Song of the Week - The Stranglers - Don't Bring Harry

Harry and me we live in a dream
With a friend like him I don't need enemies

I don't know where morning is
It might not come today
That's the trouble when harry's around
He forces me to play

I should have refused to meet this midnight cheat
He likes to prey on my mind with his own special treat

I don't know when morning comes,
It might not come today.
Harry likes to play all night
I'll do what harry says

Don't bring harry I don't need him around
Don't bring harry I don't need him around

Ah you've met harry - I can see by your eyes
If once there was life there, now there's compromise

Harry is a beast of luxury
He just wants my body and soul - leaves the bones behind

Ah you've met harry - I can see by your eyes
If once there was action - Now there is no life

Don't bring harry I don't need him around
Don't bring harry I don't need him around

 

 

Don't Bring Harry - Top of The Pops 1979 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGTIGGu-YM8

 

Song of the Week - Dropkick Murphys - Rose Tattoo

The pictures tell the story
This life has many shades
I’d wake up every morning and before I’d start each day
I’d take a drag from last nights cigarette
That smoldered in it’s tray
Down a little something and then be on my way

I traveled far and wide
And laid this head in many ports
I was guided by a compass
I saw beauty to the north
I drew the tales of many lives
And wore the faces of my own
I had these memories all around me
So I wouldn’t be alone

Some may be from showing up
Others are from growing up
Sometimes I was so messed up and didn’t have a clue
I ain’t winning no one over
I wear it just for you
I’ve got your name written here
In a rose tattoo

In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
I’ve got your name written here
In a rose tattoo

This ones for the mighty sea
Mischief, gold and piracy
This ones for the man that raised me
Taught me sacrifice and bravery
This ones for our favorite game
Black and gold, we wave the flag
This ones for my family name
With pride I wear it to the grave

Some may be from showing up
Others are from growing up
Sometimes I was so messed up and didn’t have a clue
I ain't winning no one over
I wear it just for you
I’ve got your name written here
In a rose tattoo

In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
I’ve got your name written here,
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
I’ve got your name written here
In a rose tattoo

This one means the most to me
Stays here for eternity
A ship that always stays the course
An anchor for my every choice
A rose that shines down from above
I signed and sealed these words in blood
I heard them once, sung in a song
It played again and we sang along

You’ll always be there with me
Even if you’re gone
You’ll always have my love
Our memory will live on

Some may be from showing up
Others are from growing up
Sometimes I was so messed up and didn’t have a clue
I ain't winning no one over
I wear it just for you
I’ve got your name written here

In a rose tattoo

In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
I’ve got your name written here,
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
With pride I’ll wear it to the grave for you
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
I’ve got your name written here,
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
In a rose tattoo
Signed and sealed in blood I would die for you




Dropkick Murphys - Rose Tattoo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d8SzG4FPyM

Song of the Week - Louise Distras - Stand Strong Together

LOUISE DISTRAS - STAND STRONG TOGETHER

The music that brings us together
is the same thing that tears us apart
Stand strong together with unity in your heart

Voice in the street sells broken lies
Shoulder to shoulder stand in line
... Scar of your heart you cannot fight
The day has fallen into night

They put us down in every way
It only makes us stronger every single day
Broken window scar tattoo
Waging war on the chosen few

You are punk, you are skin
If you fight the government wins
It's your life, don't give in, unite and win
Born original loyal and true
Waging war on the chosen few

The music that brings us together
is the same thing that tears us apart
Stand strong together with unity in your heart
Breaking rules in everyway, the working class is here to stay
with unity in our hearts!
 
