Christchurch in Dorset is just down the road. In fairness, at this time of the year you would expect to be on a beach, not visiting a previously unknown beer emporium, at least, not in the daytime.
I had searched for craft ales in my area and found this place that had great reviews and opened at 11am. Time then for a sunbed first thing.
There’s always a funfair at this time of the year too so I thought I could have a walk round there first. However they have moved it uptown, this is where it used to be, near to the town quay.
You’ll have to excuse the flowers; when I saw that arrangement I couldn’t resist!
So here is the fair. Looks about the same number of attractions possibly on a larger area of ground. Too early for anything to be going on but still, probably busy when its open.
That micro coaster is just about my level, tinier even than the old Wild Mouse at Littlehampton.
And so on to the main event. My remit was to find a dozen healthy craft ales from around the world and of differing genres and strengths. I may have succeeded. In the end I spent just over £50 for this little crew.
I will list these individually for the reader so that they can learn about each ale, I will certainly be learning along the way. Will I be drinking them? Gradually. Will I be keeping the bottles? Most certainly!
But first I had to sample one of the draught ales from the menu.
Customers who walk in can choose in measures of thirds, halves and two thirds or a whole. The strongest one there was the Strawberry Stars which you would see very little change from a £10 note.
I asked for a porter and the owner, Ben, recommended a chocolate and hazelnut affair, only 5.2ABV and £5.40 for the full pint. Here I am sampling it.
I’m not sure whether this makes me look menacing, mad or just having had a rough time the night before or maybe it’s just the ageing – one thing’s for certain the legs are still amazing. 😇
Anyway let me introduce you to the family (as The Stranglers once said) with a pic of each ale and some background to it.
Straffe Hendrik
A powerful beer with rich flavours of malt and hop.
The Straffe Hendrik family consist of a golden tripel, a brown quadrupel and the limited editions of Heritage and Wild. All beers have a high alcohol percentage and are rich in flavours and taste.
They are strongly hopped and brewed with a subtle mixture of different kinds of malt of the highest quality. The taste of the beers evolves as the years go by.
Moncada Brewery – Crisitunity
Barrel Aged Blueberry Stout – words from Untappd.
We took some second runnings from an Impy and added blueberries and brett. We then shared the resulting concoction between three different barrels. Each evolved in a singular fashion, extracting flavour and texture from the wood and the remnants of what the barrel stored before.
Vault City – Raspberry White Chocolate Honeycomb Imperial Stout
Rich and decadent Imperial Stout brewed with Raspberry, White Chocolate and Honeycomb.
Vault City say “As it’s our birthday we wanted to release something pretty special, well two things actually – a sour and a stout. We came up with a recipe based on our ideal birthday cake: Raspberries, White Chocolate and Honeycomb. These flavours sounded like the perfect combination for a Sour but equally as fit for an Imperial Stout. This is our birthday cake in a big bold sour!”
This weighs in at an “oooft” 12% ABV and makes me think of Python’s Australian Table Wines sketch. 😂
8 bottles of this, and you’re really finished — at the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.
Barefaced Brewing Co – Heartbreak Stout
This is a local brewer, out at Blandford Forum. Described as a ‘breakfast stout’ this is what they have to say:
The beer that started it all off. Taking it’s name & inspiration from events that lead to the founding of Barefaced. We use Bad Hand Coffee roasters espresso, paired with chocolate to make our stout ever so bittersweet.
Orval Trappist Ale
The distinctive fruity and bitter taste of Orval beer means it has become a genuine reference in the exclusive world of authentic Trappist beers.
Orval beer is a high fermentation beer. The ageing process adds a fruity note, which strikes a subtle balance between the beer’s full-bodied yet complex flavour and bitterness.
The beer was first brewed in 1931 and owes its unparalleled taste to the quality of the water, the hops and the yeast used. The brewery has selected very aromatic and unique hop varieties, which hark back to the first brewmaster of Orval, who hailed from Bavaria. The beer’s aromas are very pronounced while maintaining the right level of bitterness thanks to the English method of dry hopping.
The various stages of fermentation – combined fermentation with the original yeast and with wild yeast, followed by fermentation in the bottle – mean the beer must age for some time and requires numerous quality controls.
La Chouffe
From the Achouffe Brewery nestled in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes. A golden ale, strong, spicy and lightly hoppy, La Chouffe is bottle re-fermented, unfiltered, unpasteurised and without any additives. So what is a Chouffe? A red hatted, long-bearded gnome that’s a part of local folklore.
LOOK
A golden amber beer that is slightly hazy with a white robust head.
AROMA
Aromas of sweet malts, orange peel, coriander and spices.
TASTE
Tasts as it smells, soft caramel and malts with the underlying hint of coriander and mild yeast.
North Brewing Company – Coffee Coconut Porter
A rich, dark porter brewed with speciality malts, toasted coconut, and whole coffee beans from our local roaster, North Star. Balanced sweetness plays against complex coffee flavours in an indulgent, luxurious beer. Available at Morrison’s!
S43 Brewery – Happy Little Accidents
Hops: Idaho 7, Mosaic, Columbus, Amarillo, Centennial Malt: Maris Otter, Oats, Wheat, Maltodextrin Yeast: London Ale III ABV: 6.8% Style: IPA Allergens: Gluten (barley & wheat), Oats Vegan Friendly Quantity: 440ml
This beer is the product of working with what you’ve got. Sometimes brewing is a complex process of planning and handpicking hops, sometimes it’s a case of just chucking everything in. Guess which one this is?
The result of all that chaos is a thick, juicy IPA. Expect resinous hits of fresh fruit and pine needle. A happy, messy miracle of an accident.
Lost Pier – Fruit Machine IPA
From the makers:
Fruit Machine IPA is our smooth and rounded NEIPA with a low bitterness and creamy sweet mouth-feel from high amounts of flaked oats & carapils in the malt bill. Expect juicy citrus aromas from the Citra dry hops and an exotic fruity palate from Azacca and Sorachi Ace hops. A small hit of apricot puree was added for an extra fruity hit all brought together by a New England yeast which adds aromas of ripe stone fruit.
Solid State – Verdant Brewing Co. – Yakima Chief
A creamy, massively tropical, and punchy collaboration with Yakima Chief Hops! A festival of Cryo and T90 hops whacked into a 6.5% IPA. A first for us, and a really exciting opportunity to team up with one the world’s finest purveyors of all things dank, green & delicious.
Goodh Brewing Company – Knockout stout
Brewed with Olfactory coffee beans, Knockout is a big hitting oatmeal stout that is both full of body and flavour.
Goodh wanted to brew a bold beer to compliment the signature coffee from their local roasters so they decided to go big and craft a rich, sweet stout with a thick mouthfeel that has an abundance of coffee, chocolate and dark fruit flavours from start to finish.
Delirium – Strong Fruit Beer
Delirium Red is an 8.0% abv dark-red cherry beer made by the heroes that gave the world Delirium Tremens. Based on their blonde ale, it has a light pink, compact head, a soft aroma of almond and sour cherries, and tastes tangy and fruity, with a perfect balance between sweet and sour.
