These Are The Days

This pair of songs came out while I was away last week and I've been catching up in the last few days. First is a new one from The Charlatans, one of two new songs they performed at Manchester's Castlefield Bowl recently alongside a set of hits and favourites. We Are Love has the band in sunny side up mode, all warm organ chords, Johnny Marr-esque guitar picking and Tim being anthemic and euphoric, 'this is the place, these are the days'. 

An album of the same name is coming out in October. The band went back to Rockfield in Wales to record it, a studio with some deep memories for the group- organist and founder member Rob Collins died there on 21st July 1997, twenty eight years ago yesterday, while they were recording Tellin' Stories. Going back to go forward. That this group, thirty five years old are still so enthused about making new music and still with the fire in their bones after all this time is clearly a good thing.

Of a similar vintage are The Orb who also released a new track last week ahead of a new album. The single is Arabebonics, five minutes of kaleidoscopic ambient house/ North African fusion with a rap from Rrome Alone. 

The Orb and various Orb side projects (Sedibus, OSS) have been in fine form over the last few years and many of the people who helped Alex on those albums are here on the new one, Buddhist Hipsters- Andy Falconer from Sedibus along with Youth, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy and Roger Eno. Hopefully Buddhist Hipsters will be an album that stands alongside Abolition of The Royal Familia, Enter The Kettle, Seti and The Heavens. 

This would seem to be the ideal point in time for an Orb remix of The Charlatans wouldn't it?

I'll Be Down When You're Down I'll Be Up When You're Up

Sounds Of The City takes place in early July every year in Manchester, a week of gigs at Castlefield Bowl, an 8000 capacity outdoor venue surrounded by Manchester's past and present- the remains of the Roman fort, the Bridgewater Canal and the canal basin, the railway line and the tram, the world's first passenger railway station, and the Beetham Tower. This year's line up included The Charlatans. At the end of last year via the magic of social media, Charlatans front man and all round nice guy Tim Burgess found out that we played North Country Boy at Isaac's funeral and he messaged me with the offer of free tickets when the band next played Manchester. When their Castlefield gig was announced I messaged him to remind him of his kind offer and Tim was as good as his word. 

At 9pm on a warm and sunny Manchester evening and with an up- for- it crowd, four Charlatans take to the stage. Drummer Pete Salisbury starts up on the hi- hats and the band kick in and the sound of 1999's seven and a half minute single Forever builds, the two note organ drone, Martin Blunt's rumbling bass and eventually shards of Mark Collins' guitar. It's three minutes before Tim Burgess arrives on stage, all smiles, striped jumper and big hair, waving and then grasping the mic to sign, the dam bursting at the end of the first verse with the line, 'I wonder what you people do with your lives... once more this will be forever'. 

After Forever's slow burn we are treated to a ninety minute hit heavy set, mainly fan favorites from the 90s with a couple of new ones. Weirdo comes next, the wheezy organ splicing 1966 and 1992, wonderful indie- psyche from their second album Between 10th And 11th.

Weirdo

Then three songs in they rip into the opening chords of North Country Boy. I thought I was prepared for this happening- the song, its connection to Isaac (for me now the boy of the song's title) and the lines that took on new meaning after he died  'Every day you make the sun come out/ Even in the pouring rain/ I'll come to see you/ And I'll save you, I'll save you' for one, and there are several others) and the surge of emotion I expected to feel when they played it- but instantly me and Eliza are in floods of tears, my brother's behind us hugging us and the band are powering through the song's verses and choruses; 'Hey country boy/ What are you sad about?'. It took the next song, Can't Get Out Of Bed, to get ourselves back into one piece.

Tim reminds us its thirty years since the release of their self- titled fourth album, one that in 1995 pushed them back onto bigger stages and they play a mini- set of songs from it- Here Comes A Soul Saver, Toothache and the mighty, emotive Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over, a song about coming home, all tumbling drums, acoustic guitars and piano runs. Released at the height of Britpop, The Charlatans were doing Exile On Main Street. We get a new song, We Are Love, and then a run of big hitters- the huge pounding Chemical Brothers enhanced dance- rock of One To Another, probably tonight's peak in terms of energy and whoomph, Just Lookin', Impossible, Blackened Blue Eyes, The Only One I Know and then the raucous and distorted guitar slashing, Bob Dylan meets Wu Tang Clan torrent of words that is How High, and all that flashing imagery that Tim piled into the words about the lyrics of your life, kissing the sun and pledging my time 'til the die...

How High

They encore just as the sun has dipped out of view with I Don't Want To See The Sights and another new one. Finally, the lysergic spin of Sproston Green starts up, the group's welding together of 60s garage psyche and late 80s indie- dance still burning, Tim at the front singing about an older woman who came and went and took what was his, over and over. It's all life affirming stuff, songs that have become part of the soundtrack our lives played by a band that have known their own tragedies and who have a genuine connection with their audience. Thanks Tim. 

An Hour Of The Jezebell Takeover

Last weekend's Jezebell Takeover at The Golden Lion in Todmorden was a lot of fun, two days of DJs and a live act playing to a full house. Saturday kicked off with Nessa Johnston getting things into gear quickly and setting the pace for everyone who followed. ACR's Martin Moscrop played a set that took in dub and disco, including a low slung dubbed out cover of Born Slippy, and at just after 8pm OBOST played a live set. 

