50 Twelve Inches – #43

15 Years – The Levellers (1992, China Records)

I don’t know, you wait 42 weeks for a twelve inch record owned by the wife to be picked by the finger of fate and then two come along all at once.  If the finger of fate stops on her copy of ‘Roobarb & Custard’ by Shaft next week then please feel free to call foul because I fear that mind control techniques might have infiltrated both the shouted stop command and the finger of fate.  Anyway, lets talk about The sodding Levellers again. Who by the way just happen to be the favourite band of one of my daughters best friends, largely because her parents took her to the Beautiful Daze festival a couple of years back.  The last time this friend came to our house, I took them some snacks and was greeted by the jaunty folky indie of ‘Far From Home’ as I delivered the Jaffa Cakes.   So my daughter sort of likes The Levellers, which is probably better than her liking Lewis Capaldi I suppose.

Far From Home – The Levellers (1991, China Records)

As it happens, this twelve inch of ’15 Years’ is a quite a wonderful thing, is a big old bulky thing, gatefold sleeve, that opens out into a lovely inlay and a thick slab of vinyl, something that back in the day felt quite special, whether the quality of music was any better on a heavier vinyl I’m never sure, it doesn’t matter really.

As I said in early April, back along The Levellers were all the rage.  This particularly indie kid and some of his friends had all put down their Ride tshirts and their converse trainers and swapped them for old army jackets, Doc Martens boots, tie dyed tshirts and had then sprayed themselves with a scent that seemed to pong of a strange blend of patchouli and hemp.

Some of course went even further and got themselves a dog, which they dragged around town on a string – actually on that – back in the day, if you were unemployed and on benefits, if you got yourself a dog you could claim money off the government every week so that you could ‘feed your dog’.   A friend of mine, went the whole hog and started living in a converted British Telecom van, and hanging out with Spiral Tribe and listening to Eat Static and taking far too much acid.  He’ll probably tell you it was the best eighteen months of his life, but he’d be lying.

Whether this was entirely the Levellers fault is of course debatable, but between 1991 and 1994, they were one a few bands that helped spearhead a period of time when music, protest and rebellion for once sat comfortably with each other.   Hundreds of thousands of people would attend Rock Against Racism marches, which usually ended in some big park in London where The Levellers would headline a festival (usually preceded by Sir Billy of Bragg, Chumbawamba and Radical Dance Faction). 

The Levellers, probably weren’t solely responsible, but back in the dark days of the early nineties, where the Tories had a massive majority and the spectre of the Far Right loomed (buoyed by the success of the BNP in some poorly attended local elections in East London) amidst a rise in racist murders in the capital and the emergence of draconian laws like the Criminal Justice Bill, they gave thousands of disillusioned people a voice.  They (and others) made rebellion seem worthwhile and helped bring about change (sort of).

I look back on those days, and then I look to the current state of affairs, with increasingly disillusioned youths, rising financial concerns, and once again the spectre of the Far Right lurking in the background, this time thinly disguised as mainstream figures of people like Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson, who know that they can’t solely peddle the same racist agendas as their predecessors so badge it up as a concern around migration and immigration.  I see that and I see them.   I can’t help but wonder if maybe we need someone to do what the Levellers did thirty years and start the fight back.

’15 Years’ is great, not the best Levellers songs you will ever hear, but still decent enough.  The twelve inch came backed with three other tracks, all of which were made digitally available on the repackaged ‘Levelling the Land’ album several years ago.

Dance Before the Storm – The Levellers (1992, China Records) – In which The Levellers go a little back acid house before remembering that they are crusties.

The Riverflow (Live) – The Levellers (1992, China Records) – The original version featured on the ‘Levelling the Land’ album and was shelved as a single in place of ’15 Years’.

Plastic Jeezus – The Levellers (1992, China Records) – which on reflection should have probably never have left the recording studio.

Here is the no more than five word review

“M2 really like The Levellers”.  M2 isn’t her real name, her parents didn’t name their daughter after the motorway that runs to Medway.  Even if she was conceived on it during a particularly long and boring traffic jam – I made that up, that almost certainly didn’t happen.

