An Alternative History of "Pop" Music: Part 2, 1982 -

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

it was originally supposed to be sung by Tony Christie (like their previous hit, 'Walk Like a Panther') but Oakey was called in as a replacement after Christie fell out with the band's management.

Do you know what the story was there? I vaguely recall Christie making some disparaging comments about the whole affair.

[Brundle-Fly]

It was old school showbiz 'this is how things were done in my day' moaning as far as I heard. Shirley Bassey behaved similarly with The Propellerheads, apparently.

[daf]

Gay Dad ‎– UVA



Released in August 1999 as the B-side to "Oh Jim" - reached #47 in the UK chart.

Gay Dad's debut album Leisure Noise, co-produced by Chris Hughes and Mark Frith, was released in June 1999. Despite initial good reviews it only made No. 14, although American sales topped 25,000. The band performed in June at the Glastonbury Festival.



The second single "Joy!" reached No. 22 in the UK in June 1999, but the third single, "Oh Jim", only made No. 47. As with their first single, they tinkered endlessly with the arrangement, with the album version featuring a radically different guitar solo.



Disappointing reviews for some of their live shows started a general media backlash. Cliff Jones was criticised for his pretentious statements, and the band's whole authenticity was questioned due to his connections with the music press.



After a U.S. tour Charley Stone left the band and was on the verge of being replaced by bass player Andy Bell (who had previously been guitarist with Ride) when Liam Gallagher heard of Bell's plan and asked him to join Oasis - the meddling twat!

[Astronaut Omens]

Re: the All Seeing I/ Tony Christie squabble, my memory of this was that the band wanted Walk Like A Panther credited to just "All Seeing I", with no "featuring Tony Christie" appended to it, for aesthetic reasons- that they thought it would be a bit more mysterious. Which I can see, but obviously it would have caused tension.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

This piece on the 'Pickled Eggs and Sherbet' album just mentions a massive row between Christie and the band's A&R before the '1st Man...' vocal could be recorded, but not much in the way of detail. Seems like Christie wasn't that keen on 'Walk Like A Panther' at first either, and was talked into doing it by his son.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/classic-album-the-all-seeing-i-on-pickled-eggs-sherbet-645510

"This song was written for Tony. He'd sung Panther and Stars On Sunday and we were really into making him into the voice of the band, like this fucked up lo-fi Electro 'chicken-in-a-basket' thing. Unfortunately, our A&R man had a massive effing and blinding row with him, which made things a little strained for a while. We decided that Phil would be a more than adequate replacement. The song's good, Phil's good, but it's the production that's letting the side down."

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Re: the All Seeing I/ Tony Christie squabble, my memory of this was that the band wanted Walk Like A Panther credited to just "All Seeing I", with no "featuring Tony Christie" appended to it, for aesthetic reasons- that they thought it would be a bit more mysterious. Which I can see, but obviously it would have caused tension.

It was old school showbiz 'this is how things were done in my day' moaning as far as I heard. Shirley Bassey behaved similarly with The Propellerheads, apparently.

This piece on the 'Pickled Eggs and Sherbet' album just mentions a massive row between Christie and the band's A&R before the '1st Man...' vocal could be recorded, but not much in the way of detail. Seems like Christie wasn't that keen on 'Walk Like A Panther' at first either, and was talked into doing it by his son.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/classic-album-the-all-seeing-i-on-pickled-eggs-sherbet-645510

Ah right. Ta for the clarification, that makes showbiz sense.

[Jockice]

This piece on the 'Pickled Eggs and Sherbet' album just mentions a massive row between Christie and the band's A&R before the '1st Man...' vocal could be recorded, but not much in the way of detail. Seems like Christie wasn't that keen on 'Walk Like A Panther' at first either, and was talked into doing it by his son.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/classic-album-the-all-seeing-i-on-pickled-eggs-sherbet-645510

I bought a t-shirt from Boz - as mentioned in this article - yesterday.  Just thought you'd like to know. He was also the singer on most of the songs when I saw The All Seeing I live, in what might have been their only actual concert. Unless you know different.

[Brundle-Fly]

Benny Hill's Wardrobe - The Bitter Springs. Released on Vespertine in 1999.





