Monday's Long Song

 

Richard Norris' tribute to Andrew Weatherall came out on 6th April, what would have been Andrew's 61st birthday. It's a lovely piece of music, seven minutes of drum machine propulsion, dancing synths and pulsing sequencers, all soft glow euphoria tinged with the double edged sword of what and who has been lost. Buy Weatherall's Last Stand and the alternative version, the No Pads Dub at Bandcamp. 

I'm reading Richard's autobiography- Strange Things Are Happening- and am only a few chapters in. It's the mid- 80s and Richard has gone to Liverpool University (I went in '88 so we almost overlapped). By this point, his late teens, he has already been in two bands, had records played by John Peel, sold out 1000 copies of a single through Rough Trade, been involved with two record labels, one in London and in his home town St Albans, been on the fringes of various club nights and on arriving in Liverpool started a psyche/ freakbeat night at a nightclub in town. We've not even hit the acid house days yet and Richard's crammed more in than most people manage.