Here is the eleven year old recommendation of the week, which appears to actually be quite good.

Take Me to the River – Lorde (2024, A24 Music, taken from ‘Stop Making Sense’ a new talking Heads tribute album that has come out I’ve added some actual Talking Heads to the daughters playlist just in case she decides that post punk is where it is at from now on)

In comparison, here is something that I have been listening to on repeat this week.

Honey – Caribou (2024, City Slang Records)

A Month of Nearly Nearly Perfect Albums (#19 and #20)

Today Ying meets Yang, probably in the Shangri La area of Glastonbury at 3am.

19. Levelling the Land – The Levellers (1991, China Records)

In the early nineties I loved The Levellers and ‘Levelling The Land’ was when I was 19, an album I considered to be amongst the greatest things ever written, lyrically, musically, everything.  For example…

When I was at college in the early nineties studying for my A Level English, one of the key texts I had to read and write essays about was a collection of poems about the First World War.  Our lecturer, a staunchly feminist shaven head colossus of a women called Jo, would stand there and read us poems by Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, that made us sit glumly in the classroom and consider how lucky we all were.  Occasionally, just to cheer the class up she would throw in some patriotic verses from Rupert Brooke about how great England’s green fields were.

Anyway, part of that section of the A Level was designed to test our rationale for debate and objective writing, so Jo set us an essay, the title of which is not important, but it was all about war, and whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing.  The general debate was war was bad because of all the killing but it was a rational thing because it stopped the Nazis.  That sort of thing.

Anyway, I wrote an impassioned tale about a lad from Gillingham – who I sort of knew, but not as well as some of my other friends, who had his legs blown off in Gulf War One, and raged against the injustice of it all, and then I ended it, and I shrink slightly in my chair as I recall it, by quoting the lyrics of ‘Another Man’s Cause’ by The Levellers

“Gunshots shatter in the peace of night.  Just another fire fight.  For the people of this little town.  But for the dying soldier…”

Another Man’s Cause – The Levellers (1991, China Records)

Which I thought would make me contemporary and cool and almost certainly guarantee me an A in future exams.  Jo would march down to the examination offices kick the door in, slap my Levellers quoting essay on the chief examiners desk and shout

“LOOK AT THIS! – Don’t make him sit an exam, give him an A NOW!”.

I was wrong.  What Jo actually put was this (and I’m quoting directly – as I’ve still got the essay in a folder in the loft)

“I was going to give this essay 20 marks, until I read that you had quoted the sodding Levellers at the end.  Did my emotional readings of ‘Dolce et Decorum est’ pass you by?   By quoting some folky nonsense belittles your argument – which was until the end, thoughtful sensitive and brilliantly written – and somewhat clumsily tramples on the work of Owen and others.”

I got 18 (out of 25).  So accordingly, I’ve knocked two marks off an album that thirty years ago, I would have given a fat ten out of ten.  Here’s a couple of tracks from it one about police brutality and one about life on the road, but do yourselves a favour and give the whole thing a spin, it’s a great album.

Battle of the Beanfield – The Levellers (1991, China Records)

Far From Home – The Levellers (1991, China Records)

Ok, let’s see what finishes the week. 

20.  Cheap Queen – King Princess (2019, Columbia Records)

Some of you may not have heard of King Princess so here’s the very brief backstory.  She’s gay, produces all her own music, she is mates with Mark Ronson and Harry Styles and ‘Cheap Queen’ is her debut album.  None of that really matters though, what matters is the songs.

The songs are something else, it is essentially an album about being young and in love, most of you all can probably remember what that feels like, one minute it feels brilliant, the next it feels confusing and then it feels uncomfortable because that person is literally all you can think about and your parents are asking you about pensions or house insurance.  It’s not just about love though its also an album about infatuation, heartbreak, identity and image that at times feels confessional and vulnerable but never stops being a brilliant listen.

Do You Wanna See Me Crying – King Princess (2019, Columbia Records)

The album switches seamlessly across various genres, from pure pop to experimental stripped back lofi indie via stoner synth pop and the occasional haunting ballad.  The music is consistently fresh, the lyrics exceptional, and the sentiments always feel natural. 