OBOST is Bobby Langfield, ridiculously young, still in his teens- synths, keys, laptops, a microphone and an hour of uptempo electronic music that sounds like it has decades of experience behind it. Jamie Tolley took over at 9 and took things up a notch again, bpms and energy levels rising. At one point he dropped As I Ran by Yame, a bit of an ALFOS at The Lion moment last year and the pub erupted. The Jezebell headliners took over at 10, Jesse first and then Darren. The floor was packed, a mix of youth and older dancers...

I had to run for a late train back to Manchester so missed the last our of Darren's set but was back in the pub on Sunday afternoon where Jesse and Darren were starting proceedings off. Maybe they'd stayed up and played straight through. My guest slot was at 4pm and I had a few technical difficulties at first- I accidentally cued up a track from Jesse's USB instead of mine, then the right hand deck got stuck in an emergency loop and things took a little while for me to sort. Eventually Martin Moscrop turned the deck off and on again and as usual with piece of IT support advice it did the trick. Adam Roberts, due to play after me, was also official photographer. All the photos here are his and if nothing else he made me look like I know what I'm doing. 

I came off the decks feeling it had been a bit of a nightmare- technical issues, trying to cram too much into an hour- but looking at it now, a week later, it seems ok. The link below is the set recreated at home.

Bagging Area At The Jezebell Takeover

• Moon Duo: In A Cloud
• Durutti Column: For Belgian Friends
• The Charlatans: Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix)
• The Beta Band: I Know
• Dub Syndicate: Right Back To Your Soul
• Soft Cotton County: The Future's Not What It Used To Be (Five Green Moons Remix)
• David Holmes: Blind On A Galloping Horse (Sons Of Slough Remix)
• Totem Edit 12: Feel
• Mogwai: The Sun Smells Too loud
• Orbital, David Holmes, DJ Helen and Mike Garry: Tonight In Belfast

Adam Roberts followed me, four four house and disco action and then Kim Lana. We had to leave so missed the remaining Sunday night fun, Stuart Alexander and then FC Kahuna, both of whom were outstanding by all accounts, Jesse saying Dan Kahuna was the weekend's highlight. Some hardy souls were back in The Lion on the Monday for St Patrick's Day celebrations, a live band and unplanned karaoke session. There's a second Jezebell Takeover planned for September. 

Jesse's been uploading recordings of some of the sets. His Saturday night hour is here and his Sunday afternoon set is here. 

I hadn't met Jesse or Darren before despite having had a several years strong online connection. It's always brilliant when people turn out to be as lovely in real life as they appear online and the crowd they drew to the Lion- regulars and newcomers- was testament to what they've built together as Jezebell. More power to them. 

Time Takes A While

Three years ago today we buried Isaac at Dunham cemetery. The recent anniversaries- his 26th birthday on 23rd November, the third anniversary of his death on the 3oth November- were heavy and gruelling, the weeks of build up as they loomed over us and then the days themselves. The anniversary of his funeral is a bit different, it doesn't feel as heavy somehow although I had a couple of twinges yesterday when it bumped up against my emotions. 

I was down at the cemetery on Sunday, just popping by to say hello and check the flowers were all still ok. It struck me that we've developed all sorts of little acts of remembrance in the three years since his funeral. The weekly visits to see him (and now when we go it doesn't feel like we're going to see him- at first it felt awful, a bottomless hole of grief, standing in a wind and rain blasted field staring at his plot, but the more we've been the more it's changed): the replacing of the flowers; the way that when they're in season I always want to have sunflowers in the vase next to him; the bringing back of trinkets and mementos from holidays for his grave; the association with the number 23; the thing with robins I wrote about last week; the busses that go past on the road in the distance; even the electricity pylons that cross overhead very close by and the pigs that live in the field behind the cemetery have become part of the whole. When we go to the grave I always touch his name on the headstone before leaving. All these have become mixed up in his death and in his grave. I'm not a religious person but I understand why people light candles in cathedrals. Acts of remembrance and little rituals that bring some kind of comfort. 

We played some songs for him at the funeral- North Country Boy by The Charlatans as we entered the chapel, You And Me Song by The Wannadies (Eliza's choice), Sketch For Summer by Durutti Column as a slideshow of photographs of him played, and then at the graveside Race For The Prize by The Flaming Lips and the Beatless mix of Sabres Of Paradise's Smokebelch. 

Isaac's Funeral Mix

I can listen to them all now, something I wasn't sure I'd be able to do three years ago- You And Me Song has the capacity to move me to tears and North Country Boy still packs a powerful punch but when I hear them I want to listen to them play in full, I don't reach for the off button. Three years on from that day it does feel like a lot of time has passed while seeming like it was just yesterday too. 

In 2023 Daniel Avery followed his Ultra Truth album with a seven track collection of B-sides and bonus material which included this beautiful piece of weightless ambient techno...

Time Takes A While

Twenty Six

Today, 23rd November 2024, should have been Isaac's twenty sixth birthday. Instead, he's twenty three forever. The build up to today through the last few weeks has been quite gruelling, today's date and next Saturday's (the anniversary of his death) hanging over us. It adds a heaviness to everything and there are times when I have quite vivid flashbacks of exactly what we were doing three years ago, his 23rd birthday and then the week that followed. 

He's always there in some ways, hanging around just out of view. I still hear him sometimes, very clearly saying things at or to me. Recently I went to see him at the cemetery and his headstone, which we had put in back in July, had bird shit all over his name. It was very dismaying, I was quite upset by it for a moment, and then I heard him say, 'there's bird poo on my name Dad' and chuckle- and I smiled. The only thing I had with me to clean it was my Woodleigh Research Facility tote bag so there I was, half upset and half smiling, scrubbing Isaac's headstone with an Andrew Weatherall related cloth bag dipped in water from the nearby standpipe. He'd have laughed at that too (and I think Andrew probably would have as well).