Song titles that sound like an Inside No.9 episode.

The Bitter Springs are an English rock group from the London suburb of Teddington. The band evolved from Last Party, who had formed in 1985, with the name changing in 1996. The band have released two albums as Last Party, and six as The Bitter Springs and also played with Vic Godard as Subway Sect, on and off for nine years.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5OumVGE7E

[Clatty McCutcheon]

I bought a t-shirt from Boz - as mentioned in this article - yesterday.  Just thought you'd like to know. He was also the singer on most of the songs when I saw The All Seeing I live, in what might have been their only actual concert. Unless you know different.

I wouldn't dare contradict you on any aspect of the Sheffield music scene!

[Jockice]

I wouldn't dare contradict you on any aspect of the Sheffield music scene!

Should think not. The thing is I genuinely can't remember if they did a tour or what. I just remember it being built up as a one-off thing. Could check with the participants involved but I can't be arsed.

Anyway, you know much more about music in general as shown by always beating me in Dr Greggles' quizzes.

[jamiefairlie]

The Clientele - An Hour Before The Light

https://youtu.be/WEbqv8uzY4I



B-side of their third single, "All The Dust And Glass".

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Cotton Mather - Homefront Cameo

https://youtu.be/LlSTNH95WaY



Chiming power-pop from Texas (after the lo-fi intro is over), showing some familiarity with the works of Tilbrook and Gifford.

Chancing it a bit with this one, as the Kontiki album, from which this track was taken, was originally released in 1997, but it doesn't seem to have had a full-scale UK release until 1999, so I'm cramming it in before the 20th century draws to a close.

[jamiefairlie]

The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want to Get Over You

https://youtu.be/WVEhNHIzJec



Formed in Boston in 1991 with an ever-changing membership supporting sole-ever present founder Stephin Merritt. This is from their sixth album, the literally-titled, "69 Love Songs".

[Brundle-Fly]

You Ain't Nothing - Alec Empire    Released on El Turco Loco in 1999.





From the album, Alec Empire Vs Elvis Presley. This racket still packs a hefty clip around the lugholes. Elvis definitely has the disadvantage in this bout by dint of dying twenty-two years before the album was recorded.

Alec Empire AKA Alexander Wilke-Steinhof was born in 1972 in West Berlin, Germany. Founded Digital Hardcore Recordings (DHR) together with Peter Lawton, as well as Geist Records and Eat Your Heart Out.  Alec Empire's productions have been extremely varied, but he remains most noted for being key in the development of the digital hardcore sound, which was an initiator to breakcore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLfxhgISvRg

[DrGreggles]

XTC - Easter Theatre
[Partridge]
(single, did not chart)



A beautiful Andy Partridge song from XTC's penultimate album, Apple Venus Volume 1, with a melody in the chorus that Paul McCartney had somehow missed for 40 years.
According to Partridge, the lyrics were an attempt to match a "muddy" ascending chord progression. "There's the little melodic figure at the beginning, which I thought sounded medieval and earthy, combined with placid, droning high keyboard chords, which sound like you're floating—so it suggested floating over a land."
He considered Easter Theatre one of the few "perfect songs" of his career, feeling that he had "exorcized a lot of those kind of Lennon-and-McCartney, Bacharach-and-David, Brian Wilson type ghosts out of my system by doing all that."
He jokingly apologized for "the fake Brian May guitar solo... I thought it was really incongruous, but everyone thought I should leave it."
Obviously it didn't chart, because XTC having hits was apparently illegal by this stage, but who cares about chart positions when you can have this sort of thing as your legacy.

[Brundle-Fly]

Do you think the art for this and Apple Venus was Andy P finally getting a representation of a minge on a single/ album sleeve after being vetoed for the minge on Skylarking?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

of Montreal - Spoonful of Sugar



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9BkA2h8nec

A non-album single from these wonky pop wizards. Sounds a bit like a Mike Nesmith Monkees tune hijacked by Brian Wilson in a fireman's helmet. Has nothing to do with Mary Poppins.

of Montreal are an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. They were founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996 and named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal." The band are identified as part of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout their existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved considerably and drawn inspiration from 1960s psychedelic pop acts.

