The Jesus And Mary Chain - Cracking Up (CDS)

Sorry for the tremendous delay, even by my standards...

Since when did the Jesus & Mary Chain go from playing 10-minute sets of distortion and causing riots to doing interviews on weekend breakfast radio? Since now, that's when. I heard one of the Reids on 6Music the other morning, talking about growing up in Glasgow and school and so on. Times change. Musicians run out of money, reform and do tours, too...

Anyhew, this is good stuff, this single. The sleeve photo is just the start. From their last proper LP, which was a bit of a commercial disaster, despite some great tracks. The b-sides of this one are good too. "Hide Myself" is a (fairly rare) quiet one, "Rocket" is by Ben Lurie, who was a later member of the band, and it is also good - it was the proper b-side on the 7". "Commercial" is an worth an ear, particularly if you don't like fast food, although it's not quite up to the rest.

Still, another 4-track single, and you can't argue with that, can you? No. You can't. Enjoy.

1. Cracking Up
2. Hide Myself
3. Rocket
4. Commercial

Right ear.

Another plug for the 78s

I have another blog, just recently started. It's some rips of 78s which I've either inherited or found around various second-hand shops.

Thought I'd mention it again as there's a quite brilliant track I found the other day, on the b-side of a 1953 number 1 single. The blog is at http://shellacsoffreedom.blogspot.co.uk/.

Primal Scream - Kowalski CDS

£3.00! I know. A steal. Although there's a good chance this was 99p back in the day.

Track off my joint favourite Primal Scream album here (other is Xtrmntr), with a couple of covers as b-sides. A very strange cover of '96 Tears' first, and then 'Know Your Rights', which sounds a little like the direction the Scream ended up moving in after this couple of great noisy records.

The remix is good too, very messy.

Enjoy.

1. Kowalski
2. 96 Tears
3. Know Your Rights
4. Kowalski (Automator Mix)

Hey ya.

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - Let's Get Tattoos (CDS)

More Carter, I know. One of the few (maybe only?) bands I think I like more now than I did back in the '90s. There's something about the passion that Jim Bob puts into everything, as well as having some of the great choruses. And I'll tell you what, this single has an absolutely killer chorus, no doubt about it. You probably already know that.

The b-sides of this single are good too, the first one does that proper Carter thing of going 'quiet... quiet... quiet... BOOM! DRUM MACHINE!'. And if you don't like that, well, you shouldn't really be here, should you? Go home and take a long look at yourself, your motivation, and your record collection. Come back when you've grown your fringe long.

Second b-side is a cover of a track by These Animal Men, in true 1990s covering-each-other style. Third b-side is a cover of a David Essex track. Really. So limited is my knowledge of most music I don't think I know it, but I'm sure all of you do, and I hope you like it.

1. Let's Get Tattoos
2. Especially 4 U
3. Speeed King
4. Silver Dream Machine

Bring it.

Another blog

No idea if anyone will be interested, but thought I'd let you know that I'm periodically going to put some recordings from 78rpm records on a blog called Shellacs of Freedom.

Frank Black - Men In Black (CDS)

Imagine my disappointment when I realised this wasn't a cover of the Men In Black film themetune. I guess it's the same crushing disappointment you're experiencing as you read this. But wait! It is a very good song, it's just not that one. It's off what appears to be not a very well-received album ("Cult Of Ray", also notable for one of the worse LP covers I've ever seen), and scraped the top 40 in the UK. But I like it, it's one of Frank's better solo tracks. You do wonder quite how much editing the rest of The Pixies did, don't you..?

B-sides of this one are all Frank Black tunes, and all enjoyable listens I reckon. I know his solo songs are quite hit and miss, but these four are all pretty consistent. "Pray A Little Faster" is my highlight of the three. Does it sound to you like his voice was a bit shot on these songs, maybe from all the Pixies screaming? Not actual Pixies screaming, that wouldn't affect your voice. Be worth hearing, though.

1. Men In Black
2. You Never Heard About Me
3. Pray A Little Faster
4. Announcement

It's right here.

The Boo Radleys - Lazy Day EP

A belated happy new year to you all, I hope you had a good Christmas period, and that 2015 has been awesome so far. Be a bit disappointing if it had already been shit. No Christmas single this year (last year I guess), as I don't have any more, but I'll try to rectify that over the next 12 months.

Anyway, back to now, and The Boo Radleys. One of those bands I feel like I should know more about, and listen to more. Every time I hear them (including the stuff from that brief 'breakthrough' period with all the pop songs) I like it, and this single is right on the money for my favourite bits of theirs.

There's an ace tune, and great riff, and also a load of distorted noise over the otherwise quiet verse. You can't really argue with any of that. And it's only 1:39 long! That's an excellent length for a single. The b-sides are all good, too, particularly three and four.

The only time I ever saw them live was at a Glastonbury in 1994 (give or take a year). They played second from the end on the NME stage, and trashed all their equipment at the end of the set. And then came on and played an encore! Maybe that's why I like them.

1. Lazy Day
2. Vegas
3. Feels Like Tomorrow
4. Whiplashed

Here.