So there they are. Twelve fairly different ales to sample – I’d leave it to the experts to review them. I’m not one of those, just someone who enjoys craft ales. I hope you enjoyed reading about them. 👍
Nice title perhaps but not strictly true. There’s no hate for The Smiths second LP but more disdain. I’ve never fathomed why the majority of Smiths fans (and I’ve learned this over many years on a multitude of music forums), hold such love for it.
So I wanted to jot down my reasons and go through the compilation track by track.
Perhaps the first thing to mention in relation to it is my deficiency. As I’m on the autism spectrum, I don’t like change in any shape or form. So in music, it is natural for my ears to like only whatever it was that they heard first.
This means that I like very few cover versions of songs.
There are exceptions of course. Off the top of my head I can think of Everything But The Girl’s version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy In New York”.
Anyhow, on to Hatful Of Hollow.
The album kicks off with the single edit (as far as I’m aware) of William It Was Really Nothing. A great start and no complaints from me. It was the 7-inch version I had a copy of originally.
“What Difference Does It Make”
Here comes my first problem. Firstly, the song is in a higher key than the studio version. And while the guitars are more organic, to me they’re too heavy. Once I’ve treasured that original single and the, to me, bona fide version of Back To The Old House as its flip-side, there can be no substitute.
“These Things Take Time” featured on the 12-inch What Difference release and was included on Louder Than Bombs.
I do feel pleased that somewhat against the grain, I side with the David Jensen session track as my pick of the two but still it’s a close call.
“This Charming Man”
So I’m calling this one a draw! Without the intro, this alternative version is softer, mire jolly, I can understand its appeal, my go-to is always that New York mix.
One thing I think everyone can agree on is that line – “Why pamper life’s complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat”.
Also a good upholstery reference later in That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore with “And on a cold weather seat, well, it finally struck me – I just might die with a smile on my face after all”.
“How Soon Is Now”
Originally the B-side of William, I soon bought the 12-inch of this which houses the marvellous “Well I Wonder”.
I’ve heard a few people say that they don’t care for How Soon Is Now because it’s quite different? Or was quite different at the time to what they were mainly doing.
I cite Wikipedia apropos Hand In Glove.
In addition, the original single version of “Hand in Glove” is included, not the remixed version that appears on The Smiths. It features a fade-intro and fade-out, louder bass, and vocals that sound very distant.
I can’t bear fade-ins generally and along with the distant vocals, I loathe this version with a passion!
“Still Ill”
Oh my, what were they thinking. This for me is the worst thing I’ve ever heard by them. That harmonica! Makes the song sound like a poor man’s Love Me Do. Just dreadful compared to the sublime debut album version.
No issues with Heaven Knows as it’s the bog standard studio-made single so on to one of Hatful’s real plus points.
“This Night Has Opened My Eyes”
Without another version to compare it to, all I can say is how magnificent this song is.
“You’ve Got Everything Now”
I can almost like this but it’s ever so slightly slower and for me lacks the drive and intensity of the original counterpart.
Just like with This Night, there are no challengers to these and you know what, I actually love all three songs very much. Thank heavens these are the only versions I’ve ever heard!
Regarding live albums I don’t care for Rank much at all but when I lived up in the north of England I can remember acquiring a couple of live Smiths bootleg cassettes from an open market outside of Bolton or somewhere and thought that they were rather good.
And thanks to something called the internet, I’ve managed to track both of them down, though I no longer have either of them.
“Back To The Old House”
So the original b-side of this made it into Louder Than Bombs and while I could just about listen to the much different version on Hatful there is only one winner here and by some distance!
“Reel Around The Fountain’
Dear me. This is like… it’s not The Smiths, it’s a different band.
I’ve heard people contend that this is actually more soulful!
Each to their own, I think this is a pile of tosh compared to the beautifully polished studio version and as Mrs. Slocombe would point out, I am unanimous in that!
The album ends with the quite pleasant Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want with its Parisian street vibe (you can imagine being in an outdoor cafe enjoying croissants while the song plays in ze background… yes, it’s fine, wouldn’t make my Smiths Top 20 songs if there were such a thing but good all the same.
To close, blog-writing is certainly healthy. I’ve learned that I haven’t ripped Hatful Of Hollow to shreds as I thought I might do.
It’s clear for any reader to understand that I have several bugbears that impair my overall enjoyment but I would struggle with ranking it as a 7/10… so I’ll stop at six and a half!
Today Emma and I enjoyed an open top bus tour of Poole and Bournemouth and then a visit to Compton Acres.
Only as a child had I been there before and flowers and gardens held no interest for me, not like now, forty years later.
Compton Acres is one of the finest privately owned gardens in the South of England. Having undergone extensive refurbishment in the past 10 years Compton Acres is now highly regarded as one of the most important historic gardens in the UK.
Comprising a series of classical themed gardens, each providing an attractive and unique variety of ornamental plants from around the world, cared for by a team of professional gardeners.
The gardens are laid out on a circular route, like clusters of jewels on a sparkling necklace, allowing the visitor to discover each garden in turn. Highlights include the Grand Italian Garden, a Rock and Water Garden, a Heather Garden and an authentic Japanese Garden which was designed and built by a Japanese architect with many ornaments imported from Japan.
I thought the tour £28 for the two of us was actually worth every penny as it lasted two hours and there was a recorded commentary and music along the way.
When we got off at Canford Cliffs we decided to visit the gardens at Compton Acres and as you can see above, we got some great photos.
For a late lunch, the first Wetherspoons we could just walk in and order but their chip maker was out of action so we left for the Slug And Lettuce.
There we had to do the track and trace which I found annoying because surely if one has that policy, surely they all should?
We didn’t stay there either because I didn’t like anything in the menu but in the third one I was happy with a beef Madras and some chicken wings with dips.
Then we decided to try the crazy golf which was great fun. The final scores were eight holes to me, five to Emma and five draws with almost one lost ball which I managed to retrieve from a flower bed or it would have been a fine of £1.50.
It was a great day out and with an improvement in the weather the next two days especially tomorrow we are going to the beach at the Purbecks.
You’ve only ever had one choice, fact Twitter polls dictate that but now we’re down to the final sixteen debut albums, the four choice format hereon in will make for closer consideration.
The four groups will run from today until Friday with the winner of each appearing in Saturday’s grand final with the voting open for seven days.
Have fun! 🤔 🤭
TUESDAY
The Specials – The Specials Nowhere – Ride Kilimanjaro – Teardrop Explodes George Best – Wedding Present
WEDNESDAY
Never Mind The Bollocks – The Sex Pistols Marquee Moon – Television Boy – U2 Murmur – R.E.M
THURSDAY
Blondie – Blondie The Clash – The Clash Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division Roxy Music – Roxy Music
FRIDAY
In The City – The Jam Beautiful Freak – Eels One Step Beyond – Madness The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground
Murmur – R.E.M – 56.5% beat Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – Dexy’s Midnight Runners 43.5%
269 votes
SATURDAY 7TH AUGUST
Inflammable Material – Stiff Little Fingers (53.5%) surprisingly lost out to Kilimanjaro – Teardrop Explodes (46.5%) – 256 voters attended.