Here is the stoner synth pop, which actually turns more into a kind of dreampop tune towards the end.

Homegirl – King Princess (2019, Columbia Records)

There are several real highlights on this record, the ballad ‘Isabel’s Moment’ is perhaps the best track on the album.  A song which looks at heartbreak or those moments that throw you when a relationship you are in ends suddenly.  Sometimes its not the ending of the relationship that floors you, it’s the mundane things like finding your ex’s jumper in your laundry basket that makes you weep uncontrollably on the bathroom floor – or as King Princess puts it rather better than I do,

“Your clothes in my drawer, It’s like you’re haunting my home”

Isabel’s Moment – King Princess (2019, Columbia Records)

Another highlight is the euphoric electronica of ‘Hit The Back’ a song basically about cruising in clubs looking for sex. 

Hit The Back – King Princess (2019, Columbia Records)

Now.  ‘Cheap Queen’ isn’t aimed at me, and therefore probably isn’t aimed at you either (unless you are reading and are under 30, in which case well done but you are probably lost wandering down some Internet rabbit hole) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to ‘Cheap Queen’ and that you shouldn’t revel in its brilliance because despite its targeted audience, it is above everything simply a terrific album.

Ok, here is a lyrical clue from what is coming on Monday

“Last night I had a dream about everybody here”

Two

It was a drunken night out in Exeter City in the middle of October 2021 that made me want to start blogging again.  I had with three mates been to see Red Rum Club at the Cavern Club in Exeter.  They were the first band I had seen live in eighteen months, due to lockdown restrictions and they were pretty amazing.  You see in that eighteen months, I’d sort of forgotten what going to gigs was like and when I got home all I wanted to do was write down about how good ‘Calexico’ was and how you should stop what you are doing and listen to Red Rum Club.

Calexico – Red Rum Club (2019, Modern Sky Records, Taken from ‘Matador’)

It took me a month, and an underwhelming Damon Albarn gig in a freezing cold church in Totnes to finally put pen to paper and there at nearly midnight on a Tuesday evening in November, No Badger Required was created.

Polaris – Damon Albarn (2021, Transgressive Records, Taken from ‘The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream’)

Today marks the second birthday of this blog.  To be honest its lasted nearly eighteen months longer than I expected it to, because you see I thought I’d told all the stories that I could tell and I thought I’d written about my favourite albums enough and I thought I’d explored every feasible topic about music that could be explored – on that how does 20 Songs with ‘friend’ in the title sound, interspersed with stories about stupid things some of my friends have done…

All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem (2007, DFA Records, Taken from ‘Sound of Silver’)

Apparently, I was wrong though, because here we are.  Two years is young for a blog especially when there are others that have been going ten, eleven, fifteen years, blogs that continue to inspire, entertain and occasionally enrage me just as much as they every did.  If you are one of them, you are brilliant and I salute you. Please keep going.  

I’d also like to salute those of you who read this blog.  I don’t expect you to read it everyday but if you do – thank you.  If you read it once a month, thank you.  If today is your first time, thank you, as well, you have a lot of catching up to do.  If you are a member of the Musical Jury, then thank you especially.  It is my aim in life to hunt you all down and get you all roundly drunk (muggings, cancelled weddings, deaths, and 11^th birthday breakfasts notwithstanding) or if you don’t drink, take you out for trifle or something.

So, here’s to next year then….

On that, in January we have a choice to make. 

I have a BIG countdown in mind.  One that will last most of the year, one that will be great and contain loads of excellent music but I kind of love the uncertainty of the monthly themes, the chaotic randomness of it.  I also love using the Musical Jury so if no one minds, I’ll just carry on shall I with a different theme every month, I mean we’ve still got to do Rocks Greatest L after all.

15 Years – The Levellers (1993, China Records)

I’m also open to suggestions for themes, just in case anyone has any good ideas….

Oh and I might do another short story thing, you see I know this bloke called Wayne and he is being framed for a crime he almost certainly didn’t do….