Happy birthday Isaac. Love you. X

This record has become one I associate with him. The copy in the picture below is actually Isaac's, bought for him by a friend of mine when he was born. North Country Boy was released in 1997, Isaac was born in 1998. Neil came round with this and a copy of The Clash's Train In Vain on 7" not long after Isaac got home from hospital in December 1998. Twenty three years later, we played it at Isaac's funeral. 

In September last year I saw The Charlatans at New Century Hall. They played Between 10th And 11th in full and then the hits and although I was bracing myself for the moment, it still hit deep when it came, those big guitar chords, walloping drums and Hammond riffs, and then Tim singing, 'Hey country boy/ what are you sad about?/Every day you make the sun come out...' 

It's amazing, the power music has, that magical combination of chords, banging, electricity and words- words that were written by someone else, about something else, that one day become about you... 

'Even in the pouring rain/ I'll come to see you'

You wouldn't believe how often we go to the cemetery in the rain- or how often we go to the cemetery and it starts raining. I mean, I know we live in Manchester but even so, it rains a lot up at that cemetery. There he is again. 'I don't like the rain Dad'.  

When we walked into the chapel at Isaac's funeral and this song was ringing out, I did for a moment think that I'd never be able to listen to it again, that it would be forever too much. Happily, it isn't. I hear it now and I think of him. 

'I'll be good to you/ If I could I'd make you happy/ If I had a boy I'd be good to my daddy/ Who loves you but I bet it's not the same/ As your north country boy'.

North Country Boy

V.A. Saturday

One of the features of the 1988- 1992 period was the indie- dance Various Artists album, often a cheaply packaged affair rounding up the big hitters and also rans, compilations called things like Happy Daze, sleeves adorned with daisy age, day glo rave graphics. These compilations were often TV advertised, aimed at the mass market and casual buyer, the people that hadn't bought all the 12" singles. 

Today's VA is from 1991, a double disc set simply titled Rave 1, and was put together for the German market, young indie- dance kids in Cologne and Berlin, all loved up in the newly re- united Germany. Across two discs you get exactly what you'd expect from a 1991 indie- dance compilation- Happy Mondays and Kinky Afro, The Soup Dragons and I'm Free, The Farm and All Together Now, EMF's Unbelievable and I Believe, James and Lose Control, Northside's My Rising Star, Primal Scream's Come Together, Jesus Jones and Right Here Right Now, The Shamen with Make It Mine and Inspiral Carpets with She Comes In The Fall are all present and correct. What makes Rave 1 a little different is that these are all represented by the 12" versions, extended mixes and different takes, and in some cases mixes and versions that weren't widely available. There is also a very under the radar and very of its time cover of Come Together (Beatles not Primal Scream) by Howie J And Co. 

Exhibit A: The Charlatans.Then was a fantastic early Charlatans single, easily the equal of The Only One I Know, powered by a  Martin Blunt Motown bassline and some Rob Collins organ, Tim cooing on top. The Alternate Take is slower, looser and more groovy, less a pop song, more a 60s/ 90s psyche groove. It was on the Then 12" and CD single, released in September 1990. 

Then (Alternate Take)

Exhibit B: My Jealous God were signed to Rough Trade and released Pray as a 12" in 1990, led by singer Jim Melly who developed a bit of a motormouth reputation. My Jealous God got a fair bit of press from NME and Melody Maker although I think the backlash hit them too, accusations of bandwagon jumping. The band were from South London and had a follow up on Rough Trade and then a single in 1992 on Fontana but their album was shelved. Pray is wah wah driven indie- dance. 

Pray (12" Mix)

Exhibit C: Flowered Up and Phobia, a November 1990 single from the London band, a five piece led by Liam Maher who made some real period piece records. The Paranoid mix is from the 12" single and was remixed by Marc Angelo who is the brother of glamour model Linda Lusardi and who cut his production teeth on the UK reggae and dub scene working with Dennis Bovell, Prince Far I and Creation Rebel. Phobia was Flowered Up's second single, following on the heels of It's On. Their debut album has recently been re- issued for the first time by Heavenly. The Paranoid mix shuffles along nicely, the funky bassline to the fore, percussion and drums giving this version a proper indie- dance groove. 

Phobia (Paranoid Mix)

Exhibit D: Primal Scream. The Hypnotone remix is the lesser known remix of Come Together, fading into the background a little compared to Terry Farley's Suspicious Minds version and Andrew Weatherall's genuine ten minutes of genius version. The HypnotoneBrainMachineRemix is a superb version in its own right though, Tony Martin's raved up take chopping the band up, looping vocals, horns blaring out, synths to the fore, bubbling bassline and drum machines, everything louder than everything else, breaking down for the shout, 'This is a heist!' (or 'This is the hype!'), more looped shouts, this time of 'Bass! Bass!', and some tumbling drums. This is a remix that sounds like a Primal Scream record being played at the same time as a Public Enemy record and an Altern- 8 record. Yes, that good. 

Come Together (HypnotoneBrainMachineMix)

Saturday Live

Last month The Charlatans travelled across the USA with Ride playing a tour of double headers, each band taking it in turns to headline. While out there The Charlatans called in at KEXP, a radio station in Seattle and recorded a half hour live set. KEXP have a load of these up on the internet (Ride did one a few years ago in fact), a session which isn't quite a gig- there's no audience for starters- but which is filmed as the band play live. The sound is always good, the bands seem to enjoy it and the filming is revealing but unobtrusive. It's good to be able to see what the musicians are actually doing on each song. You get to marvel at Tim's jumper. 

