Blog: THE VINYL VILLAIN

Another Bunnymac lyric that has always had me scratching my head. Good job the tune is such a killer:- mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - The Cutter One of many great singles they released in the early 80s, it reached #8 thirty years ago this month. Where the hell has the time gone? As you can see from the image above, the 12" version of the single came with a poster which looked like this:- [...]

This is an album that is truly a classic has sold millions since its release in 1983, and yet rarely features in polls. To my ears at least, American music was really appalling in the early 80s. Maybe I was so accustomed to the punk/post-punk/new wave/indie stuff that I was wrapped up in my student flat that I missed some things. But America was, at time, all stadium anthems from the likes of Broooooce, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac and the like. One day, a flatmate came in and demanded we all listen to a new album [...]

I've written a fair few words this past few days. It's time to let the song speak up for itself:- mp3 : The Wedding Present - Nobody's Twisting Your Arm And when I called your house I’m sure your sister thought that I was somebody else I heard a laugh down the phone and then the answer came that you weren’t at home, oh [...]

I've decided to wrap the most recent three singles together in one posting to being the series to an end. Part of the reason being that they came on plain brown sleeves, differentiated only by the labels being either bright yellow, green or blue. But the main reason is that they collectively form the story of Edwyn's post-illness and demonstrate how much of a team effort it has become. I've written before about the grit and determination of Grace Maxwell , Edwyn's wife and manager, without whom [...]

I've previously mentioned how, back in 2008, in the run up to my 45th birthday, I embarked on a series entitled 45 45s at 45 which was a countdown of my favourite singles of all time. It was a series that I enjoyed writing and I know from the comments left behind that it was popular with readers. So much so that one of the first of the folk to regularly leave comments behind on thsi blog - Dirk aka Sexy Loser - is now embarking on a similar effort and his first salvo was a beauty [...]

All those wonderful original compositions hadn't brought chart success. Only the cover of T here's A Ghost In My House had cracked the Top 40. The main man must have felt like hitting his head off a brick wall when yet another cover brought success:- mp3 : The Fall - Victoria Released in January 1988, this reached #35 in the singles charts which meant it did [...]

The cover of the NME from 18 October 1980 featuring James Honeyman-Scot t and Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders - those were the days my friends when being on the cover of that paper meant something. The thing is, James and Chrissie were on the cover despite not really having anything [...]

August 1982. Associates make the cover of Smash Hits , the UK pop magazine aimed mainly at non-serious musos, unlike publications such as NME, Melody Maker, Record Mirror and Sounds . It's hard to imagine that there were so many publications covering rock and pop music in the UK and that you'd be hard pushed to find much coverage at [...]

Mrs Villain and myself have some common tastes in music but far more differences that most would imagine. Santa Claus brought her a digital radio with the intended use really being in the summer when she's out in the garden or over at her allotment where she grows vegetables. She has been road-testing it this past few days and mostly it has been tuned into Kerrang Radio. It's not been as bad as I thought - there's been a few half-decent bands appeared now and again but even then it's been the better-know Hard Cafe [...]

Cut me some slack.... I've featured this 12" single before back in August 2010 when I asked it was pop at its most perfect. A number of you responded in the affirmative while someone else said it was a song they just didn't get. mp3 : ABC - The Look of Love (Part 1) mp3 : ABC - The Look of Love (Part 2) mp3 : ABC - The Look of Love (Part 3) mp3 : ABC - The Look of Love (Part 4) [...]

For years, nay make that decades, I was never someone who rushed out and bought music that pre-dated from when I really took an active interest in music. So anything pre-76/77 was ruled out. This meant I never got into The Velvet Underground . Even at Uni when folk implored me to listen without prejudice, the stubbornness that is such a big part of me came to the fore. OK, I got to know a few of the songs thanks to them being covered by a [...]

mp3 : Frightened Rabbit - Boxing Night One of the songs released back in September on the excellent State Hospital EP . Also one of th e highlights of the live show that myself and Aldo caught back earlier in the year in the tiny Cafe Continental in Gourock. Frightened Rabbit's new LP is out in early February. It's called Pedestrian Verse and there's a video available of [...]

Merry Christmas Dear Readers. mp3 : Sultans of Ping - Xmas Bubblegum Machine Here's the obligatory Christmas posting, featuring, without any question, the best festive-themed song ever. If only for including the line..'Christmas in Glasgow.' Natives of Cork, Ireland, they were once known as Sultans of Ping FC , then just Sultans of Ping, before eventually becoming The Sultans [...]

Last Saturday saw the latest of the Little League nights as hosted by John Hunt of Butcher Boy. I've been going to most of these for about the last 5 years and I felt this was the best yet. Here's the set-list:- ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN - OCEAN RAIN 400 BLOWS OST - ECOLE BUISSONNIERE VINCE GUARALDI TRIO - CHRISTMASTIME IS HERE DELGADOS - NO DANGER LOU BARLOW - HOLDING BACK THE YEAR 1000 VIOLINS - LIKE 1000 VIOLINS CHESTERFIELDS - ASK JOHNNY DEE ROXY [...]

From July 2009:- Back in the days when the only ways to get a hold of music was to either tape it off the radio, tape it from your mates' collections or, if you had a bit of spare cash around, actually go to to a record shop and receive bits of round plastic 7" or 12" in diameter in exchange for handing over notes and coins, the compilation album was something that you took seriously as it was a cheapish way of maybe latching onto something new. I've loads of these types of albums inside [...]

A highlight of what was a stunning gig at the Barrowlands last Saturday.....a gig whose conclusion was as loud as anything I've ever been at:- mp3 : The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From The Birdhouse Here's a review from a Scottish daily newspaper that I'm 100% with. There are optimists, and then there is the woman who tried to make a phone call during the Twilight Sad's set. Such [...]

Dear Steven Please don't look for publicity on the back of some ill-informed and tasteless comments about why someone committed suicide. I was embarrassed for you and embarrassed to be a fan of yours. Yours sincerely JC mp3 : Morrissey -The Public Image Happy Listening

The ugly tattooed swingers euphemise And call their mucky hobby "tryst" But if i saw another man touch you I'd break his fucking wrists "monogamy's not natural, we can't survive" [...]

I started out 2012 with very good intentions to attend at least one live gig per week and then post a review on TVV. And for a few months I was doing well....but all of a sudden I got a bit fed-up, bored and to be honest quite down about music and a few other things that were going on in my life and the gig-going fell by the wayside. I'm pleased to say however that Aldo , who was my sidekick for so many of those great [...]

It's the Xmas might out with the work colleagues tonight. I'm part of quite a small organisation and there will be less than 20 of us gathering round the table for food and drink. I'm probably quite lucky - I work with a really good bunch of folk and I know I will have a better night out than most. We will have a laugh and not take things too seriously and come Monday morning when we get back into the office there won't be any outrageous scandal nor will anyone have come to blows over something [...]