Before watching my new Jethro Tull video (see previous post) I’d never seen the video for the song “Too Old To Rock and Roll. Too Young To Die”.
I’d have remembered because it’s so awful.
This afternoon I found this in the Sue Ryder charity shop in the village.
Jethro Tull. Slipstream. VHS
It cost me 50p.
I’m delighted.
But before I write anymore about that….
I recently bought a VHS player on Ebay which is attached to my Mac with a thing called Elgato Video Capture. This converts old VHS in a fairly effortless way. The quality is little better than OK but I’ve been watching the converted films and TV shows and clips and on an iPad and they are perfectly watchable.
I set the VCR/video capture thing up up so that I can go though the piles of VHS tapes in my attic and keep anything I want before throwing them all away.
(The whole time I’ve been doing this there is a voice in my head saying throw those old tapes away – just throw them away- don’t look at them – don’t waste precious time. Just throw them away).
Meanwhile – Elsewhere:
I love trawling through charity shops but, because of Ebay I suppose, it’s become a lot harder to find some piece of glorious retro tat which thrills.
However because of the Elgato Video Capture set up I’m suddenly finding all sorts of fairly wonderful stuff on the VHS shelves in my local charity shops which I know I can now digitize.
(The voice in my head is screaming – you’re supposed to be getting rid of this stuff you idiot. How long are you expecting to live?. You’re going to end up with so much stuff that you cannot read it/ watch it./listen to it all. Fool.).
Anyway – back to Tull and to Hell with the voices in my head.
The blurb (quoted beneath “in full” and “unedited”) on the back of the Slipsteam VHS easily took care of my voices:
Blurb
“JETHRO TULL LOOK EVEN BETTER ON SCREEN THAN THEY DO ON STAGE”
How do you take one of the World’s leading rock bands like Jethro Tull and improve on their live performance?
After all their stage act is as famous for the way it looks as for the way it sounds.
SLIPSTREAM, conceived and executed specially for the screen is the answer.
And even though concert material is naturally included SLIPSTREAM is far more adventurous than previous music programs.
The format is conceptual from start to finish with a coherent storyline.
It includes film shot on locations as well as in the studio, together with animation, special effects and library footage.
The band members themselves appear in a number of different guises in the conceptual sequences, with Ian Anderson adopting such diverse roles as Aqualung, the music hero of a previous album, and Dracula.
All in all, it’s a unique show and probably one of the most adventurous music specials ever made”.
In other words it’s bonkers, pompous and ridiculous and I love it.
I guess one day this clip from the film that someone else has put on YouTube will be taken down but until then this clip of Songs From The Wood gives a sense of what this quite brilliantly stupid film, which was made in 1981, is like:
I don’t understand why they’re all wearing white boiler-suits and look like neo-Nazi plumbers. The special effects are like something out of Blake’s 7. The coherent storyline is not coherent. Nor is it a storyline.
But I’ve liked Jethro Tull since I was 11 or 12 (thanks in part to Dave – who was my Dad’s art school hippy mate and to a baby sitter named Wendy) and as such I sort of judge them differently to any other band. If “Yes”, for example, had made a film like this I would be scathing in my hatred (probably) but however idiotic Tull got they would not only get a pass from me but I have always delighted in their stupidity and will always be laughing with them (even when they weren’t themselves laughing) and never laughing at them.
This wasn’t the only Tull VHS that was in the charity shop. I also picked up the “20 years of Jethro Tull” documentary/compilation so it’s going to be a Jethro Tull evening and that’s what I love about charity shop finds – that the circumstances of my evening have been generated by happenstance.
I’m growing increasingly Pooterish.
I need to watch that I think.
(He typed Pooterishly)
Here is the video for “At the Indie Disco” the first single from the Divine Comedy’s soon to be released LP “Bang Goes The Knighthood” .
It’s lovely.
I’m going through some back issues of the NME.
As part of going through the issue dated 26-5-84 I’ve listed some of the other things that were going on in that particular week in May 1984 (If you want to see & hear the Top 50 singles from this week click here)
Thursday 24th May 1984
The Top Of The Pops line up ran thus:
Presenters:
Janice Long, Mike Smith
Playlist:
Alvin Stardust – I Feel Like Buddy Holly
Duran Duran – The Re-Flex (video)
Evelyn Thomas – High Energy
Howard Jones – Pearl In The Shell (video)
Status Quo – Going Down Town Tonight
Style Council – You’re The Best Thing (video)
Wham – Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
I reckon that- You’re The Best Thing by The Style Council was the best thing in that episode.
