Bertie Fridays #5: Burt The Bandit

Another of Bertie the dog's favourite Burties this week... we like nothing better than to chill out and watch Smokey & The Bandit together...

James Dean in a Mercury '49
Junior Johnson's runnin' in the woods of Caroline
Even Burt Reynolds in a black Trans Am
I'm gonna meet 'em down at the Cadillac ranch

Bruce Springsteen - Cadillac Ranch

"But wait a second, Rol," I hear you cry. "Burt Reynolds was an actor... and this is a music blog!"

Well, clearly you've forgotten Burt's 1973 country album, Ask Me What I Am...

Burt Reynolds - She's Taken A Gentle Lover

Not to mention this "classic" single from the soundtrack of 1980's Smokey & The Bandit 2...

Well, Bertie seems to like it...

Next week's Bertie went to school in hand-washed shirts with neatly ordered hair...

Namesakes #126: Pixies

These week, the Namesakes garden is infested with cheeky little imps. Like all Pixies though, they're very hard to catch on camera. Only one set of Pixies could be linked to photographic evidence. Guess which ones...?

THE PIXIES #1

I think this is our earliest set of Pixies. Extensive research suggest that it was originally recorded in 1946 by Bob Camp & His Buddies, but that it was re-released / possibly re-recorded in 1962, by which time Bob's buddies had turned into Pixies. Despite what the internet might try to tell you, this isn't the same Bob Camp who would later create the cartoon Ren & Stimpy.

Bob Camp & His Pixies - Jack & Jill Boogie

THE PIXIES #2

The year is 1956. Here are some more Pixies on a Christmas novelty record with Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft playing Santa. The same Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft who was the voice of Tony The Tiger. You know what that suggests about these Pixies? They're greeeeeeaaaaat! 

The Pixies - Santa's Too Fat For The Hula Hoop

Two years later, these self-same Pixies would return accompanied by the John Williams Orchestra (not that one) to perform a song about pygmies.

Different times.

The Pixies - Pygmy Love

THE PIXIES #3

Elsewhen in the 50s, we find some Pixies involved in a budget rip-off re-recording of the Poni Tails hit Born Too Late...

The Pixies - Born Too Late

THE PIXIES #4

Teen girl group from 1959, though they sounds like they come from the 40s... 

The Pixies - Echoing Mailbox / Bacia-Ba-Loo

THE PIXIES #5

From 1963, a Frankie Valli-esque Pixies on the Don Dee record label...

The Pixies - Thrilled

THE PIXIES #6

Japanese group from 1964, though it's another that could easily have been released many years earlier...

The Pixies - Teenage Love

(THE) PIXIES #7

Formed in 1986 by Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (or Frank Black / Black Francis to his mates), Kimberley Ann Deal, Joseph Alberto Santiago and Dave the drummer, the Boston-based Pixies are surely one of the most influential indie / alt-rock acts of that or any other era. They split up in '93, reformed in 2004 and Kim managed to stick it out for another decade before finally telling Frank to Gouge Away.

Pixies carried on, though they dropped the definite article, suggesting they could no longer be THE Pixies without Kim. That interpretation does credit Frank with a little more modesty than he's famous for. 

The Pixies - Debaser

Pixies - Bagboy

THE PIXIES #8

In 1992, Select magazine commissioned notorious satirist Chris Morris to produce a recording to be given away as a cover-mounted floppy disc (remember them?). Morris recorded a spoof radio show (sticking a pin in the pompous inanity that Steve Wright's Radio 1 show had become by that point). This also included a song called Mother-Banger by The Pixies (lead singer "Jet Black"). I include it here because a) it's on discogs; b) I was a huge Chris Morris fan back in the Day (Today).

The Pixies - Motherbanger (song starts at 2.30)

Bono "fans": it's worth listening to the bit after Motherbanger in which Morris spoofs a Sun journalist into believing he's talking to the "great man" about the band's farewell gig at Alton Towers, with NWA in support. 

