A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion.
Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do.
I opted for a JFK response, his 1961 speech about doing things not because they are easy but because they are hard. Steinski and Mass Media, The Wedding Present and Lou Reed all provided me with Kennedy themed songs.
The Bagging Area community came up with some inspired choices- PTVL went for Genesis P. Orridge with Richard Norris and Dave Ball as Jack The Tab, arguably the UK's first acid house record, Ernie went for Lowell George and Little Feat, Al G with Mansun, Rol (arriving late after some serious jet washing) with The Walker Brothers and Walter with Nick Drake and Vini Reilly.
This week's Oblique Strategy cards reads thus- Is there something missing?
A obvious choice and one which has been in my mind recently is this...
Todd Terry's remix of Missing was everywhere in 1996, inescapable and irresistible, a crossover hit that deserved to be massive. Missing is a mood in song form.
I also thought of Dub Syndicate's 1985 album, the mighty Tunes From The Missing Channel, Adrian Sherwood and Style Scott's hugely influential dub album that opens with Ravi Shankar Pt. 1 and with Jah Wobble appearing too, goes about pushing dub into sci fi/ ambient dub territories.
But there's more to this Oblique Strategy stuff than just going with the most obvious, word related choices.
Is there something missing?
Stephen Morris, drummer in Joy Division and New Order and authentic nice chap, has described the three surviving members of Joy Division in the pub after Ian Curtis' funeral. They sat their nursing their pints, not knowing how to talk to each other about death, suicide and loss, young men on the cusp of something big that has been wrenched away from them. A planned American tour cancelled. The second half of 1980 suddenly looking very different from what they envisaged.
'See you on Monday then', one of them said as he left.
'Yep, see you on Monday'.
Because they didn't know what else to do, they reconvened at Joy Division's rehearsal space in Little Peter Street and tried to make music as a trio. In Jon Savage's oral history, This Searing Light, The Sun And Everything Else, they each talk about the difficulties of making music with something (or someone) missing. Ian Curtis, frontman and lyricist, the object of attention at gigs, 'one of those channels for the gestalt' (said Martin Hannett), the intense and distinctive singer who set them apart from their peers, was gone. It was more than just missing a singer- he was a mate too and he was the rehearsal room ears and the editor. When the band jammed, Ian would pick out the parts that were good, get them to play that bit but put it with this bit and repeat it.
They struggled on obviously- we all know the story. Ceremony (the last Joy Division song) and Movement (the last record they made with Martin Hannett). Movement is a sound, post- punk songs with a Hannett tone, but it lacks tunes. Apart from Dreams Never End (sung by Hooky ironically), nothing on Movement sticks in the memory for long. It's an album I have to play to remember what it's like.
In 1981 they appeared on Granada TV, sonically moving forward with Gillian Gilbert on board but visually, physically, they all behave like there's still something missing. This clip has them playing, tentatively, five songs from Movement and Ceremony. The crowd, all local fans, look like they know this too. There's an absence, the band and the audience both feel it.
They got there in the end of course. Discos in New York and Everything's Gone Green showing them a way out.
Vini Reilly, mentioned above, had his own response to the missing boy...
'There was a boy/ I almost knew him/ A glance exchanged/ Made me feel good/ Leaving some signs/ Now a legend'.
Other bands have struggled with missing members. Is there something missing?
In 1998 R.E.M. tried to regroup following Bill Berry's decision to leave the group (a brain aneurysm onstage during the Monster tour being a key part of his decision). Bill admitted last year in an interview that he 'didn't regret it at the time but... sort of regretted it later'. Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck experimented with vintage synths and drum machines and eventually made Up but it nearly broke them. Bill Berry wasn't just the drummer, he wrote songs too- the beautiful Perfect Circle for one and worldwide smash Everybody Hurts for another. Without Bill they were destabilised, nothing worked the same way. Michael Stipe memorably but none- too- convincingly commented, 'a dog with three legs is still a dog'.
In 1985 The Clash, or what was left of them, released Cut The Crap. Topper Headon had gone in 1983 and Mick Jones was sacked by Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon (and Bernie Rhodes) in 1984. 'We fell to ego', Joe remarked. This Is England may well be up there with the rest of Joe's songs but the much of the rest of Cut The Crap most definitely has something missing. Mick Jones. Topper Headon.
Strummer's 1985 state of the nation address evokes strikes, unrest, police brutality, unemployment, divisive right wing politics, war in far off places, poverty, racism, protest, marches, football and asks 'when will we be free?'.
Feel free to drop your own responses to Is there something missing? in the comment box.
12 comments:
You could probably say that there's something missing from the current New Order too
New Order without Hooky comes to mind, for some reason.
I saw Verve twice here in Colorado: once touring the debut LP, and again for Urban Hymns. Nick McCabe was absent from the band at the time of the latter, and for me, his guitar was always the very main thing. (Also missing from that 1998 show: Massive Attack, who were scheduled to open the show, when had just been moved from Red Rocks to a different venue. It was a forgettable evening for sure.)
As you concluded your post with a little bit of politics, it made me think of this...
Elvis Costello - American Without Tears
Given the state of the world right now, it's hard to believe there are so many of the above.
I meant to include NO without Hooky.
The Verve without Nick McCabe seems a bit pointless.
Good shout Rol- and yes, indeed.
There was certainly something missing from the Janis Joplin song 'Buried Alive In The Blues' on her album 'Pearl' - her vocals. Sadly she was found dead on the day she was due to record them, but the instrumental was still included on the album as a tribute.
It would be remiss of me not to defer to The Arch Drude and his 40-odd second classic Peggy Suicide Is Missing, which closed ill-fated magnum opus Jehovahkill
https://youtu.be/SiEFVclYG1o
Chairs Missing by Wire immediately sprang to mind, perhaps a bit too obvious, but bloody hell what an album.
… I also thought of The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu’s infamous album 1987 What The Fuck's Going On?
In the face of legal action from ABBA, later that year they released 1987 - The Jams 45 Edits. The album removed all the uncleared samples… but also included instructions on how to add your own samples and recreate the original release. Genius.
https://youtu.be/OxkasST2Tv4
C- I didn't know that Janis Joplin story. How sad. But the instrumental is a nice way to remember her.
Khayem- the Cope song was at the cusp of being in my post and didn't make it but its a great song. Wire hadn't occurred to me and is a good call. And the JAMMs too. Great hat- trick of missings.
I'm reminded of 'And If You Should See Dave...' by The Stranglers, an unexpectedly moving tribute from a band I'd not really thought about for 35 years when I posted this: https://unthoughtofthoughsomehow.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-is-where-your-solo-would-go.html
Two bands still going strong, but with different line-ups from what I consider their golden age, means I consider there to be something 'missing'. Tindersticks and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Song wise, I thought of 'Going Missing' by Maximo Park, one of the few of the many guitar bands who emerged in the early-mid 00s who shouldn't be dismissed as indie-landfill.
EBTG were the first to spring to mind. What’s really missing are musicians who are no longer with us. Take Andrew Weatherall, for example, and his monthly shows on NTS – without them, I would never have discovered so much music.
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