SHRAG’S FAREWELL GIG at THE LEXINGTON, LONDON

When was the last time you were upset a band spilt? It’s not something that happens often but then bands don’t announce they’re splitting these days, they just fade into inactivity. Shrag spilt on Friday 15^th March 2013 after playing their pre-announced farewell gig at the Lexington. I’m a bit upset about this. Not because we have a long history, more that we don’t. We only met in October but I soon became mildly obsessed: buying all three albums and seeing them live the same amount of times.

Their third album, Canines, was one of last year’s very best. I’ve not gone more than a few days without playing it – in its entirety – and it gets better every time. It’s not easy to pigeon hole and it’s not especially immediate but it gets under the skin. This, for an album with so many anatomical references, is pretty apt. I’m pleased I heard their albums in reverse order as, unusually, they improved with each one, each a progression on the last. The first Shrag, a hit-and-miss collection of singles and B-sides isn't entirely serious and not dissimilar in places to a bit of a rubbishy version of Art Brut; the second Life! Death! Prizes! is excellent, no longer played for laughs and full of incessant sharp punk-pop hooks; and finally Canines which is almost unique in how it is more rounded, mature, accomplished, polished, intelligent – words which usually indicate a band has lost everything that made them enjoyable in the first place – yet an album which if they’d carried on for another ten years wouldn’t have improved upon. 

They played nearly all of Canines during the gig including a couple with a string section. Well, a violin and cello, plus a few from the others including what they refer to as their hit, “Mark E. Smith”. They wondered who’d be the first to cry. My money was on singer Helen, but then she looks like she’s about the cry most of the time. I’m told to “Cheer up mate, it might never happen” by people in the street with annoying frequency. I’m not a miserable git but my face’s default position must imply otherwise. Poor Helen must get abuse every time she steps out her front door, possessing - even when smiling - the mardiest, turn-the-milk-sour face in (un)popular music. She also can’t really sing but she marched on the spot, tugged her dress like a petulant child, stamped her foot, shouted, screeched, talk-sung and tried to get the audience to remove their clothes. She’s bloody brilliant. When Bob and Steph join in on songs with a circular rhythm like “Tears of a Landlord” they’re like an unruly classroom singing “Frère Jacques” in rounds.    

Quite why they’re amicably disbanding after ten years is a question for them but not everyone can summon the enthusiasm to be in a band for so long only to play gigs to a handful of people each time (this gig was sold out). Not a concern for fellow Brightonians Comet Gain who’ve stayed under the musical radar for much their 20 year existence. As special guests on the night they asked how long Shrag had been together. “Ten years? Pah! Bunch of kids,” said David Feck before adding they wouldn’t split until outlasting The Fall. When Shrag left the stage a message from Mark Riley was broadcast. “Stop pissing about with all this splitting up nonsense. We all know you’re too good to spilt up”. They came back and did - as they had to do - the ludicrously infectious “Rabbit Kids”, a song that has kept me awake at night more than once as a particularly stubborn earworm. Emotions were running high as the realisation this was finally the end sunk in. It took three attempts to get it right before all ending in a heap on the stage bashing out notes with none of them wanting to quit.

But quit they have. They’ve done their bit. So, for now, that’s it. One day folk might cotton on to what they’ve missed - I almost missed them - and they’ll be a (more popular) cult band. When I get to curate the Meltdown Festival I’m gonna put Shrag on at the Royal Festival Hall and they’ll return, triumphant. See you there. 

MARCH PLAYLIST

Ten tracks currently on rotation in Monkey Mansions.

1.  Leadbelly – “The Bourgeois Blues” (1938)

Washington DC was the bourgeois town in question when Leadbelly, Alan Lomax and their respective wives tried checking into hotels as an multi-racial group. “Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs/ We heard the white man sayin’ I don't want no niggers up there”.

2.  Jimmy Jones – “A Wondrous Place” (1960)

My Saturday morning routine involves tuning into old Brian Matthew on Radio 2 for his Sounds of The 60s show. What makes it essential is the way he mixes the familiar with things I’ve never heard before like this, which Billy Fury quickly covered (without Jones's warm, rich vocal).

3.  Graham Bond Organization – “So-Ho” (1964)

Neglected by the reissue market to the point where I’ve never even seen a Best of Graham Bond CD, the recent Wade In The Water: Classics, Origins & Oddities 4-CD set puts that right with aplomb. This swinging jazz instrumental was originally released on an EP by Ernest Ranglin and the GBs and features Ranglin on guitar, Bond on organ, Jack Bruce on bass, Ginger Baker on drums and is one of 96 fantastic (many previously unreleased) tracks in the box.