Licensed To Ill – Beastie Boys lost out to The Clash – The Clash 70.7% in a tie that drew 409 votes.
SUNDAY 8TH AUGUST
The Ramones – The Ramones vs Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division 68.9%
453 votes
Elastica – Elastica vs Blondie – Blondie 72%
372 votes
MONDAY 9TH AUGUST
Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy – Billy Bragg lost to One Step Beyond – Madness 58.5%
306 votes
Rattus Norvegicus – The Stranglers lost out to The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground 65.9%
320 votes
TUESDAY 10TH AUGUST
Dire Straits – Dire Straits Roxy Music – Roxy Music 61.8%
318 votes
The Specials – The Specials 51.2% The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
518 votes
WEDNESDAY 11TH AUGUST
George Best – Wedding Present 41.5%
Dry – PJ Harvey
Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
461 votes
Marquee Moon – Television 55.8% Psychocandy The Jesus And Mary Chain
396 votes
THURSDAY 12TH AUGUST
Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol lost to Boy – U2 – 53.8%
316 votes
In The City – The Jam 59.7% defeated Slanted And Enchanted – Pavement
345 votes
FRIDAY 13TH AUGUST
Nowhere – Ride 51% defeated Entertainment! – Gang Of Four
243 votes
Never Mind The Bollocks – The Sex Pistols 55.8% defeated The Smiths – The Smiths
511 votes
SECOND ROUND
The second round sees 32 head to head ties and two will be posted each day.
The draw is seeded this time based on the first round performance in percentages.
The Clash (70.4%) and 14 Iced Bears (61%) were the highest and so play each other, similarly the lowest voted for, The Cars (18.8%) and Beautiful Freak (14.3%) are adversaries this time.
The second round begins tomorrow, Monday 19th July and the full draw is as follows:
MONDAY 19TH JULY
In a close-fought contest, The Cars – The Cars (48.9%) lost out to Beautiful Freak -by Eels (51.1%). 229 votes were recorded.
307 voters turned out to ensure Slanted And Enchanted – Pavement (61.6%) made the third round, defeating The New York Dolls – The New York Dolls (38.4%)
TUESDAY 20TH JULY
204 votes saw a landslide victory for Licensed To Ill – Beastie Boys (92.2%) versus Almost Here – Unbelievable Truth (7.8%)
In a similar one-sided affair, 166 votes saw Rattus Norvegicus – The Stranglers (80.7%) defeat I Am A Wallet – McCarthy (19.3%)
WEDNESDAY 21ST JULY
288 votes saw The Specials – The Specials (71.2%) defeat The Hurting – Tears For Fears while Entertainment! – Gang Of Four (57.9%) saw off Isn’t Anything – My Bloody Valentine in a tie that drew 259 votes
THURSDAY 22ND JULY
240 voters saw Fever to Tell – Yeah Yeah Yeahs lose out to Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy – Billy Bragg (55%) while Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol (59.7%) easily saw off Signing Off – UB40 in a tie that drew in 211 votes.
FRIDAY 23RD JULY
A low turnout of just 202 votes Friday on #BestDebutAlbum saw Dire Straits debut (57.4%) incredibly prove to be too strong for Script Of The Bridge while in the other tie, The Pretenders were slain by the magnificent Stiff Little Fingers debut Inflammable Material (52.6%) with 228 voters taking part.
SATURDAY 24TH JULY
Saturday on #BestDebutAlbum and 227 votes saw Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (81.1%) win hands down against Hopes And Fears – Keane while Dry – PJ Harvey (56.1%) defeated The Kick Inside – Kate Bush. 285 votes recorded in that tie.
SUNDAY 25TH JULY
A lower than average turnout of 189 votes saw Kilimanjaro – Teardrop Explodes (52.4%) defeat Welcome To The Pleasuredome while in a surprise development, Ride’s Nowhere (58.4%) saw off Big Country’s The Crossing in a tie of 249 recorded votes
MONDAY 26TH JULY
Blondie – Blondie (55.3%) comfortably defeated Pink Flag Monday on #BestDebutAlbum from 264 recorded votes while the Roxy Music debut survived the challenge of Live At The Witch Trials, amassing 56.5% from the 237 votes.
TUESDAY 27TH JULY
In the end, Boy – U2 (58.6%) saw off the Icelandic challenge of Bjork in a tie that drew 447 voters.
In the other Tuesday tie, The Ramones – The Ramones (78.7%) defeated Parachutes – Coldplay and could potentially face Rattus Norvegicus (The Stranglers) in round three.
WEDNESDAY 28TH JULY
In a round that attracted 276 votes, Killing Joke – Killing Joke (38.7%) lost out to In The City – The Jam – (66.7%).
And Orbital – Orbital lost out by a hefty margin to Psychocandy – The Jesus And Mary Chain (73.5%) in a round that drew 287 votes.
THURSDAY 29TH JULY
George Best – Wedding Present (56.5%) defeat Three Imaginary Boys – The Cure – 331 votes.
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (70%) defeat Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.- 353 votes.
FRIDAY 30TH JULY
The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground (41.6%)
Pablo Honey – Radiohead (40.6%)
Look Sharp! – Joe Jackson (43.9%)
Marquee Moon – Television (43.8%)
SATURDAY 31ST JULY
Hot Fuss – The Killers (44.5%) versus Elastica – Elastica (43%)
One Step Beyond – Madness (42.5%) versus Lexicon Of Love – ABC (42.5%)
SUNDAY 1ST AUGUST
Never Mind the Bollocks – The Sex Pistols (69.1%)
404 votes
Murmur – R.E.M. (84.7%)
255 votes
MONDAY 2ND AUGUST
The Clash – The Clash (70.4%)
14 Iced Bears – 14 Iced Bears (61%)
The Smiths – The Smiths (59.4%)
The Psychedelic Furs – The Psychedelic Furs (53.8%)
ORIGINAL POST
They say that you never forget your first.
So most of us will have a favourite debut album.
I’ve selected my favourites for this tourno, 128 of them in fact.
Your mission will be to use your judgement and skill in voting these albums down until we have an ultimate winner.
Notable omissions apropos big artists include Genesis and Pink Floyd.
But The Velvet Underground are here, also David Bowie and others that are considered classics and could not be excluded.
In the first round of voting #BestDebutAlbum there are four titles per group.
You have only one selection but the top two most voted will go through to round two and from thereon in it will be head to head battles until the grand final.
There will be no semi-finals. Instead the four albums will appear in a grand final with the voting being open for seven days.
Here’s the complete draw compiled by RANDOMLIST.
Saturday 19 June
The Clash – The Clash
Wa Do Dem – Eek A Mouse
New York Dolls – New York Dolls
Third Eye Blind – Third Eye Blind
A total of 318 votes saw The Clash (70.4%) and New York Dolls (18.9%) progress to round two.
Sunday 20 June
A total of 283 votes saw The Fall (34.6%) and Dire Straits (29.7%) progress to round two.
Monday 21 June
A total of 315 votes saw Killing Joke (38.7%) and Pink Flag (34.9%) progress to round two.