Stand Strong Together video here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIR3HFlYrU

Check out Louise's website here:

http://www.louisedistras.co.uk/


 

RUTS DC - HARE & HOUNDS 6/10/2012

 

There is a long list of bands I wish I’d seen but probably at the top of the list were The Ruts. In an all too short career they released one of the finest run of punk singles ever and the epic ‘The Crack’ album and to this day I still wonder how many further great songs they would have been capable of producing. So when the Ruts DC played Rebellion festival in the summer, even though it was the band formed from the surviving members following tragic death of front man Malcolm Owen, it was a must see event. And they didn’t disappoint with their set being highlight of the festival. So when the chance came to see them again so soon we jumped at it. The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath was the venue in the 250 capacity upstairs room. Even before the support band Cracked Actors came on the room had filled nicely and there was definitely an air of excited expectancy around - we had conversations with a couple of guys who had both seen them around 1979 in Digbeth supporting the Damned. The set was very similar to the Rebellion one. A few new songs (which having now heard them twice sound great) interspersed with older Ruts DC songs and then the Ruts tunes started appearing, Backbiter, It Was Cold, SUS was incorporated into one of the newer songs. Then we were on a roll, Staring at The Rudeboys, Love In Vein, Jah War all sounding amazing although the crowd was a little subdued. So for the finale we took the plunge and stormed the front. West One, Babylon’s Burning and an encore of In A Rut. Well impressed that someone of my years could stay the distance with young Sam and to be honest it could well have been 1979 again! If you were a fan of the Ruts and get the opportunity the Ruts DC are a must see. And as the ending refrain of In A Rut was still ringing in my ears you couldn’t help but wonder what if…..   

West One (Shine On Me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s8k0GtLZ4o

That's A Two Pipe Question Sherlock

So it was another night out to see John Cooper Clarke. This time the venue was Birmingham Town Hall on a wet autumn night. The venue was up market compared to some of the dives we have seen him in and the performance reflected this with probably one of the most polished I have ever seen Johnny Clarke give. Too many highlights and I can’t remember most of them anyway. Some old classics, Beasley Street, Evidently Chicken Town and a whole host of soon to be classics including one about jail and the sometimes touching I Fell In Love With My Wife. He still looks every bit the rock star and his rock n roll references are always on the mark. His one liners are smart, limericks hilarious (There Once Was a Man With A Beard), the poems are never less than brilliant and when he goes off at a tangent he takes the audience with him into his wonderful offbeat world located somewhere just outside Cosham (There Once Was A Man From Cosham). To be honest he could read out the phone book and could make it entertaining. It was good to see some t-shirts on sale at one of his gigs and the Evidently Chicken Town one Sam got is probably the coolest T-shirt I have ever seen. What the world needs right now is a new album of Johnny Clarke material! Will we get one? That is a two pipe question Sherlock!

Evidently Chicken Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVmNn9HRFZo&feature=fvst



THE RUTS - STARING AT THE RUDE BOYS

Staring At The Rude Boys on Top of The Pops


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1LMtQ8t6hQ

WHAT DOES RECORD STORE DAY MEAN TO ME?

Although Record Store Day has been running for a few years, this is the first time I have actively participated.  Sam and I headed to ST Records in Dudley around 10.30 on the Saturday morning.  ST records is a great little record shop that mainly specialises in Metal and Rock so wasn't sure what to expect.  As we entered there was a sign on the door that stated they were open at 8.00 this morning specially for RSD2012.  The shop is quite compact and the RSD releases were in a number of boxes on the counter and there were a couple of people flicking through the boxes and waiting to pay so we had a little wait before we could access.  We finally got our turn and quickly flicked through the boxes to see what delights lay in store as there was already a small queue developing behind us.  Next year I have decided to go a little bit informed with more possible purchases in mind as the few I had targeting had long since sold out - Public Image Ltd - One Drop / The Clash - London Calling 2012 remix / The Fall -  Night Of The Humerons.  Sam quickly spotted a handful that he wanted and opted for Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind / The Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom / Marilyn Manson - No Reflection.  All 7" singles on assorted vinyl (I do love his eclectic music taste for someone so young!).  As I was handing over the cash (£18 for 3 singles is a bit excessive but it is only once a year) I heard one of the people serving say that apparently people were queueing outside at 5.00am! So maybe we need to come a bit earlier next year? 