The Charlatans play four songs at KEXP- the massive, crunching Chemical Brothers assisted 1997 single One To Another, the wheezy organ- led Weirdo and the subtle, funky ode to early 90s hedonism of Chewing Gum Weekend (both from 1992's Between 10th And 11th album, an album they played in full back in September at New Century Hall, a night which revealed the album to be a lost gem) and their 1990 breakthrough The Only One I Know. 

As a contrast, slipping back in time but still in front of TV cameras, here they are in 1996 playing at Channel 4's The White Room playing One To Another and Crashin' In in front of a youthful audience. The late and sadly missed Jon Brookes is on drums, kicking up a fearsome groove. Organ and keys are courtesy of Martin Duffy, standing in for the recently departed Rob Collins who died in a car crash that year. I think this clip was the first time Martin played with them outside a rehearsal room. A week later they played at Knebworth supporting Oasis. Duffy sadly died last year too. The Charlatans are a band who have known tragedy. The final minute of the clip has the band playing the end section of Crashin' In while Tim stands at the back of the stage, grinning at the sound his band are making. 

Polar Bears

Ride and The Charlatans began a double header tour of North America yesterday, the two bands swapping headlining duties each night. Pet Shop Boys and New Order did a similar thing last year, as did Suede and Manic Street Preachers. I can see the attraction for the bands- split the costs, shift more tickets, play slightly shorter sets without the pressure to be top of the bill every night. For the fans too, it's a winner- in the combinations mentioned here there can't be many people who'd pay to see one of the bands without even the slightest interest in seeing the other. If Ride and The Charlatans want to repeat it over here, I'm definitely in. They played together back in the early 90s, a tour of seaside towns billed as the Daytripper tour (I say tour, it may have Brighton and Blackpool only). 

Back in 1990 both bands released their debut albums, The Charlatans Some Friendly in October and Ride's Nowhere a week later. Both albums had songs titled Polar Bear too. I think I remember reading somewhere that the bands became aware each other were writing songs titled Polar Bear and both went ahead, finding some kinship in it. 

The Charlatans' Polar Bear was a live favourite, the group having built up a fanatical following following the release of debut single Indian Rope. It chugs in on funky guitar and organ, a distorted woodwind topline snaking around for two minutes before Tim steps up to the mic, voice quite low in the swirly mix, singing about  a girl who's 'freezing to death with no clothes on/ She doesn't know what day it is', the song bubbling up for the line, 'I've never had one of those'. The verse, 'Life's a bag of revels/ I'm looking for the orange one', was a fan favourite, inspiring a fanzine and oft quoted in reviews in the music press. Later on Tim gets more oblique, 'Have you seen my polar bear?/ It's the white thing over there'. Polar Bear split opinions in the group, some thinking they didn't do the song justice and overproduced it, others wanting it to be a single. In the end, with Martin Blunt threatening to quit if it was the next single, they put out The Only One I Know instead which would seem retrospectively to be the correct decision. 

Polar Bear

Ride's Polar Bear was the last song on side one of their debut, a Mark Gardener written song, and also has lines about an unnamed girl. 'She knew she was able to fly', Mark sings, 'Because when she came down/ She had dust on her hands from the sky/ She said I touched a cloud'. The guitars are a squall of noise, the drums and guitars grinding their way forward through the intro. The second verse contains one of my favourite Ride lines, the sort of line only a nineteen year old can get away with, one of those profound middle of the night thoughts that seem daft in daylight, stoned silliness- 'Why should it feel like a crime?/ If I want to be with you all the time?/ Why is it measured in hours?/ You should make your own time'. We should all make our own time eh? I might do it today.  

Polar Bear

Isaac's Mix

This is Isaac's name on the Covid memorial in London, and his heart too, recently renovated by a friend. It was his funeral a year ago today. The recent anniversaries of his birthday and a week later the first anniversary of his death weighed very heavily on us for weeks before and there was quite a hangover after too. The anniversary of the funeral hasn't had the same effect. 

The day of the funeral itself, a year ago,was awful- the waiting for the hearse, the drive to the crematorium, the wait I had to stand up and read out the eulogy I'd written, the walk to the grave... all of it. It's not something I'd ever wish to live through again. 

The wake afterwards was a blur. I spoke to some people and barely to others. We found ourselves asking each other, 'was so- and- so at the wake? Did I speak to them?', for days and weeks afterwards. The number of people who attended either or both events was testament to Isaac and the effect he had on people. The friend who wrote the epitaph on his heart at the Covid memorial got it exactly right. 

These are the five songs we played at the funeral, sequenced into one mix in the order that they were played. They've all changed for me since that day, the songs and their meanings shifting in ways big and small. I guess that was inevitable. 

Isaac's Mix

• The Charlatans: North Country Boy
• Durutti Column: Sketch For Summer
• The Wannadies: You & Me Song
• The Flaming Lips: Race For The Prize
• The Sabres Of Paradise: Smokeblech II (Beatless Mix)

Back in 1998 a friend, Neil, bought Isaac a copy of North Country Boy on 7" when he was born and it's a song I've associated with him ever since. Isaac was after all a north country boy. When we walked into the chapel as the drums and slide guitar kicked in I did briefly shudder and think to myself, 'Oh shit, what have we done, I'll never get through this song'. Some of the lines have an extra resonance now. You can probably work out which ones. In September this year I saw The Charlatans play it as part of their hits set at New Century Hall in Manchester. Quite a moment. 