Tuesday 22 June
In a thrilling, close-knit affair, a total of 307 votes saw Inflammable Material – Stiff Little Fingers (29.3%) and Entertainment! – Gang Of Four (24.4%) reach round two with Outlandos d’Amour – The Police missing out by just 0.3%.
Wednesday 23 June
In the highest turnout so far, 381 voters decided that Placebo’s magnificent debut didn’t cut it and so Nowhere – Ride drawing 32.8% and Dry – PJ Harvey (31%) went through to round two.
Thursday 24 June
Parachutes – Coldplay with 35.8% and Big Country’s The Crossing (33%) progressed to the second round in a total of 349 votes.
Friday 25 June
I was a little surprised at how popular Hot Fuss – The Killers album still is. And it chewed up 44.5% of the 218 votes (lowest turnout so far) with Script Of The Bridge – The Chameleons in second spot with 29.4%.
Saturday 26 June
In what quickly became a two-horse race, Three Imaginary Boys – The Cure won through with 39.2% of the 385 votes with The Hurting – Tears For Fears finishing in second spot with 24.7%.
Sunday 27 June
The Durannies were quickly disappointed as a new record number of voters (476) saw Roxy Music’s debut (34.2%) finish second behind the aptly-named Debut by Bjork(36.8%).
In another round that threatened the 500 vote count, Boy – U2 ran out the winner drawing 36.3% with Isn’t Anything – My Bloody Valentine (25.7%) securing second spot.
Monday 28 June
Monday’s round saw One Step Beyond – Madness prove really popular drawing 42.5% with the eighties epic, Welcome To The Pleasuredome – Frankie Goes To Hollywood in second place (33.8%).
Tuesday 29 June
350 voters said that Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.(38.9%) was the best with The Pretenders – The Pretenders the runner-up (29.4%). Leaving the building were Tori Amos and Verve.
Wednesday 30 June
In a record number of 519 votes, Wednesday’s winners were The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground drawing 41.6% of the pie and Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True surprisingly succumbed to Licensed To Ill – Beastie Boys (20.6%).
Thursday 1 July
The Psychedelic Furs debut ran out strong winners with the highest majority so far, pulling 53.8% of the 247 votes. Signing Off – UB40 (28.7%) was second with Th’ Faith Healers and (unsurprisingly) Johnny Hates Jazz missing out.
Friday 2 July
It was tricky for Run-DMC as Lexicon Of Love – ABC ran out a clear winner with 42.5% of the 365 votes. Turn On The Bright Lights, the Interpol debut took second spot with 28.2%.
Saturday 3 July
In an expected lower turnout of voters (262) Hopes And Fears – Keane made it through to the second round pulling 32.1% while Look Sharp! – Joe Jackson ran out the winner with 43.9%.
Sunday 4 July
As expected, Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division ran off into the hills with 75.5% of the 355 votes with Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes (14.9%) taking second place. As things stand, Joy Division will face The Clash in round two.
Monday 5 July
488 votes saw The Smiths – The Smiths (59.4%) run out comfortable winners and in a tense finish, just 0.4% separated Beautiful Freak – Eels (14.3% ) from Young Team – Mogwai. The Smiths could face The Psychedelic Furs in round two.
Tuesday 6 July
Never Mind the Bollocks – The Sex Pistols, hailed as the greatest album ever made by one voter, drew 57.8% of the 429 votes with Slanted and Enchanted – Pavement also heading to round two with 19.8%.
Wednesday 7 July
A new record of 584 votes saw The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (39%) run out comfortable winners but incredibly just 0.1% meant that The Specials – The Specials prevailed over Dummy – Portishead.
Thursday 8 July
Morrissey’s Viva Hate made an early exit as In The City – The Jam with 38.2% ran out the winner with The Kick Inside – Kate Bush (30.9%) taking second spot.
Friday 9 July
Though showing much early promise, the Boston debut album finished last with Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy – Billy Bragg fetching 26% of the 327 votes and Kilimanjaro – Teardrop Explodes winning the round with 33.9%.
Saturday 10 July
Elastica – Elastica drew a healthy 43% of the 342 votes in which Fever to Tell – Yeah Yeah Yeahs took second spot with 27.2% – that album could face Life’s A Riot or Turn On The Bright Lights in the second round.
How can Ash outscore The Ruts said a few. And some may have raised an eyebrow as George Best – Wedding Present (40.2%) outscored The Ramones – The Ramones (36.1%) in a round that attracted 435 votes. A possibility now that George Best could face Three Imaginary Boys in round two.
Sunday 11 July
The lowest turnout of voting so far saw just 141 nominate I Could Live In Hope – Low (45.4%) and I Am A Wallet – McCarthy (22%) go through to the second round.
In part two of Sunday’s double-header, Orbital – Orbital (37.3%) finished runner-up to Pablo Honey – Radiohead (40.6%) in a low turnout poll of just 276 voters.
Monday 12 July
It was tough on Tracy Chapman, missing out by just 0.8% but in a tough battle for second spot, The Cars – The Cars won through with 18.8% of the 383 votes.
The La’s – The La’s (51.4%) proved to be the clear people’s favourite and could face Low’s I Could Live In Hope in round two, depending on other scores.
Tuesday 13 July
In an incredibly low turnout of 59 punters, 14 Iced Bears – 14 Iced Bears (61%) and Almost Here – Unbelievable Truth (20.3%( won through to round two.
Wednesday 14 July
Patti Smith’s Horses was edged out in a group that saw 434 voters decide that Marquee Moon – Television (43.8%) and Psychocandy – The Jesus And Mary Chain (37.1%) made it through to round two.
Thursday 15 July
511 voters turned out to help push Murmur – R.E.M. (48.7%) over the line and Rattus Norvegicus – The Stranglers finished second with 23.3%.
At the moment Murmur is set to play I Could Live In Hope while Rattus Norvegicus could face I Am A Wallet in the second round head to heads that begin Monday.
Friday 16 July
Blondie – Blondie with 35.1% narrowly outscored Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (32.3%) in the last group of the first round in which 493 voters took part.
Originally the third B-side track on the 12″ version of Bigmouth Strikes Again, it would be later included on the compilations The World Won’t Listen and Louder Than Bombs.
Its place as second favourite also made me think whether or not it could surpass the beauty and strength of my first choice.
It couldn’t.
And scouring the internet for some background and titbits, I read that the lyrics are reportedly a mocking reference to The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith, with whom lead singer Morrissey had a public feud with.
Wonder what that was all about. 🤔
Also, Unloveable has never been covered live by Morrissey to date. However, he has been noted to quote the lyric “And if I seem a little strange, that’s because I am.” on occasion during concerts.
Speaking of live concerts, I used to have a pair of bootleg cassettes which I found at an indoor market somewhere near Bolton.
And one of them looked very similar and might well have been the same as the one below.
This exercise has also had me find some unofficial albums like this German one called Unloveable.
Tracklist
Miserable Lie What Difference Does It Make? This Night Has Opened My Eyes Hand In Glove Still Ill Barbarism Begins At Home Still Ill (Excerpt) This Charming Man (Acoustic) Hand In Glove (Excerpt) Jeane (Acoustic) Bigmouth Strikes Again Vicar In A Tutu There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Panic Sheila Take A Bow Shoplifters Of The World Unite Hand In Glove Rock’n’roll Part Two Unloveable #1 Unloveable #2 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
So why does Unloveable rank so high? What really works for me in this song is the tailpiece.