[DrGreggles]

Do you think the art for this and Apple Venus was Andy P finally getting a representation of a minge on a single/ album sleeve after being vetoed for the minge on Skylarking?

He would not be denied!

[daf]

Scritti Politti ‎– The World You Understand (Is Over + Over + Over)



Featured on the album 'Anomie & Bonhomie' - released in July 1999

Following Scritti Politti's debut album, 1982's 'Songs To Remember', Green Gartside returned to his home in South Wales.

Green : "I became sick. I went back to Caerleon... and I started listening to my sister's music for the first time. She had a lot of black music. Around that time my parents moved to Florida, and it was visiting there I first heard black radio – that's where I first heard 'the funk'. The System, Zapp... artists like that. There was a rapid change of influences combined with a disgust at big-I 'Indie' being born. It didn't take long to say, 'Fuck that, let's do this instead.'"

Scritti Politti's most successful album, 1985's Cupid & Psyche 85, spawned three UK Top 20 hits. The band's 1988 album Provision was a UK Top 10 success, though it only produced one UK Top 20 hit single, "Oh Patti". After releasing two non-album singles in 1991, Gartside became disillusioned with the music industry and retired to south Wales for more than seven years - the lazy bastard!



He returned in the late 1990s, releasing a new album, 'Anomie & Bonhomie', in 1999. The album marks a sharp departure from their previous synthpop era and features contributions from rappers Mos Def and Me'Shell Ndegeocello.

Green : "I've no regrets about the old records, but I can put my hand on my heart and say that I was passionately committed to making that record and working with the people involved. That was a recording completely free of anxiety. There were no keyboards on it – that was deliberate, to avoid the hyperkinetic pointillism of the previous records. It reflected its influences. Bits of it, as with the other albums, I still love very much. Working with Paul Riser, who did the strings for The Temptations, Wendy Melvoin of Wendy & Lisa... A great, great team."



The album was generally well received by critics; however, opinions regarding the reinvention of Scritti Politti's sound through its mixture with contemporary genres and vocal styles such as grunge and hip-hop, respectively, were both praised and denounced by critics, and was not as commercially successful as their previous output, reaching only No. 33 on the UK Albums Chart.

Green : "I don't know anything about what the reviews were like. It wouldn't surprise me if the reviews weren't particularly positive, because even David said, 'That's the kind of record only a mother is going to love.' It was such a personal record, to the point I didn't give a fuck in some ways."

[Brundle-Fly]

Catastrophe - Scott 4     Released on V2 in 1999.





One of those nineties "Wow, I forgot all about them" bands.

Scott 4 were a three-piece indie band, described by Allmusic as 'Electronic cowpunks' for their blend of country-blues, hip hop and indie-punk. The band was formed in mid-1995 in London, by Scott Blixen (vocals, acoustic guitar, synth, harmonica), John Moody (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, piano, organ, synth), and Ed Tilley (drums, programming, synth), the name taken from an album by Scott Walker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsAfbUkA4Y8

[jamiefairlie]

The Other Two - Unwanted

https://youtu.be/ZW9I5KnZk-w



Taken from their second and, so far last, album, "Super Highways".

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The Gentle Waves - Weathershow



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3R9jG4Q4jA

Isobel Campbell began her solo career while still a member of Belle & Sebastian. As you'll see here. Her backing band are B&S and the live performance scenes were filmed in Hyndland Parish Church, where Stuart Murdoch moonlighted as a caretaker in those days.

Campbell left B&S in 2002 to embark on a properly autonomous solo career. She has released six albums since, three of which were collaborations with Mark Lanegan (a sort of wannabe post-grunge Johnny Cash/Lee Hazlewood who comes across as a bit of a twat in his autobiography, but his voice does work well with Campbell's).

[Brundle-Fly]

(sic) - Slipknot   Released on Roadrunner in 1999.



In memory of Joey Jordison. R.I.P.

Slipknot are a metal band formed in 1995, They hark from Des Moines, Iowa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZXdb2c76Io

[Brundle-Fly]

Kati Rocky - Jacknife Lee.  Released on Pussyfoot in 1999.