After leaving ST we headed for a shop called That's Entertainment which is based in Merry Hill which is part of a chain offering discounted CDs and DVDs.  I was somewhat surprised to hear they were participating in RSD and sure enough they had the posters in the window confirming this but I wasn't overly surprised when we entered and asked the assistant where their RSD releases were to be told they weren't actually sent any - surely a case for false advertising?  We quickly left.

So what is my take on RSD?  Well first of all it was disappointing to see so many releases offered for sale on eBay so quickly and at vastly inflated prices - I saw several copies of The Beat and Marilyn Manson singles with asking prices approaching £30 a pop.  So it's fairly obvious that there is a not insignificant number of people who make these purchases with nothing else in mind but to sell quickly for a profit - probably most of them were outside ST at 5.00am.  In making these releases limited, a demand that outstrips supply is often created and in a sellers market the price naturally increases.  Can you really blame people for trying to cash in on this, and after all isn't this just what the participating shops are doing anyway, albeit to a  much lesser extent?

But I think this cynical approach perhaps takes away from what RSD really stands for.  It's a celebration of the independent record sector (remember where the word "indie" originated from?) and a chance for the likes of myself to rekindle the genuine excitement of actually visiting a record store, physically buying a piece of plastic and the resultant sonic aural rush when you get home.  And if it also means that someone like Sam can get a taste for vinyl at an early age and help satisfy his desire for listening to the unheard, both old and new.  At that can't be a bad thing. 

So I'll be visiting ST Records a little more frequently from now on - and remember go out and support your local independent record store day - they are for life, not just RSD.

GRINDERMAN - PALACES OF MONTEZUMA

PALACES OF MONTEZUMA

Psychedelic invocations
Of Mata Hari at the station
I give to you
A Java princess of Hindu Birth
A woman of flesh a child of earth
I give to you
The hanging gardens of Babylon
Miles Davis the black unicorn
I give to you
The Palaces of Montezuma
And the Gardens of Akbar's tomb
I give to you
The spider Goddess and the Needle Boy
The slave-dwarves they employ
I give to you
A custard-coloured super-dream
Of Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen
I give to you

C'mon baby, let's get out of the cold
And give me, give me, give me your precious love for me to hold

The epic of Gilgamesh
A pretty little black A-line dress
I give to you
The spinal cord of JFK
Wrapped in Marilyn Monroe's negligee
I give to you
I want nothing in return
Just the softest little breathless word
I ask of you
A word contained in a grain of sand
That can barely walk can't even stand
I ask of you

Oh c'mon baby, let's get out of the cold
And gimme gimme gimme your precious love for me to hold
C'mon baby come out of the cold
And gimme gimme gimme your precious love for me to hold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30U1-5-k1P4

NEIL YOUNG - ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART

ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART

When you were young
and on your own
How did it feel
to be alone?
I was always thinking
of games that I was playing.
Trying to make
the best of my time.

But only love
can break your heart
Try to be sure
right from the start
Yes only love
can break your heart
What if your world
should fall apart?

I have a friend
I've never seen
He hides his head
inside a dream
Someone should call him
and see if he can come out.
Try to lose
the down that he's found.

But only love
can break your heart
Try to be sure
right from the start
Yes only love
can break your heart
What if your world
should fall apart?