Vini Reilly's music has been part of my life since about 1987 and I wanted some of it played at the funeral. There was a section in the service where a slideshow of photos of Isaac played and Sketch For Summer was the accompanying music, Vini's wonderful guitar and Martin Hannett's production and synths filling the room. Originally I wanted to use Otis but the sampled vocal, 'another sleepless night for me' was too much. 

You & Me Song was Eliza's choice and I can't hear the song now without crying. She has a print of the lyrics on her wall in her room. It's her song, and his, forever.

Race For The Prize tells of two scientists competing to find an un- named cure, with the pay off line, 'they're just human/ with wives and children'. The strings swoop and swell and it careers to its ending. It's a glorious song, emotional and inspiring. Back at the turn of the millennium my brother- in- law Harvey used to film everything. When we went on family holidays or met up he'd shoot loads of camcorder footage and he'd then edit it into short films with songs over the top. There's loads of footage of Isaac, his cousin Orlan and Eliza being children. In 2002 we went to the north east for a week in August and stayed in a cottage near Alnwick. Isaac had spent the period 1999- 2001 in and out of hospital, including in 2000 a long period of time undergoing two bone marrow transplants. Isaac's transplant was cutting edge, revolutionary stuff, only the second of its kind in the world. It saved his life and gave him the next two decades with us. Two scientists racing for the prize. Harvey's film of Isaac aged three and Orland aged two running around the garden in the sun with Race For The Prize playing, a beautiful coming together of images, music and words stuck with me, and it made sense to play the song at the graveside even if the meaning was unknown to almost everyone there.

Smokebelch II- Weatherall's moment of beauty from 1993. I've lost myself a few times to that song. I will do again I'm sure. 

Let The Good Times Be Never Ending

New Century Hall is a first floor concert venue at the foot of the CIS tower near Victoria station in Manchester. Opened in 1963 it has recently been restored to its former modernist glory and has spectacular wooden panelled walls and a ceiling filled with hundreds of painted lightbulbs. Back in the day Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Tina Tuner played there. In 2009 I saw Billy Childish play the venue (though I think it was downstairs, it wasn't in the upstairs room). This week it's hosted a week of gigs to celebrate its re- opening. On Thursday night The Charlatans played there.

The band were playing two sets- a one off performance of their 1992 album Between 10th And11th in full, some songs not played since the 90s, followed by 'the hits'. The album is a curious one, caught in a no- man's land between Madchester and Britpop while grunge raged around them. The first flush of fame following Some Friendly and the success of The Only One I Know was behind them, guitarist John Baker was out of sorts and eventually left the group, replaced by Mark Collins. Bassist Martin Blunt was episodically unwell, the arrival of Collins led to some songwriting tensions and they were a little unsure about whether they'd alienate their fanbase by moving on from the sound that secured their rapid rise. The exact conditions in which make a record which then feels a little overlooked, an album of mainly album songs and one which is probably a fan favourite but was panned by the music press at the time and left behind by an audience moving elsewhere. Perfect then for re- appraisal in a live environment three decades later. 

With support from DJ Andy Votel playing all manner of 60s psychedelia, weirdness and exotica, The Charlatans take the stage just before nine, clearly excited to be in the building. They launch into Between 10th And 11th's opening song I Don't Want To See the Sights, a full on swampy groove, 1992 dance/ psychedelia, the organ and guitar swirling around Martin Blunt's thick, upfront bass. Tim Burgess is having the time of his life, grinning, waving, cheer leading and in very good voice. The song's layered and dense sound, long lyrical lines and subtle choruses are mirrored by the lightshow and projections- footage of the band across the years, album covers, the bands name, images of posters and gig tickets (including one for the gig at Liverpool Poly, March 1990 that I attended) and the circling oil wheel of 60s live gigs. Between 10th And 11th sounds played live now like a lost 90s gem- I think it probably always has been- but in the New Century Hall tonight its alive and present, layers of sound twisting around each other, guitars and organ/ keyboards with driving rhythms. Can't Even Be bothered gets a big cheer. The album's single, Weirdo, a genuine Charlatans classic with that woozy Hammond, is massive. Chewing Gum Weekend is a blast, an ode to youthful excess. They alter the order slightly, moving The End Of Everything to the end, a long, powerful psychedelic groove that brings it all to a climax.

I Don't Want To See The Sights

They leave the stage for ten minutes and then return for a perfectly pitched, emotional second half, beginning with a gloriously funky and melodic Let The Good Times Be Never Ending from 2015's album Modern Nature (their best from recent years) and then throw back to 1990 with a rocking version of Then, with its pumping rubbery mod bassline, indie dance drums and Tim's sweetly threatening vocals. The 70s Stones/ disco of You're So Pretty/ We're So pretty and Oh! Vanity follow, temperature rising, the band grinning at each other. The joyous title track from 1997's Tellin' Stories is played, fist pumping from Tim and the crowd singing along. 'Good that one isn't it', Tim says as it finishes. 

Then they play North Country Boy. I was expecting they would and was steeling myself for it. The single has always been an Isaac song for me. A friend bought it on 7" for Isaac not long after he was born and we played it at his funeral last year which has given it a massive resonance for us. When we walked into the chapel and the drums and guitar kicked in I did wonder if I'd ever be able to listen to it again. Crying at gigs has become a regular thing for me since he died and North Country Boy works its utterly sad magic, reducing me to tears, sucking all its emotion in and crying it out. I'm still in a state when they blast their way into One To Another, an inclusive outsider anthem, Bob Dylan meets The Chemical Brothers at the Heavenly Social. Next is another Modern Nature highlight, Come Home Baby, and then the finale, a long, trippy, stretched out and loud romp through Sproston Green, everything in its right place, a song to close a set with as good as any from the period that any of their contemporaries wrote. As a friend on Twitter said, 'Blimey, this looks like it was sensational!' 