Beginning at 03:06 it builds up and up before the fade-out with Mozza’s vocals backgrounded a little. You hear it okay but it’s the thirty seconds of beauty when he’s… what is it exactly, who knows, who cares, if the song wasn’t great already, the finishing line nails it.
I know I’m unloveable You don’t have to tell me I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours Oh…
I know I’m unloveable You don’t have to tell me Oh, message received Loud and clear Loud and clear I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours
I know I’m unloveable You don’t have to tell me For message received Loud and clear Loud and clear Message received I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours
I wear black on the outside ‘Cause black is how I feel on the inside I wear black on the outside ‘Cause black is how I feel on the inside
And if I seem a little strange Well, that’s because I am If I seem a little strange That’s because I am
But I know that you would like me If only you could see me If only you could meet me
Oh… I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours I don’t have much in my life But take it – it’s yours
3. I Know It’s Over
According to Wiki, the song was “originally meant to have trumpet on it during the refrain at the end, but it was scrapped”
Wow. Can you imagine that? Oh Mother I can feel… with brass in the background. God forbid.
In the book Songs That Saved Your Life, author Simon Goddard explained that Morrissey did not show his band-mates the lyrics to the song until the instrumental track was entirely finished.
Simon Reynolds of Pitchfork wrote “The writing in ‘I Know It’s Over’ is a tour de force, from the opening image of the empty—sexless, loveless—bed as a grave, through the suicidal inversions of ‘The sea wants to take me/The knife wants to slit me,’ onto the self-lacerations of ‘If you’re so funny, then why are you on your own tonight?’ and finally the unexpected and amazing grace of ‘It’s so easy to hate/It takes strength to be gentle and kind.
It’s the really clever lyrics and the maudlin, sheer desperation of it all that won my heart and enabled the high placement in this Smiths top ten.
In particular “love is natural and REAL but not for such as you and I”. It’s a nod to that feeling of displacement, when you question why relationships can be so simple for others but they never quite work out for you.
I’m thinking now that I’ve not seen I Know It’s Over in the many other top tens posted on Twitterland.
Over the years, flying the flag for the song has left me open to ridicule on music forums. “It’s a horrible dirge” others protested.
Well I think it’s a beautiful dirge and I cannot always expect others to have passions just like mine.
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head And as I climb into an empty bed Oh well. Enough said. I know it’s over – still I cling I don’t know where else I can go Oh…
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head See, the sea wants to take me The knife wants to slit me Do you think you can help me?
Sad veiled bride, please be happy Handsome groom, give her room Loud, loutish lover, treat her kindly (Though she needs you More than she loves you) And I know it’s over – still I cling I don’t know where else I can go Over and over and over and over Over and over…
I know it’s over And it never really began But in my heart it was so real And you even spoke to me, and said : “If you’re so funny Then why are you on your own tonight ? And if you’re so clever Then why are you on your own tonight ? If you’re so very entertaining Then why are you on your own tonight ? If you’re so very good-looking Why do you sleep alone tonight ? I know…
‘Cause tonight is just like any other night That’s why you’re on your own tonight With your triumphs and your charms While they’re in each others arms…” It’s so easy to laugh It’s so easy to hate It takes strength to be gentle and kind Over, over, over, over
It’s so easy to laugh It’s so easy to hate It takes guts to be gentle and kind Over, over Love is natural and real But not for you, my love Not tonight, my love Love is natural and real But not for such as you and I, my love
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head…
4. Well I Wonder
I do love the sound of falling rain. And thunder too. All too rare in songs don’t you find?
But that’s not the reason that Well I Wonder earns a place in this coveted ten.
It’s the sheer simplicity of it all.
For me it’s the best song on Meat Is Murder, even surpassing the sublime That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore.
And best of all, this song was on the flip-side of the twelve-inch How Soon Is Now I used to have, that song as you’ve seen was my number five though in these Twitter posts I’ve noticed someone had it down as their numero uno.
Well I wonder… do you hear me when you sleep? I hoarsely cry
Well I wonder…
do you see me when we pass? I half-die
Please keep me in mind Please keep me in mind
Gasping but somehow still alive This is the fierce last stand of all I am
Gasping, dying but somehow still alive This is the final stand of all I am
Please keep me in mind
That’s what I mean about simplicity. Well I Wonder kicks into gear at 0:32 (when that bassline begins) and drifts along so beautifully and no, I’ve no idea why the person was gasping and dying but it really doesn’t matter.
Conversely I can understand how it wouldn’t rank high, say, if we were to rate all the Meat Is Murder songs; I can imagine how some might feel that Well I Wonder is fairly average.
For me it’s always been a thing of beauty and is worthy of its place here.
5. How Soon Is Now
There’s a club if you’d like to go. You could meet someone who really loves you. So you go and you stand on your own. And you leave on your own. And you go home and you cry and you want to die.
But did anyone ever imagine what kind of club? A singles club? A nightclub or disco?
Whichever it was the sarcasm in the prophecy that you “could meet someone” resonated hard with those who returned fruitless from Friday night nocturnal ventures.
I think How Soon Is Now is almost anthemic as Panic or There Is A Light.
Johnny Marr’s demo was originally called “Swamp”. In contrast to the frequent chord changes he had employed in most Smiths’ songs, Marr wanted to explore building a song around a single chord (in this case, F♯) as much as possible, which also appealed to producer John Porter.
“We used to smoke dope from when we got out of bed to when we got back to bed”, recalls Porter, and Marr concurred: “You’re from Manchester, you smoke weed till it comes out of your ears.”
And the song rambles on for almost seven minutes though when I do play it, I never actually want it to end.
Another thing of note to me is that the fade out is succinct here. Deserving. I’m not a fan of fade-outs by any stretch but you couldn’t imagine this song just stopping on a single note.
It’s still not one of their biggest hits though is it, peaking at number twenty four in the UK singles chart.
But it wins a place in my ten favourite Smith’s songs. I just couldn’t help myself.
6. Sweet And Tender Hooligan.
Class of ’87. Bang at it again with questionable lyricism, The Smiths came up with a bit of a rock anthem here.
In the previous year The Smiths had their big disco hit with Panic and the uplifting Ask, notwithstanding the fabulous Shoplifters and Sheila Take A Bow.
Hooligan should have been a single at the time. Available on Louder Than Bombs, heaven knows why it would be eight years before it was decided to be put out as a single release.
In 1987, the band were still everywhere you cared to look, big posters donning the facias of HMV, Mozza back on TOTP and slammed by MP’s, yes MP’s, no strangers themselves to controversy, over lines in Girlfriend In A Coma.
The Beeb also banned Stop Me because of “plan a mass murder”.
It’s the lyrics and interpretation I want to focus on today. Because being an autie I read everything quite literally but once I’d got it, grasped the true reality, I just found it funny.
“But she was old and she would have died anyway”
At the time a family I knew had a boy who was twelve tops and I’d introduced The Smiths to him.