Innocent (taylors version) – Taylor Swift (2023, Taken from ‘Speak Now (Taylors Version)’)

A Month all about Names – #16 – Julie

Julie – The Levellers (1993, China Records, Taken from ‘Levellers’)

There is a very old Alexi Sayle joke about Stoke Newington.  It goes something like this (although he will tell it better than I ever will, because he is funny and I am not), Alexi is on tour and he finds himself playing a small comedy club in Stoke Newington (which is in London for those of you who live in Boondocks).  He arrives a few hours before the gig and decides to take a walk around the area and take in some of its sights, this he says takes three minutes.  He finds a small tourist kiosk but it is shut but it does has a small glossily printed brochure entitled” What’s On in Stoke Newington” in a box on the windowsill.  Alexi pockets a brochure and decides to go and grab a drink and read the brochure – he then talks about needing a shit anyway.  He gets to the pub orders a Guinness and open the brochure at page one and tell us that all it says on every page of “What’s On In Stoke Newington” is the words “Fuck All”.

Like I said, an old joke, but when Alexi does it in his broad scouse manner it is brilliant.  In 1994 I found myself in Stoke Newington for the day, it was the one day in the year where there was something more than fuck all going on.  It was the day of the Stoke Newington Free Festival and a bunch of bands were playing (Shelter the homeless charity had persuaded a bunch of bands to turn up) and I was going to review for a small record shop sponsored fanzine that I was writing for at the time. 

The line up was quite eclectic, a mixture of small indie bands, new or emerging singers, some dub and reggae acts and a band labelled as ‘Secret Guests’.  The writing for the words “Secret Guests” was exactly the same font and style as the writing on the most recent Levellers album ‘Levellers’.  So it wasn’t that much of a secret and as such the Stoke Newington Free Festival was over run with Crusties and their dogs on strings.   At the time The Levellers were huge and could very easily sell out Brixton Academy and charge fifteen quid for a ticket so them playing a free festival was quite cool

The Levellers came on around three pm about midway on the line up (perennial festival favourites Chumbawamba were headlining by the way with Banco Da Gaia and Zion Train also on the bill) – oh go on then –

Last Train to Lhasa – Banco Da Gaia (1995, Mammoth Records, Taken from ‘Last Train to Lhasa’)

The Levellers were great but for some reason only known to them, at the end of their set they decided to totally kill the vibe.  There we all were expecting a rousing version of ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ or a venom filled version of ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’ but no.  The entire band with the exception of singer Mark Chadwick left the stage and Mark stood there with just his guitar and played the song ‘Julie’ which I think they had just released as a single.  Its not your typical Levellers track, it’s slow and it’s a sort of lopsided love song and it ends with a substantial bagpipe solo and as Mark finished wailing about Julie’s troubles, a man with a set of bagpipes wanders on to do the solo bit, Mark leaves the stage and that it is appears was that.  

It was very underwhelming and it reminded me instantly for some reason of Alexi’s joke.

There are three other ‘Julie’ tracks in music library and we start with another track from rocks greatest Stephen (do keep up we had this debate when we discussed Jack).

Juliefuckingette – Stephen Malkmus (2020, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Traditional Techniques’)

Next up a track I only own because it featured on a free CD that I found in a charity shop in St Neots about a year ago, although it is pretty good as it happens.

Julie – Francois and the Atlas Mountains (2021, Domino Records, Taken from ‘Banane Bleue’)

Finally some good old fashioned indie rock.

Julie’s Place – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (2017, Sub Pop Records, Taken from ‘The French Press’)

Tomorrow – Bobby who is in a busted flat in Baton Rouge waiting for a train

A Month all about Names – #12 – David/Dave/Davey

David Byrne’s Bad Side – Courting (2020, Nice Swan Records, Single)

I’ve never met David Byrne so I cannot possibly say why you wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.  Maybe he dishes out really bad Chinese Burns or something.   However, I was, as older readers will know, once punched (or rather slapped) by the old singer of Mercury Rev because someone (definitely not me) called him a fat bastard outside Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone.  He is not the only famous person that I have managed to get on the wrong side of….In chronological order.

