Endless Bob Brown...music was my first love...

It's not at all the raison d'être of this little soap-box to self-aggrandise (just that one little link to my music over there on the right isn't much is it!!). But something slightly funny has happened, which I guess is a function of the fact that the great worldwide-blogosphere-webby-sponge eventually leaves no stone whatsoever unturned. And so it comes to pass that a band I was in as a thin gaunt youth in the 80s seems to be stirring some interest, more than two decades after the event. PleaseRainFall, the main blog in question, has even released an online EP. That band was Endless Bob Brown, so named after a chant a stage-invader repeated and repeated - religiously, loudly - at a very early Birthday Party gig. It left an impression on me and might explain to this chap, a fan of the music, that the name is not "mince" (used as an un-flattering adjective). On reflection I can sort of see what he means about the name, but yes - Endless Bob Brown was my band - along with my friends Bryn, Guy and Tim. We were from the provinces; the West Midlands; mainly Kidderminster but with a foot in the Black Country. We were pretty good. But we were (on reflection) perennial under-achievers - not Biz-ready - not street-wise - and certainly not confident (at least outside the garage where we rehearsed). I think this is the story of so many other bands like us. We were the children of our influences for sure, but not just musically. Successful, no-compromise bands like the Smiths and Joy Division fed our sense of pride in being "outsiders" who would not "play the game" and who would abide faithfully - come what may - to a pure idea of artistic endeavour. This approach was, to be truthful, an iron-clad guarantee of ZERO SUCCESS, but despite that I must admit, I still kind of believe in it. To this day I remain puritanical and obsessed about music; often to a perspective-distorting extent. I can't really take it lightly. I mean, should a 40-something father, who works for a leading current affairs magazine, feel that the financial-crisis pales as a news story besides the debate over the rights and wrongs of a Specials reunion (wrong by the way)?

But in truth we did have our chances; the offer of a tour with the Chills (a band of the moment), patronage and support from UB40's producer, to name just a couple, but a combination of laziness and distraction (we were all heading off to different worlds - university, jobs etc) foiled even these "open goals". We all continued to do music and we all do today. Bryn and I kept at it as a band on-and-off, well into the acid-fueled l'eighteis (with Elation). Then Super 8 was our Pulp-inspired Brit-pop affair right up until I left Birmingham for London in 1996 (where funnily enough I eventually found a modicum of "real" success with actual releases on a record label). I think all the bands were at least "pretty good" - but we always had that self-imposed ceiling on real-world ambition. It doesn't matter, because being in Endless Bob Brown and subsequent bands was great fun - sort of - but it is still gratifying to find that all these years later some people are discovering and loving the music. So I modestly suggest that if you are reading this (stupid comment eh) you have a little click here and on those earlier links to see some nice things that people have said about us. It's undoubtedly good for my ego, but really and truthfully I actually think the writings and enthusiasm of these folks deserves an audience too.

A matter of local pride

Well there I was, crammed sardine-like into a Southwark bound Jubilee line tube on Wednesday night, subconsciously scanning those banner ads they have on the trains (they work so well becasue folk so strenousuly try to avoid eye contact that what else are they going to look at) when I spotted the one below for The Times and being a vinyl head I began mentally thumbing through my list of London emporiums trying to get a match. Then it dawned on me. Yes I do know it. But it's not a London shop at all. In fact it's Plastic Wax on Bristol's Gloucester Road (probably one of the last streets in Britain where you can still do a record shop crawl). Quite exciting really. Gave me some joy on a bloody horrible tube anyway. Must go up there at the weekend.

Weren't the Woodentops good?

I don't know why but a song by the Woodentops popped into my head the other day, prompting me to fish out "Giant", their first album - on Rough Trade - which came out around the same time as the Smiths' debut in the mid-80s. There was quite a buzz about them at the time and I saw them live at least twice (they were top-notch live - very tight - very intense). But they seem to have become something of a forgotten band considering their prominence at the time. Anyway - I'm not about to write a potted history or a plea for recognition/reappraisal here. But I would like to say I massively enjoyed the first album on re-listening. I'll be putting at least a couple of Woodentops songs on February's compilation - freshly ripped and slightly scratchy from two decades old vinyl - nice.

Final Fantasy - and why impulse buying is cool

I wondered a couple of weeks back if last year's end of year round-up from Pitchfork would throw up any gems. The answer is a resounding YES. Final Fantasy is a band I hadn't come across before. It's actually not really a "band" so much as a quasi-solo project. In this case of Toronto-based Owen Pallett who seems to have flourished as a collaborator with high-flyers like the Arcade Fire ( he did the orchestral and string arrangements on both Funeral and Neon Bible) while his own rather brilliant output has dipped under many radars (including mine until now). Via the Pitchfork list I heard a track called "The Butcher" which it said was the 99th best track of 2008 (is that damning with faint praise?). I loved it and swiftly went online to research and ended up buying three CDs from this nice record shop in Canada, which is also a co-operative co-founded by Owen Pallett.



The discs duly arrived mid-January. Now it's always exciting receiving such exotic goodies from afar, but I don't mind admitting that my heart skips a few extra beats when I buy records I have hardly heard. It's a risky business; more so when your lead has come from a track already picked out as a standout which could just mean it'll be downhill from there. And undoubtedly, I've had my fair share of disappointments, but oh the joy, the delicious sense of EUREKA!, when a gem is uncovered. And to be perfectly honest, there's a distinct feeling of reflected brilliance when ones own nose for for sniffing out quality is shown to be so damn keen. Of course me blogging about me discovering this proves the latter point! Final Fantasy is what I'd call a true gem - a pearl in fact - and along with my newly acquired complete collection of Ghost Box recordings, the CDs have been on constant rotation since they arrived. The music couldn't be more different to Ghost Box's stuff mind you. This is baroque chamber pop with occasional operatic flourishes, in the vein of the Divine Comedy, circa "Promenade" (though stranger, more off kilter and just a little lo-fi). The prominence of strings and the excellence of the string arrangements are the most distinctive features but Owen's voice is smashing; a delicate, slightly tremulous tenor (which is occasionally winningly overwrought) . It's not unlike Zach Condon's (Beirut), another collaborator, who also contributed to the most recent of the records, "Spectrum, 14th Century". This is the one that features "The Butcher" along with four other tracks. It's great EP and like the others has some really good artwork.

It is actually true that "The Butcher" is probably the standout track from this EP but the pick of the three CDs is undoubtedly the second album "He Poos Clouds" (apparently a compliment - your shit don't smell natch). This is a magnificent collection featuring a number of beautifully rich songs. My favourite at the moment is the heart-wrenching "I'm Afraid of Japan" which reminds me of nothing so much as the existential movie masterpiece, Monsieur Hire. I'm doing some monthly compilations this year and it's plain that Final Fantasy and Ghost Box will feature prominently on January's and maybe beyond. Brilliant stuff.