4.  Johnny Mae Mathews (Johnnie Mae Matthews)  – “I Have No Choice” (1969)

One of those records that stops you in your tracks. Released on Big Hit, it was no such thing, but it is one of the classiest soul records to ever come out of Detroit, where Matthews was the first African-American woman to own a record label and a big influence on an enterprising young Berry Gordy Jr.

5.  Ramones – “Oh Oh I Love Her So” (1978)

I saw a photograph the other day of one of the punchable scrots from One Direction wearing a box-fresh Ramones t-shirt. I’d love to ask him what his favourite track from Leave Home is.

6.  23 Skidoo – “Vegas El Bandito” (1982)

Like a malfunctioning fruit machine attempting to break dance down the Strip only to be confronted by an elephant on the loose.        

7.  Primal Scream – “So Sad About Us” (1987)

Unlike all the other versions - The Who, The Merseys, The Jam etc - Primal Scream actually sound sad about their breakup. Brilliant stuff Bobby, brilliant.       

8.  The Lemonheads – “Pin Your Heart To Me” (1996)

It sneaked out to little fanfare in 2011 but the 47-track Laughing All The Way To The Cleaners/The Best Of shows how many great songs they’ve done including Dando’s masterly covers like this, tucked away on the B-side of “The Outdoor Type” and originally released by Jacobites in 1985.

9.  Comet Gain – “The Kids In The Club” (2008)

The best Comet Gain songs are their garage drunk northern soul ones that sound like they were recorded on a cheap cassette player. 

10.  The Primitives – “Lose The Reason” (2013)

Our friends Tracy Tracy and Paul Court duet on a swirling self-penned new single which teases at the promise of a new album.

BLUE ORCHIDS at THE SOCIAL

This is Martin Bramah of the Blue Orchids falling to his knees at the Heavenly Social. I’ll be honest with you, I’d never paid much attention to them until Idle Fret booked them but I always study their bills with interest so looked them up and wonder now how they'd eluded me.

As a founder member of The Fall Bramah quit after their 1979 debut Live At The Witch Trials and took keyboardist Una Baines with him to form the Blue Orchids. They cut some singles for Rough Trade and later released The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) in 1982 and Bramah has intermittently used the name since.  

I’m no expert on The Fall (owning only three of their 237 albums) but doubtless aficionados debate who originated The Fall/Blue Orchids sound. To the untrained ear they are, at very least, separated at birth with their off-kilter organ, simple guitar lines and vocal delivery. If you like one you’ll like the other. Also the penny dropped about the Comet Gain song “Yoona Baines” and how much their Howl Of The Lonely Crowd (2011) owes to the Orchids.

On Tuesday they put on an engaging set centred on those early tracks ("The Flood", "Work", "Bad Education", "Hanging Man" etc). It was apparent how no band could contain both Martin Bramah and Mark E. Smith. The longer they played, the more animated and chaotic Bramah became; at one point he tried to sing into his microphone stand even though the mic was in his other hand and there was plenty of half-cut stumbling and fumbling around and banter with the crowd. “I’m from up north,” he said, and as if to accentuate his northerness, kept removing and putting on again a terrible flat cap with annoying frequency.  “Manchester isn’t up north,” he continued, “it’s in the Midlands, but don’t tell them I said that,” touching his nose.

I’ve previously discussed the merits - or otherwise - of bands reforming but this one joined up some musical dots and rather than playing only to original fans the Blue Orchids cultivated new ones, of which I’m the latest.

OCTOBER PICKS

This month's turntable favourites.

1. Elvis Presley – “Little Sister” (1961)
Seeing how I pottered about his gaff this month (very nice it was too) it’s only fair to let the old hound dog have his day.

2. Lonnie Hewitt – “You Gotta Git” (1966)
This stick of dancefloor dynamite comes at ya like a super-charged Ramsey Lewis/Ray Charles love-in.

3. Leon Austin – “Turn Me Loose” (1969)
A James Brown production, and apart from the wonky horns, played with a straighter soul bat than JB usually used himself.

4. Neil MacArthur – “World Of Glass” (1969)
Better known as Colin Blunstone from the Zombies, this is equal, or even greater than, anything from Odessey and Oracle; it’s that special.