I’ve gone through the NME Live list from that week’s edition to see who was playing live that night (24-05-1984) and here are the gigs that caught my eye:
Black Flag and Husker Du at Peter Piper’s in Folkestone (just thinking about that had put the biggest grin on my face)
The Lotus Eaters at Huddersfield Poly
Steve Marriott’s Racket Packet at the Half Moon in Herne Hill
The Psychedelic Furs (Passion Puppets support) at the Manchester Apollo
Budgie at Clouds in Preston
Angel Witch at the Verulam Arms in Watford.
2. Friday 25th May 1984
Echo and the Bunnymen played a gig in Madrid
According to the person who uploaded this clip- this gig by Echo and the Bunnymen took place in Madrid on Friday 25th May 1984. I’ve chosen the song Crocodiles but the whole gig is on Youtube if you fancy seeing it all. (In 1984 I was 16 and too young to go the pub – so in the evenings I mostly just sat in my bedroom backcombing my hair so it would look like McCulloch’s)
As well as Echo and the Bunnymen in Madrid other gig options for 25-5-84 included:
Bronski beat at Snobs in Birmingham.
Alexi Sayle at Fairfield hall in Croydon
Dumpy’s Rust Nuts at Ewell Tech. College
Gregory Issacs at the Brixton Academy
Felt at Manchester University Union
3. Saturday 26th May 1984.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released this week.
Instead of going to the cinema you could have gone to the following gigs on the evening of 26-5-84:
King at the Fantasy Club in Birmingham
Hoorah! Boys Hoorah! at the City Limits in Cambridge.
Billy Bragg at Cheltenham Town Centre.
New Model Army/Animal Farm at the Town Hall Crypt in Middlesborough.
Jive Alive at Angie’s in Wokingham.
Sunday 27th May 1984
Adverts and continuity announcements from Yorkshire TV from the evening of 27th May 1984.
Someone has kept the adverts from before, between and after the ITV news and Spitting Image from the night of the 27th May 1984. A little slice of 1984 ephemera.
If you’d been in the Yorkshire region on the evening of 27/5/1984 you could have gone to these gigs:
The Flying Pickets at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Eek-A-Mouse at the the Leadmill in Sheffield.
Bucks Fizz at Warrington’s Spectrum Arena
Xero at the Manhatten Club, Bradford.
or you could have driven down to Lincoln to see Gene Pitney
Monday 28th May 1984.
Coronation Street
This was a Whit Monday and apparently 11,969,000 people stayed in to watch Corrie St. that night. Never a huge fan but I’ve always liked the title sequence.
(This not from the exact night but I think it’s the right title sequence for the period)
Gigs that night included:
Leo Sayer at the Brighton Centre
Status Quo at the Ipswich Gaumont (start of a 2 night residency no less. Go Quo)
The Cramps, The Specimen and Sexbeat at the Hammersmith Palais.
Restless at the Pindar Of Wakefield in London’s Kings X
Hawkwind at Ramsgate Marina Park
Goats Don’t Shave (No. Me neither) at The Swan With Two Necks in Worcester.
Tuesday 29th May 1984
BBC News report from the evening of May 29th 1984.
In May 1984 the Miner’s Strike was moving into it’s most confrontational period. In the last week of May this is how the BBC were reporting what was happening at Orgreave.
The “Battle of Orgreave” would follow a couple of weeks later.
If you were caught up in Yorkshire on that particular day, and you had the spare time you could have gone to see:
The Inca Babies and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry at Sheffield’s The Leadmill
(The abysmally named) Toby LeRone & The Acid Drops in Leeds at the Central Station Hotel
If you fancied a bit of drive you could have seen Peggy Lee in the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.
Wednesday 30th May 1984 Part One
Liverpool Won the Cup
On this day Liverpool beat Roma in 1984 European Cup final. This game went to penalties and was probably best remembered for Bruce Grobbelaar’s wobbly knee antics in the penalty shoot out.
Wednesday 30th May 1984 Part Two
The Joy of Regional Telly
This clip is of local presenter Susan Osmon announcing the next day’s TV schedule and weather on HTV West just before closing. There is a poetry about what she says here – she mentions the band the Strawbs, the weather forecast for Lundy and Irish Sea, she congratulates Liverpool fans and she wishes us goodnight. It is just lovely.
If you lived in the HTV West region and fancied going to a gig that night then this was your choice:
UK Subs were playing at the Level 3 in Swindon,
A band called Nervous Breakdown were playing at the Cardiff Chapter Arts Centre.