In 1985, when aged ten, a football that I kicked, hit the TVS ‘Coast to Coast’ weatherman, Ron Lowbeck on the back of the head, whilst he was doing a ‘schools thing’ at my primary school.  It was a good shot considering I was aiming for fat Mark from 4W class.   I said sorry and Ron Lowbeck gave me a signed photograph of himself to show that there was no hard feelings.  My friend Daniel drew a moustache on that photo in class about twenty minutes later, a moustache that was in addition to the cock that had been added by class idiot Karl.

In 1988, aged thirteen, whilst on holiday in Camber Sands my brother and I both told ‘chirpy Scouse TV funnyman’, Aiden J Harvey that his impressions were rubbish.   My brother actually said it to his face, and I laughed so hard that I had to be slapped on the back by some lad called Matthew that we had befriended about twenty minutes earlier, because I was coughing so much afterwards.  We then went off and watched ‘The Cat From Out of Space’ in the Pontins Club Kids Room.

In 1991, aged fifteen I was nutmegged by a Gillingham footballer (who shall remain nameless because he is very famous now) during a school photoshoot that he was doing as part of the clubs commitment to the local community and people laughed at me.  During the five minute match we had, I managed to kick him twice on the back of the ankle and as we walked off the pitch at the end, he called me the C Word, which on reflection, I probably deserved.

In 1992, aged sixteen, was the Mercury Rev slap thing, although that wasn’t my fault.

In 1992, at the Reading Festival I’m fairly sure I trod on the foot of one of the Milltown Brothers during a Revolver gig.  I might be wrong about that one.

In 1995, in their dressing room downstairs at the London Astoria I accused the singer of excellent indie band Puressence of stealing my wallet, only to find it a minute or so later in my coat pocket.

Finally, for now at least, in 1996 in the Lower Bar of the Students Union at Surrey University, a very drunk me knocked over a pile of CDs stacked by Steve Lamacq, as he DJ’ed to the indie cognoscenti of Guildford.  Two minutes later he said over the mike

“If you are drunk and an idiot, please stay out of the DJ Booth, but yes I will play China Drum but only because they are brilliant.  Unlike you.” 

Quite a few David, Dave and Davey tracks in the music library, here are a bunch of them

David – Courtenay Barnett (2013, Mom + Pop Records, Taken from ‘A Sea of Split Peas’

David Comes to Life – Fucked Up (2010, Matador Records, Taken from ‘Couple Tracks’)

King Dave – Anderson.Paak (2018, Lavaflow Records, Taken from ‘Unreleased’)

Dirty Davey – The Levellers (1993, China Records, Taken from ‘Levellers’)

Tomorrow – Jack who may or may not be naming the planets after you,

Counting Up From Two – #2 – Three

Three Friends – The Levellers (1990, China Records, Taken from ‘A Weapon Called the Word’)

My dad told me a few years ago that I had my first birthday party aged three.  I was so excited about having all my playgroup friends around that in the space of seven minutes I wet myself and was sick all over my new jumper.  My new jumper was blue and was hand knitted by my nan and it had two feet in pink on the front, so it looked like someone had walked over my jumper and then puked on their own feet.

I don’t remember this party.  According to my dad I had three friends over, two boys and a girl and we played with my new train set until I was sick and then the parents scooped up their little ones and went home.  Six months later, aged three and a half I tripped over that train set in a rush to get a Matchbox mini car out from under the cupboard and fractured my fibia as I landed in heap on the cold linoleum floor. 

Three Decades – The Horrors (2008, XL Records, Taken from ‘Primary Colours’)

I was woken up at two thirty AM on my thirtieth birthday by some people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ really loudly.  Sadly I didn’t know any of them, and they were not singing it to me as they were singing it in Flemish.  This was because I was in Brussels and the hotel we were staying overlooked a square which for some reason had about 30 drunk people dancing around a fountain singing well wishes to an unknown person.  My wife turned in bed over looked at the clock, realised that I had just turned thirty and sleepily said “What they said” and fell back to asleep.  I eventually fell back to sleep again and then woke up and promptly went (temporarily) deaf in my right ear.  Old age had apparently arrived.    

