A Walk Across Town

Walking through town recently- we always call the city centre of Manchester town- I came across three music- related artworks that caught my eye. This flyposter for the Massive Attack and Tom Waits single Boots On The Ground on Whitworth Street, posted onto the building which used to have the nightclub The Venue in its basement. The song caused a sensation when it was released back in April, Waits singing from the point of view of a US soldier, a grunt, cannon fodder for foreign wars. 'How much does every soldier weigh?', he/ the narrator asks at one point. I posted it back then but make no apology for its re- appearance so soon after. 

The soldier/ Waits rants about the politicians who send him to war, 'Federal pricks/ Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick/ Air conditioned fuckstick loafers/ Sitting in a room of army posters'. In the end the soldier kills 'a brown man' and all they found was his boots on the ground. It's powerful, visceral stuff. 

It's coming out on vinyl, £25 for a 12" single, which is somewhat expensive. On the other hand, it's one of the songs of the year so far. 

Up on the elevated tram station Deansgate Castlefield I saw this piece of graffiti, a local artist's tribute to Gary Mani Mounfield, the much loved and much missed bass player of The Stone Roses- 'I wanna be adored... RIP Mani'. 

I Wanna Be Adored opened the band's debut album, first heard by fans back in early May 1989- a long slow FX and feedback intro and then Mani digging out that bassline. Squire's guitars trickle in and when Reni kicks in on drums we're off, the late 60s re- figured for the late 80s with a huge dash of Roses arrogance. 'I don't have to sell my soul/ He's already in me', Ian sings softly, 'I wanna be adored'. By the time the song winds down four minutes later many of those new listeners were already in deep, a new favourite band.

I Wanna Be Adored

I walked a different way to the pub I was heading to, dropping behind G-Mex and heading up a back road behind the Great Northern Goods Warehouse and to my left was this huge mural, Gorillaz v MCR. Damon Albarn's crew played the Co- op Arena back in April and this piece of paintwork was done to coincide, a history of Manchester from the Roman settlement of the 1st century AD to the arrival of Gorillaz in 2026, sanctioned and approved by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett and done by artist SketchMcr. 

Three Gorillaz songs selected from my hard drive. The Speak It Mountains is from 2010's The Fall, first released as a download only release. The track is various speaking voices and FX, Damon indulging his experimental side. 

The Speak It Mountains

Mick Jones appeared playing guitar on two songs on The Fall, one of which was Amarillo (recorded in Amarillo, Texas, in October 2010). 

Amarillo

Damon Albarn's talent isn't in doubt. He can write and he can sing- he can irritate too sometimes but this is one of those songs where he really hits the spot and finds an emotional connection out on the road in the vast open spaces of the USA. 

The Gorillaz mural has an excerpt from the song Dare (from Demon Days, released over two decades ago now, in 2005), the memorable line provided by Happy Mondays/ Black Grape vocalist Shaun Ryder, 'It's coming up/ It's coming up/ It's dare'. 

Dare