The Chieftains were playing at the Exeter Festival.
You could have driven over to Reading to see Dave Swarbrick’s Whippersnapper.
(I’ve seen both the Chieftains and Dave Swarbrick folk junkie that I am)
SOME OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN MAY 1984
Prince Charles called a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”
I was doing my CSEs. I got a grade 3 in Physics and a grade 4 in Woodwork.
The Russians had announced they were boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Guardian Media Section was launched.
Earlier in May 1984 this won the Eurovision. It’s bloody awful
These other magazines were published in May 1984
Finally
I don’t know if Rockpalast is a German venue or a German TV show but the Smiths were on it/in it in May 1984. (This video is the first part of 9 if you fancy seeing the whole gig)
.
In the NME from 26-05-84 there are the following features:
A catty letter by Boy George all about Pete Burns, Bronski Beat & gay politics.
An Adrian Thrills’ interview with Everything But the Girl.
A “Des Troy” interview with The Troggs
An interview with a band called Little Germany by Susan Williams (who, I think, was Steven Wells)
The Jazz Butcher are interviewed by Bruse Dessau
A Mat Snow interview with The Cure’s Robert Smith,
Single Reviews by Paolo Hewitt.
Neil (Nigel Planer) is interviewed by Charles Shaar Murray.
Pete Burns is interviewed by Biba Kopf.
Don Watson writes about The Sister Of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch.
(The cover shot above is a thumbnail. Right click for a better look)
As well as the usual things, such as the charts and the letters page, this issue also has REM’s Mike Mills and Peter Buck choosing their favourite groups, records and books. There are also LP reviews by Danny Kelly (Praxis by Praxis and Bands of Gold by Freda Payne), Barney Hoskins (Mange Tout by Blancmange) and David Quantick (From the Hip by Josie Cotton).
You can read what else was happening in the World that week by clicking here
You can hear the Top 50 from that week by clicking here
I’m going to try and do this every week.
I was going to try to make this a chart of only new stuff – but on reflection that’s daft so now it’s a chart of stuff that I’ve stumbled across, and liked. Most of the stuff has come from recommendations via twitter ( @rob_fitzpatrick, @HughesTLOBF, @moonbolt and @liveon35mm are proving mighty fruitful), some of it has come from the music press, some has come from gig I’ve been to and some of the stuff is just there due to random thoughts and the like.
This is a screenshot – clicking on it will take you to Spotify where you can hear the top 19 songs.
The reason why there are only 19 is because song number 20 is not yet released. It’s “Give Up The Ghost” by Thom Yorke and I’ve already put on it my blog elsewhere. I love it. Here it is again.
He does it on University Challenge during the music round when the questions are about pop music. He gets all haughty and sniffy and dismissive. Foolish man.
This morning Helen Shapiro’s “Tell Me What He Said” came up on shuffle on my ipod and it just sounded so good. The arrangement, the mad cascading strings, her full, deep voice (that seems to carry the confidence of someone twice her age), the mad saxophone at the end, all these components made something that is nigh on perfect.
Of course , loads of pop is useless pap, but when it’s like this – when its perfection comes at you in such a complete and immediate way then to dismiss it and look down on it is daft.
Got that Paxo. Daft
Here’s the song at Spotify
And someone has put it on YouTube
Reckon that I’m going to spend most of today at my desk so I thought I’d make a playlist on Spotify of artists that were pretty popular or well received over the last decade but who I’ve never really listened to. A sort of nostalgia trip through other people’s nostalgia I suppose.
Artists included in this playlist include Coldplay. Amy Winehouse, Kings Of Leon, Daft Punk, Lily Allen, Outkast, Snow Patrol, Dizzee Rascal. Jay Z and Nickelback . It will probably be the case that there is a good reason why I can barely name a single song by any of these artists – but there is a Lily Allen song that I heard on the radio a lot which I quite liked. Also because I’m a contrary sod and because Nickelback are probably beyond some sort of line that smart people with taste would find acceptable, (even ironically) – I will end up liking them the best.
Glasvegas and the Phantom Band are on the list because they cropped up on a few band /LP of the decade lists and I’ve never really listened to them.
(If you want to listen to the list on Spotify you can here but I’m not really recommending it)
I’ve had my tea and I’m sitting down to watch this.
And I’m still hankering after moments like that.
Rich Kelly & Friendship Live From The Coachman in Cranford NJ 1978. Stick with it – the bass player’s dancing brings a smile.
(Found this via twitter via @hairyc & @meat2veg)
