldn’t decide which track to play last, so I let the audience choose the album. The Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” won hands down, and I chose “Sabotage” as the track to play. Another unrelenting monster of a song, “Sabotage” has a funky groove delivered with a rocking style. Again, a song I never tire of. Plus the Spike Jonze video, with it’s 70’s cop show homage, is a work of genius. It’s been over twenty years and I still want to dress up and play Sabotage Cops for a day.
My buddy Adam strode up to the decks next, and delivered another fine set. It went something like this:
Four top songs from Adam there, the Queen track was a load of fun and had me doing my world renowned Freddie Mercury impression. It was nice to hear a modern song on vinyl too, with the Ronson/Mars number.
Great night, great songs – well done all on another fine evening’s entertainment. I’m currently stumped what to play next time. I’ll work on it.
The Halcyon Dreams blog is here, where you can find listed (very helpfully) all of the songs played on the night.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 2nd October 2015
For this month’s Bring Your Own Vinyl Night, I decided to have a theme for my set. Although it was only early in the month of October, I decided to opt for a Halloween theme. My music choices would have a horror element, or something dark and macabre.
If you’re not familiar with vinyl night, here’s the basic outline:
Adam was first up tonight, his set list went as follows:
Then it was my turn…
Bobby “Boris” PIckett and the Crypt-Kickers – Monster Mash
What better way to start than with this ghoulish classic? I found this album a few months ago in a charity shop, and couldn’t believe my luck. It was only a couple of quid, and worth the investment even though I don’t usually spend more than a pound! This is of course the sixties gem that sound checks various monsters, with Pickett impersonating Karloff (and Lugosi too). It’s great fun and essential for any Halloween party!
The Damned – Nasty
The first time I ever heard the Damned was when “Eloise” got to number 3 in the charts. The second time was this fast paced, tongue in cheek ode to horror movies, on the brilliant Young Ones horror spoof episode “Nasty”. The Damned appear and play this song in the Young Ones’ kitchen. I was hooked straight away, saved up some money and bought an album with both tracks on it. Given the exposure this song had, it constantly amazes me that “Nasty” was relegated to a B-side and hardly ever shows up on Damned compilation albums. I’ve seen the band live more times than any other, but only saw this song performed for the first time a few weeks ago! Anyway, the Damned are another essential for a Halloween theme. Still a great song.
Danzig – Sistinas
Although not a horror related song as such, I couldn’t resist the chance to play something by the Dark Lord of rock himself, Danzig. Instead of a more obvious bone rattling heavy rock number, I chose this incredible ballad that was hidden away on Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. Glenn shows off his great vocal abilities here on a song that is more Roy Orbison than Black Sabbath. Appropriately dark and wind swept, this is a morose beauty of a song.
The Misfits – Vampira
To be honest, I was spoiled for choices for a horror theme, there are tons of songs I could’ve played. Despite risking a Glenn Danzig overdose, I just had to spin a Misfits song. This band took the horror punk template established by the Damned, the Ramones and the Cramps and ran with it, off into a creepy cemetery populated by every 1950’s B-movie monster ever. “Walk Among Us” is one of my favourite albums ever, and this short sharp song dedicated to proto Goth babe Vampira is one of their best.
So there you have it – another triumphant evening for Bring Your Own Vinyl Night. There were old songs, new songs, obscure and obvious songs. There’s always something to make you go away and research another band, that’s the beauty of these nights. My personal favourite was hearing “Gut Feeling” by Devo! Already looking forward to the next one. A theme? We’ll see…
The Halcyon Dreams blog is here, where you can find listed (very helpfully) all of the songs played on the night.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Public Image Ltd + The Hexmen
Saturday 26th September 2015
The Tivoli, Buckley
Well it’s been an amazing couple of weeks for gigs. And what’s that? Public Image Ltd playing up the road at the Buckley Tivoli? Featuring the living legend that is John Lydon? There’s absolutely no way this extravaganza can be missed!
It was England vs Wales in the Rugby World Cup that night, and the Tiv had decided to show the game on a large projector screen above the stage. A bizarre idea but it worked out OK – happily Wales won. Had they lost that could’ve put a right downer on the evening.
Support band The Hexmen are a non-stop R’n’B party. And by R’nB I mean as in Rhythm and Blues, not as in Kanye West. They’re a solid band with an unmissable skill in abstract between song banter. Solid rhythm section, stellar guitar and soaring harmonica. Pretty damn good. They appear to play in these parts quite often, so check ’em out.