“Is it supposed to be funny?” he asked having heard the three bar fire lyric.
Keyword “supposed”. I saw The Smiths akin to shock jocks. Radio presenters paid to peddle controversy ergo it didn’t really represent what they truly believed.
Etcetera! Etcetera!
So it was all a bit of fun. We all appreciate I think the sharp wit of Stephen Patrick and when it boiled down to these innuendoes I was naturally hooked, having endured a diet of Carry On movies growing up.
And being a football fan, Hooligan appeared to be a direct nod to the game. What was not to love?
The music was written by Johnny in early 1986. Morrissey must have written the lyrics soon after, or perhaps when the song was recorded.
An early, slower version of the song was recorded during the sessions for the “Panic” single, in May 1986 at Livingston Studios in London with producer John Porter and fifth Smith Craig Gannon, alongside Panic and The Draize Train.
Another version was recorded with producer John Porter on 2 December 1986 for the band’s final appearance on John Peel’s BBC programme (broadcast 17 December 1986). This is the version which has been released and with which we are now familiar.
So when it comes to choosing ten of the best, Sweet And Tender Hooligan is a worthy pick because it does a little more than it says on the tin.
“In the midst of life we are in death, etcetera.”
An important reminder of where we all are.
Death our ultimate loss but you know, while we’re here, let’s make the most of life.
Yawn.
They’re telling you what is good and what isn’t. Rather than, well we think that this is bigger than others.
So please please please don’t take this seriously. It’s Rolling Stone after all. Three years ago, they decided to rank all 73 Smiths songs…
Accept Yourself
Barbarism Begins at Home
Paint A Vulgar Picture
Meat Is Murder
Work Is A Four Letter Word
I Keep Mine Hidden
Golden Lights
Back To The Old House
Death At One’s Elbow
Money Changes Everything
Well I Wonder
The Draize Train
What’s The World
Oscillate Wildly
Girl Afraid
Jeane
Asleep
Wonderful Woman
Suffer Little Children
I Won’t Share You
Miserable Lie
Rusholme Ruffians
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
I Don’t Owe You Anything
Vicar In A Tutu
Sweet And Tender Hooligan
These Things Take Time
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Unhappy Birthday
Nowhere Fast
Pretty Girls Make Graves
I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
Never Had No-one Ever
Rubber Ring
The Headmaster Ritual
London
That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours
I Want The One I Can’t Have
Girlfriend In A Coma
Sheila Take A Bow
Frankly Mr. Shankly
What She Said
Is It Really So Strange?
Unloveable
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
You’ve Got Everything Now
Shakespeare’s Sister
What Difference Does It Make?
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Ask
You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
Death Of A Disco Dancer
Hand In Glove
Stretch Out And Wait
Still Ill
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
Bigmouth Strikes Again
William, It Was Really Nothing
Cemetery Gates
Reel Around The Fountain
Handsome Devil
Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
The Queen Is Dead
Panic
How Soon Is Now
Ths Charming Man
I Know It’s Over
Half A Person
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Now because it was Rolling Stone and the article was in a scroll down, I knew exactly what the number one would be.
As predictable as when they tell us that OK Computer is the greatest album ever. It’s not even Radiohead’s best album in my opinion.
Opinions. Yes, about those. All us Smith’s fans are doing these top tens and there’s not one jot of critique, only appreciation and applause. Which is great.
But while are chosen lists will be different, I still feel that most will look at the above and say – have a word with yourselves.
While I’m thrilled to see some sanity in I Know It’s Over being third ‘best’ – two instrumentals are suddenly better than Well I Wonder? Cemetery Gates as high as eleven? Even Back To The Old House has suffered, personally that would make it into my top twenty-five.
Anyway, as we count down, I am a few days behind so without further ado, here’s my choice for number seven.
This Night Has Opened My Eyes
In a river the color of lead Immerse the baby’s head Wrap her up in the News Of The World Dump her on a doorstep, girl
This night has opened my eyes And I will never sleep again You kicked and cried like a bullied child A grown man of twenty-five
Oh, he said he’d cure your ills But he didn’t and he never will Oh, save your life Because you’ve only got one
The dream has gone But the baby is real Oh, you did a good thing She could have been a poet
Or, she could have been a fool Oh, you did a bad thing And I’m not happy And I’m not sad
A shoeless child on a swing Reminds you of your own again She took away your troubles Oh, but then again
She left pain So, please save your life Because you’ve only got one The dream has gone
But the baby is real Oh, you did a good thing She could have been a poet Or, she could have been a fool
Oh, you did a bad thing And I’m not happy And I’m not sad Oh…
And I’m not happy And I’m not sad Oh… And I’m not happy and I’m not sad
Recorded on 14th September 1983 it’s one of the few Peel session songs I care for that appear on Hatful.
True to say that with so many non-album tracks, there might have been one or two more studio albums rather than the hotch-potch of compilations.
Anyway, that’s where I’m at for now, four songs down and six to go
On a radiator in my lounge sits that t-shirt. It is one of the few things I have kept from the 1980’s, an original one too, purchased in HMV.
T’was summer of ’86. The previous year had been a hot summer and the release of The Queen Is Dead in mid-June was much awaited I remember.
It would be my last summer in Southampton and I’d play this album, along with Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ repeatedly on my cassette Walkman and everyone sunbathed on the common.
“As the flames rose to her Roman nose And her Walkman started to melt”
The Queen Is Dead is as perfect an album as So is too. What tracks would you ever skip? I think it’s packed with angst and wit and delivers the songs in a series of punches that would flatten most pugilists.
This is the first of two songs from The Queen Is Dead in my chosen ten. I could connect personally with the words, imagining loving someone so much but never having fulfilment or standing a chance.
Twenty years, seven months and twenty seven days is one hell of a long time to dream.
Never Had No One Ever
Album: The Queen Is Dead Released: 1986
When you walk without ease On these streets where you were raised I had a really bad dream It lasted 20 years, 7 months and 27 days And I know alone that I never, ever oh Had no one ever
Now I’m outside your house I’m alone And I’m outside your house I hate to intrude
And I never, never oh Had no one ever I never had no one ever I never had no, no one ever Had no one never Never, no, oh
Now we all love a Smiths compilation but I was unaware of this unofficial release until now. So it’s something perhaps for the boy who has to have everything?
9. Wonderful Woman
I’ve always liked this enough for it to be placed ahead of other more well-known Smiths songs. The only snag here was where it would feature in the ten. Given the strength of what’s to come, ninth position seems almost perfect.
Here’s what Morrissey later said about this song (as quoted in Simon Goddard’s book ‘Songs That Saved Your Life’):
“In a monotonous way, it’s quite tongue-and-cheek. The wonderful woman is actually an incredibly vicious person but still at the end of the day she had this incredible magnetic ray to me. All the things that she wanted to do, nasty as they were, were completely forgivable due to whatever reason. It’s all metaphysical.”
10. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
“Bloody hellfire”.
That’s what Tommy utters under his breath in The Grapes as Duffy walks in, gyrating an arm above his head in mock up of Morrissey’s dance rotuine.
“The Smiths! This Charming Man”
“Label?”