For a slap up birthday meal we had a takeaway pizza from ‘Toni’s Pizzeria ‘and cherry beer purchased from tiny off licence in an area of Brussels called Louise.  The pizza remains to this day one of the greatest takeaways pizzas I have ever had.   The following day we were stopped from going within one hundred feet of some government building that we wanted to look around because Tony Blair was visiting so we sat in a coffee shop on Luxembourg Square and ate cake instead.

#3 – Aphex Twin (1994, Warp Records, Taken from ‘Selected Ambient Works Vol 2’)

My daughters third birthday was spoilt by a giant spider.  It wasn’t real but it was a massive plastic one hung from the ceiling of the tiny café that is tacked ono the tram station at Colyton, East Devon.  It was part of their decorations for their forthcoming ‘Ghostly Tram Ride’ that tram company were running in about two weeks (my daughters birthday being in Mid October).  She took one bite of her ‘Special Birthday Sandwich’ looked up saw the giant spider, and as she was already shaky from the skull with its eyes hanging out (they were painted marbles on a pipe cleaner) refused to sit in the café for another second.  The crappy plastic gravestones didn’t help either nor the fact they were playing the sodding Monster Mash on repeat.

We’d been having fun up to that point.  My daughter whooping and cheering as the tram hurtled through the East Devon countryside at 10mph “Its really fast now, Daddy” she would yell every two minutes or so.  Despite the fact that I could at times literally have ran faster, whilst carrying my daughter on my back. 

Next Week – The Number Four.

…..ing Bands #3 – The Senseless Things

Homophobic Asshole – The Senseless Things (1992, Epic Records)

This is a story about a guy called Dan.  I met Dan whilst I was at college, he was in my A Level English class.  He was the most popular guy in the class.  Largely because he was pretty cool, really funny and just had this knack of being about to talk to anyone about anything, every time I saw Dan outside of college he would have a different girl on his arm, so he had the looks to match the personality. 

I used to socialise in the same pubs at Dan, a really old run down pub in the centre of Maidstone, it was frequented by the towns alternative crowd, had a landlord that turned a blind eye to people buying alcohol at 17 and had a free juke box that was filled with decent music.  Including as it happens the first album by Adam and the Ants

Catholic Day – Adam and the Ants (1979, Do It Records)

It was for a about a year, the greatest pub on the planet – before we discovered that there were better pubs within walking distance that would serve us as well.

One evening, a bunch of us were sitting at a table in the pub, there were four or five of us, including Dan who had ambled over to say hello.  We were talking about an upcoming Levellers gig and we’d all arranged to meet up in the pub before the gig.  It was a nice evening.

Belaruse – The Levellers (1993, China Records)

Which is when Mandy walked in.  Mandy was my friend’s sister and there’s loads of things you need to know about Mandy, including that she cooks a great breakfast, once got thrown off the Kilroy show for dropping the C Bomb live on TV and she worked behind the bar in another pub and was very liberal with her measures. But for the sake of this story, all you really need to know was that she used to be called Lee.

Mandy came over and sat with us – because, well she’s our mate – and the conversation continued.  Mandy was sat down next to Dan, and she introduced herself and Dan uttered these words

 “Don’t t speak to me you freak”

Which is when Mandy punched him square on in the face.  Oh yeah there was another thing you needed to know about Mandy, when she was Lee, she worked on a building site heaving bricks all the over place.  She may look dainty and slight in a gold lame dress and matching size 11 shoes, but she packed a punch.  Just ask Kilroy. 

The punch sent Dan flying off his chair and on to the cold floor of the bar, which is where he remained for a good ten minutes.   Mandy meanwhile just idly continued the conversation.  In that short fifteen minute period my entire shallow perception of what constitutes being cool changed for ever, because Mandy, decking a homophobe and then casually turning round, as if she did this sort of thing every day (she probably did) and saying

 “I saw Stu from the bakers yesterday….” Like it was the most natural and obvious thing to say to a room of open mouthed half drunk teenagers, made her the coolest person on the planet right then.