"Between you and me, have you ever heard anything so stupid as calling yourself 'The Edge'?"

 

Which is your pick of the Pixies?

Snapshots #384: Twelve Capital City Songs

Let's go around the world in twelve songs - what a capital idea!

12. Part Mull Historical Society, part Travis, part Box Tops.

Mull Historical Society, part Travis, part Box Tops.

This means nothing to me.

Ultravox - Vienna

11. Third new home for Judge Dredd.

Judge Dredd lives in Mega City One. His first new home would be Mega City Two. His second would be Mega City Three. His third would be...

Mega City Four - Prague

10. Blokes who missed the bus.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

9. Chemistry or Biology?

Science - Tokyo 

8. They don't look a day over fifty.

The 1975 - Paris

7. Finished his job in 6 days, then had a rest.

Lord Creator - Kingston Town

6. Rude Leo in another crazy outburst. 

"Rude Leo" was an anagram...

Lou Reed - Berlin

5. Britten's small oranges.

Benjamin Britten loved his clementines.

Benjamin Clementine - London

4. Like Jones, in the rain.

Oran Juice Jones like walking in The Rain.

Orange Juice - Moscow

3. South African footballers.

Amazulu - Cairo

2. There's zero reggae at his jumble sale.

"Zero reggae", unjumbled, gives us...

George Ezra - Budapest

1. The Highlands, by foot.

A nice place to be a walker, if you're a Scot.

Two possible answers in the top spot...

Scott Walker - Amsterdam

Scott Walker - Copenhagen

I had one more on the list, which I didn't use because they appeared here two weeks ago, and because I'm triskaidekaphobic.

Joy Division - Warsaw

More of this nonsense next week.

Saturday Snapshots #384

It's Snapshots time again - have you got game?

Who are the people below and what is the Equalizer... the subject their songs have in common?

12. Part Mull Historical Society, part Travis, part Box Tops.

11. Third new home for Judge Dredd.

10. Blokes who missed the bus.

9. Chemistry or Biology?

8. They don't look a day over fifty.

7. Finished his job in 6 days, then had a rest.

6. Rude Leo in another crazy outburst. 

5. Britten's small oranges.

4. Like Jones, in the rain.

3. South African footballers.

2. There's zero reggae at his jumble sale.

1. The Highlands, by foot.

Got them all? You'll get déjà vu when I reveal the answers tomorrow morning.

 

Bertie Fridays #4: What The World Needs Now...

Time for Bertie the dog to pick another of his favourite music Berts... or Burts in the case of this week's star.

I'm sure I can't tell you anything about Burt Bacharach that you don't already know, although I can confirm that he's NOT related to one of my favourite actors of recent years, Ebon Moss-Bacharach of The Bear (soon to play The Thing in the new Fantastic Four movie).

I think we'll just let the music speak for itself today...

Jackie DeShannon - What the World Needs Now (Is Love)

Herb Alpert - This Guy's In Love With You

Perry Como - Magic Moments 

Shirelles - Baby It's You

Walker Brothers - Make It Easy On Yourself

Dusty Springfield - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

Gene Pitney - Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa

Isaac Hayes - Walk On By

Dionne Warwick - Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

The Carpenters - (They Long To Be) Close To You

Love - My Little Red Book

Tom Jones - What's New, Pussycat?

Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer

Neil Diamond - Heartlight

BJ Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Christopher Cross - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald - On My Own

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Toledo

The majority of those were written with lyricist Hal David, of course. But he's not a Bertie. Or even a Burty.

If I was forced at gunpoint to choose a favourite recording of a Bacharach composition, it would be this one, which I bought as a 7" single in 1990. I was convinced it made Number One, but clearly I needed to buy a couple more copies, because it was held off the top spot by Timmy Mallet. Oh, the inDignity*!

*I'm particularly proud of that pun. Little things please little minds.

Next week... "For the money, for the glory, and for the fun. Mostly for the money."