It was. 

Let The Good Times Be Never Ending

Saturday Theme Twenty One

A short hop back to last Sunday's post with a song that really could have featured on the half hour mix of The Charlatans that I put together and posted- Theme From 'The Wish', B-side of  1992 single Weirdo. Rob Collins switched from Hammond organ to electric piano and the band wrote this theme for a film that never happened, produced by Flood. Like a lot of their songs fro the Between 10th And 11th period it has a darkness underneath the dancey, psychedelic swirl. It later turned up on Metling Pot, a compilation of the band's time on Beggars Banquet that brought together the singles plus a few extras. 

Theme From 'The Wish'

The photo below was taken by my friend Meany (Ian Lawton) when The Charlatans played the Haigh Building, Liverpool Poly (8 March 1990, not long after debut single Indian Rope came out). He photographed lots of bands in Liverpool around this time and if I remember correctly photographed and interviewed Nirvana in McDonalds in Leeds. I was at The Charlatans gig but didn't know Meany at this point. Everything about the picture screams 1990- Tim's bowl haircut, anorak, flares, Kickers and long sleeved rave print t- shirt. Superb stuff. 

Edit: Meany thinks he may have taken the photo at the Boardwalk in Manchester which makes it 25th January 1990, same tour as the Liverpool Poly gig. 

Half An Hour Of The Charlatans

The Charlatans have weathered many, if not all, the storms that could be thrown at a band since their arrival in 1989 and still they keep moving. A Covid delayed thirtieth anniversary box set and tour has been completed this year and in September they play Manchester's New Century Hall as part of a week of celebrations for that venue where they'll play 1992's Between 10th And 11th in full plus 'all the hits'. Singer Tim Burgess regularly proves himself to be the nicest man on Twitter and his listening parties lit up lockdown back in 2020. They don't just rest on their laurels either- 2015's Modern Nature is among their best work and the follow up, Different Days, showed they still wanted to press forward. Tim's solo albums are full of ideas and good songs. None of this is what many would have expected from the five piece that stepped into the light in 1989 with Indian Rope. 

Todays'  thirty minute mix focusses on their swirly, heady, psychedelic side of the group's songs, a Hammond organ- led stew, with a couple of remixes thrown in, perfect for a bit of mellow/ wigging out on a Sunday. The Norman Cook remix is a 2016 Record Store Day release, a beautiful Balearic version of a song from Modern Nature. Come In Number 21 opened their third album, 1994's Up To Our Hips, produced by Steve Hillage- the 10: 40s edit here is somewhat unofficial. Opportunity is on debut Some Friendly (and thinking about this now I probably should have included Opportunity Three, the Flood produced remix and superior version). Another Rider Up In Flames is from Up To Our Hip. Chewing Gum Weekend is from Between 10th And 11th, the first album to feature guitarist Mark Collins. Imperial 109 is one two B-sides from their 1990 hit single The Only One I Know. Sproston Green closes Some Friendly and most of their gigs (the US single version I've included is slightly shorter, losing some of the long organ led intro- not the best version but it worked better here). Sproston Green is a small village near Middlewich, Cheshire, home to a couple of hundred people, a pub and a parish council noticeboard and not much else. The village has lost its signs on occasion, light fingered Charlatans fans taking it away from the side of the A54 in the dead of night. 

Half An Hour Of The Charlatans

• Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix)
• Come In Number 21 (10:40's 21 With A Bullet Edit)
• Opportunity
• Another Rider Up In Flames
• Chewing Gum Weekend
• Imperial 109 (Edit)
• Sproston Green (US Version)

Anyone Who Ever Had A Heart

The last week has been soundtracked much of the time by this hour long mix from Jesse Fahnestock, a promotional mix for Brighton's Higher Love who have released Jesse's recent single Kissed Again (in his 10:40 guise). You can find Higher Love 059 at the Balearic Ultras Mixcloud  page and it's an absolute beaut, a meandering shuffle round some blissed out chugginess, some dub tinged delights, some indie- dance and some loose and lovely Balearica with half the tracks in the mix Jesse's own work as 10: 40. It drifts in with Rich Lane's Coyote, atmospherics, ambience and slide guitar and then Margo Timmins voice appears just below the surface, singing Sweet Jane from The Trinity Sessions back in the late 80s- quite the pairing. Matt Gunn, Kusht and Coco Rosie follow and then a run of unreleased 10:40 tracks before a euphoric section running from Cosmikuro into a re- edited Charlatans song from 1994, then into Kissed Again and then Jesse's re-edit of Hugh Masakela's Strawberries, all multi-coloured, dreamy splendour. Highly recommended.