I have a friend
I've never seen
He hides his head
inside a dream
Yes, only love
can break your heart
Yes, only love
can break your heart

ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOl01vKXv6I

DR FEELGOOD - ROXETTE

ROXETTE

I saw you out the other night
I saw somebody hold you tight
Roxette, I wonder who it could be
It was so dark I couldn't see
But I know it wasn't me
When I tell you it ain't right
I know you've got to agree

I followed you into a show
The band was playing rock'n'roll
Roxette, I didn't need to seek you out
The music played so loud
That I could hear you through the crowd
You was telling everyone
About a new guy you'd found

Roxette I gotta go away
And leave you for a couple of days
Roxette, I don't want no more of your tricks
I'm gonna get some concrete mix
And fill your back door up with bricks
And you better be there waiting
When I get my business fixed

DR FEELGOOD - ROXETTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU6AJNgP_mk&feature=related

Sam's Record Store Day 2012 purchases

MIRROR IN THE BATHROON - THE BEAT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_-7fqUMuyg

IF I CAN'T CHANGE YOUR MIND - SUGAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLu9Celu898&feature=fvst

NO RELECTION - MARILYN MANSON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuhgWXg4rw4

 

 

IGGY POP - SOME WEIRD SIN

SOME WEIRD SIN

Well, I never got my license to live
They won't give it up
So I stand at the world's edge

I'm trying to break in
Oh, I know it's not for me
And the sight of it all
Makes me sad and ill
That's when I want- Some Weird Sin

Things get too straight
I can't bear it
I feel stuck, stuck on a pin

I'm trying to break in
Oh, I know it's not for me
But the sight of it all
Makes me sad and ill
That's when I want- Some Weird Sin
That's when I want- Some Weird Sin
Just to relax with

Yeah, some dumb, weird sin
For a while anyway
With my head on the ledge
That's what you get out on the edge
Some Weird Sin

Things get too straight
I can't bear it
I feel stuck, stuck on a pin

I'm trying to break in
Oh, I know it's not for me
When the sight of it all
Makes me sad and ill
That's when I want- Some Weird Sin
That's when I want- Some Weird Sin
Just to relax with

That's some dumb weird sin
For a while anyway
With my head out on the ledge
That's what you get out on the edge
Some Weird sin

Some weird sin, Some weird sin, etc

SOME WEIRD SIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_uF6ObhDks

THE BAND - THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN

It's always a sad day when we lose a musician and we seem to be losing a lot of them at the moment but I shed a tear for the death of Levon Helm, drummer and singer with The Band and here's a song my brother really turned me on to last year and I've been playing ever since.

THE BAND - THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRg_rxXQ_E

S*M*A*S*H - (I WANT TO) KILL SOMEBODY

(I WANT TO) KILL SOMEBODY

a statistician studies titian
the hand up his arse is a politician
red-headed women and a disraeli disposition
what lack of vision
i want to kill somebody

hold my hate like a knife to their throats
cut through every muscle
and breake every bone
i want to chop their fucking heads off
and stick them on a stake
that's the extent of my hate

its not that i want them dead
it's just this world would be a better place
if they had never existed
i want to kill somebody

a statistician studies titian
red-headed women and a disraeli dispoistion
what lack of vision
whoever's in power
i'll be the oppisition
i want to kill somebody

so i'm a hyprocrite
cos i don't believe in capital punishment
but here's my paradoxical quip
"the people who prescribe to it are
the people who should subscribe to it"
it's not that i want them dead
its just this world be be a better place
if they never existed
i want to kill somebody

margaret thatcher, jefferey archer,
michael heseltine, john major, virginia bottomeley
especially gill shepherd's got an appauling enemployment record
i want to kill somebody

i want to kill somebody
everbody knows somebody
i want to kill somebody
(don't you?)

i want to kill somebody
i want to kill somebody
i want to kill somebody

S*M*A*S*H - (I WANT TO) KILL SOMEBODY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIshse2x6Cc

JOE STRUMMER & THE MESCALEROS - JOHNNY APPLESEED

Great line up announced for the Strummer of Love festival in August.  Check here for full details: http://www.strummeroflove.com/

JOHHNY APPLESEED

Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well locked in a factory

Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
*Is what was true now no longer so

Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees

Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple

Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find

Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the road
If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees

JOE STRUMMER & THE MESCALEROS - JOHNNY APPLESEED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqEOOvoEi_w