Sequel Songs #6: Second Cab Off The Rank

In the year of my birth, 1972, Harry Chapin released his debut single, Taxi. As with many of Chapin's songs, it told a heart-breaking story. That was his stock in trade. But before becoming a successful recording artist, Harry almost became a taxi driver. In fact, he was waiting for his taxi driving licence to come through when he wrote this song... although he never did become a cabby, because he landed a job in the movie business and started following his dream of becoming a documentary film-maker. 

Until his storytelling took him in a different direction...

Taxi tells the story of a lonely cab driver who picks up an ex-girlfriend one rainy night. They reminisce on roads not taken, dreams not achieved... before parting company, neither of them particularly happy with the lives they're going back to. The story was, according to Harry, about 60% autobiographical.

There was not much more for us to talk about
Whatever we had once was gone
So I turned my cab into the driveway
Past the gate and the fine-trimmed lawns

And she said, "We must get together"
But I knew it'd never be arranged
Then she hand me twenty dollars for a two-fifty fare
She said, "Harry, keep the change"

Chapin's songwriting chops proved so enticing to record company bigwigs that a bidding war ensued between CBS and Elektra over who would put out his first album... and when he performed Taxi on the Johnny Carson show, he became the first musical guest to ever be invited back to sing again the following evening.

Although Taxi was only the beginning of Harry's success, with much bigger hits to follow, fans kept asking him what might have happened to the characters after the song ended. To answer this, he wrote a Sequel in 1980, a song that picks up exactly where the last one ended... then jumps forward in time to find Harry the taxi driver now a successful musician, with Sue seemingly fallen on hard times, though a little happier in herself.

Don't ask me if I made love to her

Or which one of us started to cry

Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left

If I answered at all I'd lie

Harry Chapin joked that if he ever wrote a third act to this story, he'd call it "Hearse". Sadly, he died in a car accident a few months after Sequel hit the US charts, so we'll never know the final fate of Harry and Sue...

Finally, for those of you who appreciate such things as I do, here's William Shatner's unique interpretation of Taxi. I'm sure Harry was tickled pink...

William Shatner - Taxi

 

Namesakes #125: The Seahorses

Welcome back to the wonderful world of "bands with the same name", as George likes to call it.

Saddle up for an underwater horse race...

SEA HORSES #1

Leaping from the oceans of Congleton and Macclesfield in 1988, these Sea Horses recorded three albums of ethereal wispiness before disbanding... just as John Squire formed his own bunch of Seahorses below. This lot kicked up a bit of a fuss, and after a while, according to a quote I found online, "Chris* Squire brought the name for an undisclosed figure and there's 15,000 reasons why we can't tell you.  [The Sea Horses and their producer] each took a share to cover their losses... and not long after Chris Squire's Seahorse died." (Spoilers!)

*I don't know why they insist on calling him Chris Squire, because Chris Squire is the bassist in Yes and has nothing to do with any Seahorses. Maybe they're just taking the piss?

Sea Horses - Asking Heaven And Heart

THE SEAHORSES #2

From Sheffield in 1989 comes another bunch of Seahorses, this time supporting one Nick Fish. 

He wasn't a real fish.

Nick Fish & The Seahorses - Mockingbird Lane

THE SEAHORSES #3

After falling out with Ian Brown and ending The Stone Roses, guitarist John Squire teamed up with busking songwriter Chris Helme to form The Seahorses. They didn't have the best of starts after Squire admitted he didn't like any of Helme's songs and wanted to stick with the ones he'd written instead. 

These Seahorses broke up during the recording sessions for their second album after a big bust up between Squire and Helme in which Helme "turned a Larrivée guitar into match sticks". 

The Seahorses - Love Is The Law

WE ARE THE SEAHORSES #4

Getting in on a technicality, this Pittsburgh band contributed a song to a 2006 Halloween compilation called Brains Are Served, which also featured Weird Paul, Sexually Active Corpse and Johnny Cash(less Society). Grab a copy next time you see it in a charity shop near you!