The Tiv was packed out for Public Image Ltd. I think most of the punters were in a daze, unbelieving that the band would actually appear. But lo and behold PiL did appear – the real PiL, not a tribute act featuring some Johnny Rotten wannabe. The reception was warm, but the crowd really revved up when the third song in the set turned out to be the masterpiece that is “This Is Not a Love Song”.
There was a fair mix of tracks old and new, with “Death Disco” and “Warrior” standing out from the well known singles. I’ve not got the new album yet (hangs head in shame), but the tracks of that and This is PiL (got that one) were all extremely impressive. The massive bass groove of Scott Firth and precision drums of Bruce Smith created a throbbing tribal rhythm that brought these songs to life.
Lydon himself seemed to be having a good time, for the most part. I couldn’t always tell. He definitely got stuck in and delivered some quite stunning vocals. His style is almost operatic; combined with his commanding presence at the front of the stage we are given a captivating performance.
I should also mention guitar maestro and all round talented bloke Lu Edmonds – he played a blazing gig. I have no idea how he made all those sounds. It was very hard to believe that there were only four people on stage.
The encore provides the songs “Public Image” and “Rise”, two fantastic songs that the audience were thrilled with. I still remember seeing “Rise” performed on Top of the Pops when I were a lad. That was my first experience of PiL. The other kids thought Lydon was weird; I thought he looked cool. It’s a perfect end to the chapter.
Oh, and I WILL go and buy the new album – promise.
The Public Image Ltd website is here.
The Hexmen website is here.
The Tivoli website is here.
The Damned
Thursday 17th September 2015
The Live Rooms, Chester
Hello, chums! How about another review of a musical concert? How about another review of a Damned musical concert? Very well, off we go…
It was my birthday on Saturday, so it was very kind of The Damned to play a gig on Thursday night for me. They are my favourite band, after all. Not many bands would go to all the trouble of playing for their number one fan in a nearby locale. I don’t know who invited all the other people who turned up, mind – wasn’t me. I hardly knew any of them.
The Damned sold out The Live Rooms in Chester, which is pretty impressive. The place was packed out with all manner of discerning music fans, and by golly those punk rock chaps put on a hell of a good show.
From the moment Captain Sensible uttered the immortal phrase “Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘Ow do”, I knew it would be a blinder. Straight off into “Love Song”, a rollicking locomotive of a song all about trainspotting. Then it was “Machine Gun Ettiquette” and “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” – top tunes all, and the running order gave something of a clue as how things would develop set wise.
The evening was an almost chronological journey to the centre of the Damned, with tracks following from the Black Album, through Strawberries and onto their later 80’s catalogue. Until they messed that plan up by going back to the start with the always excellent “New Rose” and “Neat Neat Neat”. I defied my OCD and enjoyed the travelling back through time regardless.
The band were on excellent form, Dave Vanian in fine voice and Sensible throwing some amazing guitar noises around (“Ignite” is always mental). Pinch on drums and Stu on bass are in control and drive the machine ever onward. Monty was, of course, his usual crazy and lovable self; always entertaining and adding an extra dimension with his keyboard skills.
A couple of “firsts” for me tonight – I’ve never heard “Alone Again Or” performed live, or the totally amazing “Nasty”. This song was one of my earliest experiences of The Damned, when they roared through it on the Young Ones. Relegated to a B-side and rarely cropping up on compilations, I’d given up on hearing this one in the flesh. “Nasty” was dedicated to previous bass player Bryn Merrick, who had died recently.
Throw in another appearance of “Stranger on the Town” (see my last Damned review for how big a deal this is) and the song that kick started the whole fandom thing from my point of view, “Eloise”, and it was a quality set list. Not to mention punk rock classics such as “Disco Man” and “Smash It Up” – what a result!
Any complaints? Well there was no “Plan 9 Channel 7”, which is absolutely criminal. Nothing from the two most recent albums either, which is a bit worrying – there’s some great tunes on those records. The Live Rooms is a brilliant venue, but they seem a bit keen to send people home when they could’ve made a few quid more at the bar, if they’d kept it open half an hour. Strange.
All in all though, it was a fantastic night. The Damned threw me a very nice birthday party and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Wonder if they’re free same time next year?
Here’s The Damned’s website: http://www.officialdamned.com/
The Live Rooms web site is here.
You can read the set list for this gig here.
Here’s a link to my previous review of The Damned live: click me
R.I.P. Bryn Merrick
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