Something uncharacteristically mellow for this DJ.  Some delicate Sunday afternoon vibes.

Garret 'Jacknife' Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer but started as a guitarist for the punk band Compulsion. He pursued a solo career in the field of electronica after the band's break-up. His first solo work, the EP A Dog Named Snuggles, was released under the name Jacknife Lee in 1998 by Pussyfoot Records, a label founded by Howie B.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb94VvvIOAE&list=OLAK5uy_lZLrEBMffucYcLf5p0Lf71YySrCv5awuY&index=9

[daf]

Blur – Far Out (Beagle 2 Remix)



Released in March 1999 on the DVD of the single "No Distance Left To Run" - reached #2 in the UK chart

The DVD edition of the single features a video of footage of the Beagle 2 over which plays "Far Out (Beagle 2 remix)", a full band version of a song originally from Parklife, using an outtake from the Parklife sessions.



The Beagle 2 was conceived by a group of British academics headed by Professor Colin Pillinger of the Open University, in collaboration with the University of Leicester. The project was designed and developed by several UK academics and companies. Its purpose was to search for signs of life on Mars, past or present, and its name reflected this goal :

Colin Pillinger : "HMS Beagle was the ship that took Darwin on his voyage around the world in the 1830s and led to our knowledge about life on Earth making a real quantum leap. We hope Beagle 2 will do the same thing for life on Mars."

In an effort to publicise the project and gain financial support, its designers sought and received the endorsement and participation of British artists. The mission's call-sign was composed by the band Blur, and the 'test card' (Calibration Target Plate) intended for calibrating Beagle 2's cameras and spectrometers after landing was painted by Damien Hirst.



Although the Beagle 2 craft successfully deployed from the Mars Express "mother ship", confirmation of a successful landing was not forthcoming. It should have come on 25 December 2003, when Beagle 2 was to have contacted NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft that was already in orbit. In the following days, the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank also failed to pick up a signal from Beagle 2. The team said they were "still hopeful" of finding a successful return signal.



Attempts were made throughout January and February 2004 to contact Beagle 2 using Mars Express. However, no communication was ever established, and Beagle 2 was declared lost on 6 February 2004.

[Greg Torso]

Hey, it's that song again!

Low - I Remember



This is a completely different version though, so you can't fire me, it's got Mimi on vocals and a drum machine and it's all sinister and thundercloudy and it's one of my favourite Low songs.
B-side to the "Immune" single.

[Greg Torso]

Jim O'Rourke - Halfway To A Threeway



I wasn't that convinced or taken by Jim O'Rourke's late 90s Bacharach swerve, but this EP is gorgeous. Stand-out track, lovely, with pretty unsettling lyrics that may or may not float your tortilla.

Jim O'Rourke has collaborated with everyone, including me (although he never found out) although he is probably best known for being in Gastr Del Sol and Sonic Youth.

[Greg Torso]

To Rococo Rot - Telema



To Rococo Rot were an influential Berlin-based trio who combined electronic and analog elements to create instrumental post-rock and electronic music.

They did an amazing Peel session around this time which I don't think has ever been released.

[Brundle-Fly]

Big Red Balloon - Wizards Of Ooze.  Released on Barracuda in 1999.





"Pop" Music'? Remember that? Reset? POP!

Wizards of Ooze De band, met Antwerpen als thuishaven, werd begin jaren 90 opgericht door Peter Revalk en Wim Tops. Hun naam was toen nog Vibes Ahead Alliance. In 1992 brachten ze hun eerste cd uit, "The Bone", wat een klein succesje werd. Het gevolg was een uitbreiding van de band met extra bezetting. Om auteursrechtelijke redenen veranderde de band in 1993 haar naam in het uiteindelijke "Wizards of Ooze", een samentrekking van Wizard of Oz en het Engelse woord "ooze" wat 'slijm' of 'modder' betekent, maar in populair taalgebruik ook wel gebruikt wordt om de gemoedstoestand aan te duiden waarin men verkeert als men ontspannen op de bank hangt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj4D1rea5zM&t=

[Greg Torso]

.