Tracklist

• Rich Lane/Cowboy Junkies: Coyote Tan/Sweet Jane
• Matt Gunn: Lost in the Drohne
• Kusht: Trippin’ Out Back
• CocoRosie: Good Friday
• 10:40: Coat Check
• 10:40: [Unreleased]
• 10:40: [Unreleased]
• MAKS: North (Yarni Remix)
• Cosmikuro: Gum
• The Charlatans: Come in Number 21 (10:40’s Number 21 with a Bullet Edit)
• 10:40: Kissed Again
• Hugh Masakela: Strawberries (10:40’s Cream Edit)
• Florence & The Scream Machine: Don’t Fight The Love (10:40’s Machine Mash)
• 10:40: See Me Through

As an addition I thought I'd post two songs that provided Jesse with some of his source material. Back in 1988 Canada's Cowboy Junkies recorded an album that seemed to appear out of nowhere and crossed all kinds of boundaries over here. The album pulled together their own songs and some covers with the spectral presence of the church they were recorded in- the natural reverb of Toronto's Holy Trinity church is as important as any of the wood and metal instruments played by the group. The recording was made using a single microphone to pick up all the players and Margo's voice. On Sweet Jane they chose to cover the version from The Velvet Underground's 1969 Live album rather than the one from Loaded. Apparently even professional curmudgeon Lou Reed loved the Cowboy Junkies cover. 

Sweet Jane

By 1994 The Charlatans were a looking a little lost and out of time and their third album Up To Our Hips didn't set the world alight- the next big things of Britpop were already stirring and The Charlatans looked a bit like yesterday's men (many of their contemporaries had already run out of road). The album, produced by Steve Hillage, has endured though, has a groove and feel to it and some of the songs are real fan favourites, songs like Can't Get Out Of Bed, Jesus Hairdo and I Never Want An Easy Life If Me And He Were Ever To Get There. It opens with Come In Number 21, a song that sounds like they've just arrived, plugged in and turned all the switches on, a rehearsal where suddenly things come together on the spot. The guitars are lower in the mix, the drums less obviously based around the 1990 beat, Tim's singing surrounded by the swampy bass, organ and guitars. Time definitely not up. 

Come In Number 21

How High

'Can I kiss the sun?/ Run a minute mile/ While you hitch hike/ Love shines a light/ I'll be a winner's cup/ And I'm looking for the one who cut you up/ You're not having me/ You know the skies are mean/ And I'm hoping for a way to free you...'

I saw this graffiti in the tunnel beneath the M60 while walking from Sale Water Park last week and there was only one song that I could post with it. 

How High

A high octane torrent of guitar chords, rhythms and words from the Charlatans in 1997. I remember an interview with Tim Burgess where he said that the words were inspired by listening to Dylan's beat/ speed lyrics from '66 and the multi- rapper flow of Wu Tang Clan, the way the words tumble on top of each other, piling up lines of imagery, in a rush to get onto tape. Something like that. I liked the idea, that at the height of Britpop they were getting their inspiration from quite non- Britpop sources. Tim sings a line 'borrowed' liberally from Dylan, 'I'm gonna pledge my time til the day I die', one of the moments where the song slows slightly and the words surface before tumbling down all over again. 

Teardrop Trouble

I'm a bit raw at the moment so I'm just going to stick to some music until I get my thoughts together. Thank you to everyone who sent messages ahead of the funeral on Friday, to those of you who wrote posts and to JC (The Vinyl Villain) who came from Glasgow to South Manchester, in his words, to represent the blogging community. 

This Norman Cook remix of Trouble Understanding is a very nicely understated thing indeed, from a man who isn't necessarily always known for restraint or understatement. There's a Massive Attack Teardrop sample in there too. A gorgeous five minutes of sun coming up Balearic/ indie- gospel. 

Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix/ Rudeboy Edit)

This is Massive Attack's Teardrop dubbed out by Mad Professor and Elizabeth Fraser making another appearance on these pages after the Ian McCulloch song a few days ago. . 

Teardrop (Mad Professor Mazaruni Vocal Mix)

Every Day You Make The Sun Come Out

Twenty three years ago today Isaac was born, making his entrance at just after half past seven in the morning and whisked off immediately to an ICU unit. Although I don't think you can ever be ready for the impact that becoming a parent has on your life we certainly weren't expecting what we got- serious unknown genetic illness, frequent hospitalisation in his early years, deafness, serious learning difficulties, bone marrow transplants, operations and much more. 

When pregnant people are asked 'what do you want?' and they reply 'I don't mind, as long as it's healthy', it's a comment that you can't possibly consider properly unless you're thrown into the thick of serious life and death illness. Isaac is twenty three today and there have been occasions when he wasn't expected to survive the night. In 2000 when he was undergoing a bone marrow transplant he contracted a serious Epstein Barr virus. In  2008 his undiagnosed missing immune system led to him getting pneumonia and then meningitis). Ass a result every year he adds, every birthday, feels like a stolen year, another year grappled back from what could have been. Sorry if that sounds melodramatic or maudlin- it's supposed to be celebratory. And he will be celebrating, he loves a birthday and loves a party. Happy birthday Isaac.

Back in 1997, the year before he was born, The Charlatans released this piece of Dylan inspired, Stonesy guitar slinging, a song with a loping beat, some northern swagger and an emotion laden set of lyrics from Tim Burgess. A friend bought it for Isaac on 7" not long after he was born. Isaac isn't fussed about music (ironically given how much I am) and doesn't know the song so it sits in with the rest of my 7" singles. 