We Are The Seahorses - Jeffrey Caught The Green Ball

SEAHORSES! #5

Here's a little tip for John Squire next time he wants to use a band name that's already been used. Rather than shelling out 15,000 clams, how about just sticking an exclamation mark on the end?

Here are some Seahorses! (or it might just be one bloke) from Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2012.

Seahorses! - Like A Glass

SEAHORSES #6

Also from 2012, and not even bothering with an exclamation mark, here are some Peruvian Seahorses. From the image illustrating their bandcamp page, I'm thinking they mean no 'arm.

I chose this particular tune because of its "title"...

Seahorses - ☔

THE SEAHORSES #7

Next, some folky-indie Seahorses from Edinburgh, the alias of one Ailsa McEwan, whose song-writing "channels the emotional vulnerability of her hero Jeff Buckley, the dreamy melancholia of The Smiths, and the haunting existential poetry of Leonard Cohen". 

Ailsa and the Seahorses - Hermit

SEAHORSES #8

And finally, some "ambient electronic indie" from Portland, Maine. This is from 2019, but they're still on the go now.

Seahorses - Let the Rain Wash Through the Holes in Your Skin

There were many more Seahorse-related bands out there - including Seahoarse, Seawhorse, The Plain Seahorses, The Winged Seahorses, Road of Seahorses, Seahorses Forever, Let's All Ride Seahorses and - my personal favourite - Seahorse Divorce. 

But which band makes you see horses... and which makes you see red?

Listening Post #25: Not Enough Purple

This blog's been pretty much me writing about music lately, with very little me writing about life. If there's a reason for that, I guess it's that life is getting me down more than usual and I've got a major case of the blues.

Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues

I never understood why blue should be the colour of depression, since it's a bright and happy colour: everyone loves a blue sky, right? What should be the colour of unhappiness then? Some might say black, but there's a million reasons why that would be a bad idea... mostly because black is way too cool.

Colin Vearncombe - Cool

No, I reckon the real colour of misery is GREY. Boring, insipid, lifeless, moribund grey. 

I'm hoping my mood is just a reflection of the long winter. It's half term this week, so at least I get a bit of a break. It's certainly the case that for the last month or so, to quote Clint Boon, there's been not enough purple... TOO MUCH GREY.

  

Snapshots #383: A Top 15 Crimes Against Music

You have been brought before me today charged with some of the most heinous crimes known to man. 

How do you plead...?

15. Seen in various lit stadiums. 

VariouS LIT Stadiums...

The Slits - Shoplifting

14. None of your.

None of your business!

The Business - Drinking & Driving

13. Favoured by horses...

The Sugarcubes - Theft

12. Mate's wake.

Funeral For A Friend - I Am The Arsonist

11. Looks like it's where the sweet train stops.

It's almost like the Candy Station!

Candi Staton - Blackmail

10. Miss Diane, you f***ing ****!

That may be my favourite clue ever. But I'm easily pleased.

Benny Profane - Rob A Bank

9. Located in the Grenadines? Hah! 

Grenadine sHah! 

Nadine Shah - Stealing Cars

8. What is love? In a modern museum.

Howard Jones sang What Is Love? In the Tate Modern.

Howard Tate - She's A Burglar

7. Holds up a group of geese.

A prop for a gander.

Propaganda - Abuse

6. The Rock, Just Like...

The Rock is Dwayne Johnson. 

Just Like... Eddy!

Duane Eddy - Stalkin'

5. Almost like Britney on a bonfire.

Imagine a burning Spear(s)...

Burning Spear - Slavery Days

4. Just like heaven.

Nirvana - Rape Me

3. There's nearly a thousand of them! 

999 - Homicide

2. Just part of the audience.

In fact, she used to be lead singer in theaudience...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor

1. The exported leopards find themselves in a bit of a tangle.

The Teardrop Explodes - Treason

I sentence you all to more Snapshots next Saturday...