“Rough Trade”
“Year”
“1983”
“Correctomundo”
I was fifteen when The Smiths came into my life, well on my way to becoming a charming man.
In fact, this band were to dominate my life musically for the next few years, replacing The Jam who I had been listening to fervently from the age of ten.
I’ve heard it said a few times that The Smiths came along just at the right time.
The eighties had such a vast cross-section of styles and The Smiths were something different again, a hand that fitted a glove so perfectly.
My introduction was by my cousin Andrew when he put on Heaven Knows. “You just have to listen to this” he said.
I’d been aware of The Smiths but maybe I hadn’t heard anything that blew me away.
Yes, I liked Heaven Knows but I had to take a backward step and buy their debut album and that is where I connected and everything fell into place.
A couple of tracks with questionable lyrics that were to come under scrutiny but still a debut album packed with songs of measure and value, not less Johnny Marr’s sublime guitar work.
And on Twitter right now, so many people are tweeting their Top Twenty-Fives and Top-Tens, I decided to make my own ten.
This Charming Man
William, It Was Really Nothing
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Some might say, how can you have a Smiths top ten without those? Oh I can. Easily.
For one thing, I think my ten will be a little different to most and perhaps contain the more deep and dark cuts.
And for another, it’s great that we all vary so much in our selections. It’s down to personal choice so in the end if I don’t include their most popular songs, what difference does it make?
So at number ten, it is Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now because for me, this is where it all began.
Well we’ve had a couple of trial runs and I have to say it’s proved quite a popular Sunday timewaster.
The #TwistedTracks hashtag does coincide with a couple of others, notably the game played on Paul Miller’s (Radio Solent / Dorset) show but we’ll keep it as it is.
The only difference was that we used the featured artist rule but that rather narrowed the pun potential.
So from today and moving on, it will simply be using the chosen theme and employing ANY band or singer.
You’ll see that today’s theme is BIRDS.
I already conjured up a band…
Hawk Kestrel Manoeuvres In The Lark.
in Scrabble that would be a triple word score!
Anyway, enjoy the new format and let’s see how many hilarious twisted tracks you can come up with.
I think we’ve seen enough evidence now, in one year, to know that lockdowns don’t work. And they most certainly damage the country’s economy.
Maybe we, the public have learned things about the virus along the way though it seems the government haven’t.
There are so many opinions divided over Covid.
It’s a deadly virus, we get that. It’s easily spread, we get that too.
But taking in the fact that it kills around one percent of people who have already reached or passed their normal life expectancy, then you begin to wonder why it is that we are continually under house arrest by order of a government who frankly, couldn’t run a bath.
Of course that’s just an opinion. The same as most other people have, a take on the situation as a whole and how it affects their lives personally.
I said to my doctor, this has to be the biggest over-reaction to anything like, ever. He didn’t wanna hear it. Well they don’t, do they.
But I’m now getting rather fed up about being told who can come in or out of my house. Covid has certainly turned so many people into self-righteous experts on the subject too.
The thing is, you can lockdown for six months or six years but you know what, the minute you go back out, the virus is still going to be out there, lurking, somewhere near you no matter the number of vaccines people have had.
Social distancing (and the majority of people we know are doing this), hand sanitisation (perhaps not enough people are doing that seriously) and mask wearing are, in my opinion, all practices that can be done in, not all, but most working environments and certainly outdoors.
I’ve been called all manner of things for not saying a huge fat YES to something just because a handful of others choose to agree with it. And you can go in calling me an idiot because it’s not going to change anything one iota.
As I said, a majority are confirming to the restrictions but anyone who imagined that the entire country is sat indoors and not popping next door for a cuppa or visiting a friend are living in cloud cuckoo land.
We are now in week sux or whatever it is if a third national lockdown and of course a growing number of people have simply had enough.
Last March there was an unseasonal heatwave and people were being hoiked off the beach, I’m talking fully clothed people, a lady for example just set there, yards from any other soul, reading a book alfresco, told to leave the beach by patrols who assumed they actually were the police.
Can you imagine the scenes if this runs into May and there’s hot weather? I can’t speak for others and nor do I want too but no government will ever stop me enjoying the sun.
Like most people I feel the long term impact of Covid means that the way we live may well have changed forever.
I still do all the correct things outside. I social stance, I wear a mask all if the time, not just on entering a shop. But I’ll be damned if I’m being told I can’t have a few friends round to watch the football, close neighbours at that, just because the government doesn’t approve.
No, lockdowns don’t work but that’s okay because we’re stuck with a government and its ‘world-beating’ plans that will haul us out of this dilemma once and for all.
So the original video I produced for this song got lost somewhere in cyberspace.
And I could no longer find the movies and documentaries I had previously used.
But I discovered new material and this ended up primarily as an alcohol awareness film and I’m biased but this song is great and deserves to have an unofficial music video.
When I make a themed video such as this and like my one for autism I always want it to have a storyline.
I’ve used the Drank single sleeve and the Tuber album sleeve you’ll see as the drums kick in but I could not seem to make them any shorter than 0.4s and it kind of works but doesn’t sync exactly and that for me is everything.
Same with the band clips, when you cut stuff up and where there are vocals, to sync it spot on is real tough but I think I’ve got it as good as I can get it anyway.
I’m also happy that the audio is the WMA rip so the sound should be a lot better than a compressed version.
About the band, all I remember is John Peel (probably) had played “Drank” on a programme and I loved the sound, they remind me a bit of Buffalo Tom when I listen to them, I did buy the debut album Tuber but thought the other songs didn’t stand up to “Drank” but I always remembered the band were from Derby (or thereabouts).
On Twitter a few guys joined in on a conversation and it was good that one of them had known band members personally and that others had seen Bivouac play live. Amazingly I learned that they are still playing to this day!
I’ve used lots of imagery here, clips of binge drinking, consequential public disorder to help get the message across.
Towards the end where there’s the instrumental part of the song, I’ve included a timelapse of Derby city centre but even that’s actually slowed down for effect and I like the escalator part before it goes into a Sphere 3D clip of band members.
While looking for new material I found a documentary about a kid who was drinking a bottle of vodka a day. This set the tone and from there the film jumps back to him and it’s what particularly what he says at the end in “It’s just boss – it just makes me feel better” I thought to end the video with that was more poignant along with the alcohol awareness sign.
And as we know drink can be a dark destroyer and affects so many parts of our lives, even going to football which is something I love, hence the small inclusion of Derby and Forest fans.
I’ve got three video editing suites and to make this I chose to use Rovio Creator NXT-6 (see timeline pic above) as it’s pretty decent for tricks and effects.
Lastly I don’t make videos very often, it’s just when I am inspired by something and I enjoy putting it all together. Also I hardly ever get any feedback so if you enjoy the video or have any crtitique, you can leave a reply below the post so, here’s Drank (for the second time!)
When you hear them say “Yeah but all their songs sound the same” and “Heard one song, you’ve heard them all”
Can that fuzzy logic be applied to Placebo?
I wanted to learn more about this band and why I adore them so I’ve gleaned the following from the electric highway and made a compilation which, as far as imaginary albums go, I reckon it would be a mover.