'Hey country boy/ What are you sad about/ Every day you make the sun come out/ Even in the pouring rain/ I'll come to see you/ And I'll save you, I'll save you'

North Country Boy

You Were Sometimes Hard To Find

This song floated back into my earshot recently, a piece of 1990 and a song that nails a feeling and a time in some ways. Then was the second single from The Charlatans debut album Some Friendly. Previous single The Only One I Know had gone top ten so the group had suddenly found themselves a fanbase, the early days of Indian Rope, small gigs and fanzines turned into something much bigger. Then doesn't scream single to me, and I'm not sure it did back then, but it is a perfectly put together song- Martin Blunt's Motown/ A Town Called Malice revival bassline, Rob Collins' swirling 60s garage band Hammond organ surfacing and diving in and out of the mix, some crunchy guitar chords from Jon Baker and that very 1990 drum pattern, a loose limbed indie- dance shuffle. On top of this indie- guitar, 60s psyche pop Tim Burgess sings softly but determinedly, a put down of an ex.  

Then

It was a guaranteed floor filler at early 90s indie nights, long sleeved t- shirts pulled over fists, flares flapping and dragging, love beads and fringes shaking around, everyone footloose and in love with themselves and each other. Happy days. 

Then just missed out on the top ten, reaching number twelve but the band found themselves on Top Of The Pops doing their best not to be pop stars, looking like they just got out of bed and put on whatever they'd dropped on the bedroom floor the night before. Indie bands hitting the charts and Top Of The Pops felt like a big deal at the time, like suddenly the world was waking up to what had been going on in small clubs, the back rooms of pubs and the independent record shops. 

Desir

System 7, formed in the early 90s by Steve Hillage and his partner Miquette Giraudy, were one of the obvious links between the late 60s/ early 70s hippy movement and acid house. Hillage and Giraudy were both members of Gong, purveyors of space rock/ jazz psychedelia, and in the late 70s Hillage had more or less invented The Orb's sound with his album Rainbow Dome Musick. In fact, it was hearing that album played by Alex Paterson at Heaven with a house kick drum underpinning it that led to Hillage meeting Paterson and Hillage forming System 7. The intention was for Paterson and Hillage to record ambient house with Hillage's guitar high in the mix. Paterson and fellow Orb man Kris 'Thrash' Weston both feature on System 7's self titled debut and the follow up 777 album, as well as Tony Thorpe of the Moody Boys and KLF, Youth and Derrick May. On 777 Paterson's credit is noted as 'ambience, navigation'. 

Steve Hillage was one of the people who was derided during punk, the Year Zero approach of 1976/77 designed to slam the door shut in his face and the generation gap swallow them whole. Finding favour a decade later with two ex- punks, Youth and Paterson, very much involved must have been very satisfying.  

Desir (Butterfly Remix)

Steve Hillage was instrumental in establishing the Dance Tent at Glastonbury (another hippy- acid house link) and went on to produce The Charlatans 1994 album Up To Our Hips, a dense, swirling, post- Madchester, pre- Britpop record that is much undervalued, some of which echoes the late 60s space rock of Gong and Hawkwind. Feel Flows wouldn't be out of place in Ladbroke Grove in 1968. Jesus Hairdo is more focussed but just as much a hippy 90s as anything.

Feel Flows

Jesus Hairdo

Lockdown Mix

I got the bug for putting a mix together again recently and this is the result, an hour of largely ambient and Balearic with some 80s Manchester and 90s Liverpool dropped in. Despite the promise of the vaccine the situation still seems pretty desperate. Everyone seems determined to celebrate Christmas despite the fact that if it goes ahead 'as normal', people will surely die within weeks and a further lockdown in January will be inevitable. Taking refuge in music often seems to be the answer. I still can't get Mixcloud to embed but you can find my Lockdown Mix here. 

Tracklist

• A Man Called Adam: Book Of The Dead (The British Museum Mix)
• Two Lone Swordsmen: Ink Cloud
• Steve Roach: Spiral Of Strength
• Richard Norris: Music For Healing 12
• Moon Duo: In A Cloud
• The Charlatans: Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook Remix)
• Andy Bell: Cherry Cola (Pye Corner Audio Remix)
• Future Beat Alliance: Tell Me About These Dreams
• Big Hard Excellent Fish: Imperfect List (Uncensored Original Mix)
• Nuel: Vibration
• Durutti Column: Take Some Time Out
• Tabula Rasa: Sunset At The Café del Mar

 

Not Even The Rain

A poetry inspired lyric from an album that is very much part of the background of The Charlatans back catalogue. Between 10th And 11th came out in March 1992, well after the first flush of their success with The Only One I Know and Some Friendly and when the Madchester wave had well and truly crashed and receded. Their second time in the sun would come in the wake of Oasis and Britpop with the 1995 self titled album and then Tellin' Stories. In between they seemed a little like a band lost, making two albums that underwhelmed slightly (at the time though they've grown in hindsight). The band had some combustible relationships, had seen the departure of one guitarist (Jon Baker) and the arrival of another (Rob Collins) and were fixed up with producer Flood. Between 10th And 11th had a really strong single, Weirdo, led by Rob Collins funky, wheezy organ, stop start dynamics and Tim Burgess delving a bit deeper with his lyrics. The whole group at this time gave the impression of wanting to be seen as more than just five figures shaking their fringes to The Only I Know and searching for a way forward- even the album's title suggests they were caught between back then and moving on.

The last song on the album is a hidden gem in their songbook and borrows a line and its title from poet E. E. Cummings, from one of his most famous poems, 'nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands'. Over crisp drums, a fine bassline and some swirly psyche from guitars and organ, the band whip up a slow burning groove. Flood's production is crisp and upfront, there's less of the murky stew the group had live, and Tim coos some stream of consciousness words through the reverb. Early 90s psychedelia from a band finding their way. Good stuff. 

'Why don't you say it again why don't you
Save me again I can't do anything
Not even the rain has such small hands'


(No One) Not Even The Rain