The timeline is largely chronological. So far as I’m aware Twenty Years was never on an album, right, sometimes thus happens, but why?
But these are all personal favourites. This one’s my summit.
Anyone heard the Brothers In Rhythm remix? Actually I think it’s pretty neat, if you like that kind of thing.
So what of Placebo? When did they start? Where are they from? I turned to the Great Rock Bible though me thinks they’ve heard of Wikipedia, damn, anyway…
A nu noise for the nutty 90s, the PLACEBO effect was miles apart from the pseudo battles within the Britpop fad. Spearheaded by the openly bisexual, androgynous-looking Brian Molko – a geezer that drew comparisons with 70s glam idols BOLAN and BOWIE – the music, however, traded in the glitter for a darker listening experience. Taking the fast lane out of the post-grunge pile-up, London-based PLACEBO fused elements of avant-garde rock and cerebral metal; Molko’s paint-stripping shrill drawing comparisons with RUSH’s Geddy Lee and PAVLOV’S DOG’s David Surkamp – ah! prog and the 70s.
Formed in October 1994 by the cosmopolitan pair of singer/guitarist Molko (Belgian-born son of American and Scottish parents) and bassist Stefan Olsdal (from Sweden), they’d attended the same American International School of Luxembourg; they met up again on a South Kensington tube having spent time in the States and Sweden respectively. Early the following year, Ashtray Heart – as they were then briefly billed – recruited Englishman Steve Hewitt, although the sticksman had commitments with another band, Breed. Demos cut, drummer/percussionist Robert Schultzberg (also from Sweden), was drafted in as they chose the name PLACEBO. Press blogs at the time stated they’d been joint winners of the “In The City” Battle of the Bands competition – unconfirmed?
Late in ‘95, `Bruise Pristine’, was chosen by Fierce Panda Records as the trio’s debut 7”, although it’d be another act, Soup, who’d appear on the flipside. After only a handful of gigs, PLACEBO signed for Deceptive Records (home to ELASTICA and others), leading to tours with ASH, BUSH and WHALE. However, on the strength of one solitary single, `Come Home’, Molko and Co hit the proverbial jackpot via a deal with Virgin/Hut subsidiary, Elevator Records.
Roping in producer Brad Wood, the trio’s eponymous PLACEBO (1996) {*8} debut album was released to a fawning music press; metal-mag Kerrang!’s strong support helping the record dent the Top 40. Hit singles, `Teenage Angst’, and the glorious chartbuster, `Nancy Boy’, helped regenerate sales of a now Top 5 set which many hailed as one of the year’s best. In addition to the more incendiary tracks, the record also contained such hauntingly reflective songs as the sweet `Lady Of The Flowers’ and `Hang On To Your IQ’.
With Steve Hewitt back in the stool to replace Schultzberg, PLACEBO were back with a bang in the autumn of ’98; two blistering Top 5 singles in quick succession: `Pure Morning’ and `You Don’t Care About Us’, premiering their equally superb Steve Osborne-produced sophomore set,
WITHOUT YOU I’M NOTHING `Every You Every Me’, and the collaborative title track (with Molko’s idol, BOWIE), kept the band in high profile the following year, although the latter track was excluded from the charts for breaching regulations.
With BLACK MARKET MUSIC (2000) {*7}, Molko took his brooding sexual vision to its twisted climax on an album which ranked as one of PLACEBO’s most darkly satisfying to date. Long-time fans would be glad to know that the ever-androgynous frontman was still wrestling with his soiled demons, content to provide a mascara-smeared foil to the bloke-rock clogging up the music biz. And with a couple of further Top 20 hits in `Taste In Men’ and `Slave To The Wage’ (`Special K’ was again deemed too lengthy in format to achieve chart status), PLACEBO’s vision was still in tact.
Still going strong after three albums, PLACEBO issued their fourth, the hauntingly-titled SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS (2003) . The disc saw a more mature Molko letting down his glam-rock snottiness, in favour of dark rock in the vein of MUSE and the COOPER TEMPLE CLAUSE. As always, his high-pitched whine was ever present, as were the complex guitar rhythms and the off-kilter backbeat by the ever reliable Olsdal and Hewitt; best examples were from hit singles `The Bitter End’, `This Picture’ and `Special Needs’.
Add to the mix some dark electronica and the occasional ballad (`English Summer Rain’) and what emerged was a deliciously brash and delicately dark pop-rock record that would be hard not to impress the rock fraternity.
Following on from the anthology, “Once More With Feeling: Singles 1996-2004”, MEDS (2006) {*7}, stripped it back even further, dispensing with any lingering production frippery on an album which returned the band to the scabrous, dirty rock thrills of their debut. On a record which followed the “greatest hits” set into the Top 10, Frenchman Dimitri Tikovoi was charged with the sonic reduction (achieved over an impressively concise two months), surpassing himself with the garish grind of `Infra Red’. Guests included an unobtrusive Michael Stipe (on `Broken Promise’), and The KILLS’ Alison Mosshart, who sassed-up the title track.
While the Yanks were beginning to take notice of the band’s self-conscious alt-rock sounds, and with Steve Forrest now in charge of the drum-stool in place of Hewitt, PLACEBO took on the might of America on album number six, BATTLE FOR THE SUN (2009) {*7}. Released by PIAS for worldwide distribution (Vagrant in North America), and produced by David Bottrill, the impact across the seas was immediate, as it not only underpinned the US Top 50, but smashed the charts all over Europe and beyond. Unlike its predecessors and due to the takeover of all things digital and downloadable, the PLACEBO singles (`For What It’s Worth’ and `The Never-Ending Why’) failed to reach out to the public. Despite this, Molko’s paeans of poetry and gothic glam were dispatched on the hook-line, churning of `Kitty Litter’, the title track and something somewhat déjà vu on `Ashtray Heart’.
Switching to Vertigo Records, the `B3EP’ (featuring a cover of Minxus’ `I Know You Want To Stop’) was issued toward the fall of 2012, while most fans were concerned that it was years since an album. Revolving around themes of inner love and all it encompasses, LOUD LIKE LOVE (2013) {*6}, was again led by mixed reviews. If decreasing sales were anything to go by (peaks of UK No.13 and US No.98), PLACEBO looked to be in danger of crashing and burning. Biting wordplay on the Facebook-(un-)friendly `Too Many Friends’ (the video highlighting a voiceover for transgressive novelist Brett Easton Ellis), was moody Molko searching out for solace from somewhere; other touching songs came by way of `Hold On To Me’, `A Million Little Pieces’ and `Begin The End’.
Marking their 20th anniversary on the rather old-hat/low-key MTV UNPLUGGED (2015) {*6}, PLACEBO sounded decidedly humdrum and unadventurous. Recorded live in front of a select audience in London Studios, only the guest tracks, `Protect Me From What I Want’ (featuring JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN) and `Every You Every Me’ (with Majke Voss Romme aka Broken Twin), and possibly the dependable PIXIES, SINEAD O’CONNOR and PAVEMENT covers, unmasked anything worth shouting about.
I love Placebo. Take it from someone who cares.
A friend in need’s a friend indeed but a friend with weed is better.
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