5. Muddy Waters – “Crosseyed Cat” (1977)
From the album Hard Again where Muddy’s mojo was most certainly rising.

6. Pulp – “Something Changed” (1994)
You had to be there. Maybe you were.

7. Thurston Moore – “Benediction” (2011)
If this opening track from Demolished Thoughts was a season, it would be autumn; in the same way all Nick Drake’s records are autumn.

8. The Silver Factory – “The Sun Shines Over You” (2011)
I’ve championed these jangle merchants for a while so I’m delighted Elefant Records have finally released it on an excellent new limited edition EP. Snap one up quick before they go.

9. Comet Gain – “An Arcade From The Warm Rain That Falls” (2011)
The best titled single of the year, and the song isn’t too shabby either.

10. The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy” (2011)
Oh yeah! Go listen to this and watch the video. I taught him all his moves you know.

COMET GAIN at the SILVER BULLET, FINSBURY PARK

I bought a Comet Gain record in 1996, “Say Yes! (To International Socialism)”, and then not another until this year’s Howl of The Lonely Crowd, which gets a lot of action in Monkey Mansions. Any band who name a song the same as I named my goldfish - Herbert Huncke - is all right with me. I’ve no idea why I lost fifteen years but I'm gonna enjoy catching up. They were good last night; hanging a poetic lyric on a resolutely ramshackle and wonky beat. You'll find more polish in QPR's trophy cabinet - which is how it should be. They were thoroughly nice folk too, giving me their fab new single ("An Arcade From The Warm Rain That Falls") and chatting about The Left Banke.

I was on record duty, and as it was a gig rather than club meant my role was that of human jukebox, albeit a slightly self-indulgent one. These got pulled from the box:

The Impressions – Meeting Over Yonder (1965)
Arthur – Garnish Fantasy (1993)
High Priests – Baby Diamond Mind (2007)
The Choir – It’s Cold Outside (1967)
The Ronettes – Do I Love You? (1964)
Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country (2006)
The Lemonheads – Galveston (1997)
The Silver Factory – The Sun Shines Over You (2011)
The Left Banke – I Haven’t Got The Nerve (1966)
The Lovely Eggs – Watermelons (2011)
Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene (1988)
The Who – Doctor, Doctor (1967)
The Action – Twentyfourth Hour (1967)
Johnny Cash – The Lady Came From Baltimore (1974)
Hank Williams – I Can’t Get You Off My Mind (1951)
Love – Alone Again Or (1967)
Slim Harpo – I Need Money (1964)
Ko Ko Taylor – Wang Dang Doodle (1966)
Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street (1965)
Pete Molinari – It Came Out Of The Wilderness (2008)
Maurice and the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (1966)
Mark Markham and the Jesters – Marlboro Country (1966)
Mouse and the Traps – Cryin’ Inside (1968)
The Horrors – Count In Fives (2006)
Betty Lavett – Witchcraft In The Air (1963)

IDLE FRET OXJAM BENEFIT, LONDON, THURSDAY 20th OCTOBER 2011

If you're free in London Town this coming Thursday you could do a lot worse than get along to the Silver Bullet opposite Finsbury Park tube for an Oxjam benefit show put on by Idle Fret Records. Certainly looks an interesting mix of bands and DJs (Comet Gain, Pete Wiggs etc). I'll be playing a few records early doors and seeing as how I'm listed with reference to Monkey Picks it'll be a ragbag mixture of 45s that kinda encompass what you get on here. They may regret uttering the words "play whatever you like". Should be good fun and certainly good value for a fiver or so.

JUNE PLAYLIST

1. Johnny Burnette Trio – “The Train Kept A-Rollin’” (1956)
The Yardbirds famously tore this up but check this raw and raucous rockabilly version.

2. Jessie Hill – “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” (1960)
Jessie created a disturbance in the mind of the whole of New Orleans and beyond with his nutty call and response smash.

3. The Small Faces – “The Autumn Stone” (1968)
Sheer perfection.

4. George Jones – “Heartaches and Hangovers” (1968)
Thought this was Merle Haggard but like Merle boozy four-time-married George knows a thing or two about heartaches and hangovers.

5. The Byrds – “Your Gentle Way Of Loving Me” (1969)
Pulled from the back of the shelf, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde isn't quite the unmitigated disaster I remembered it as.

6. Ella Fitzgerald – “Yellow Man” (1969)
In no way is this a recommendation but the racist scat singing needs to be heard to be believed.

7. Elastica – “Smile” (1995)
I hadn’t listened to Elastica’s album until the other week. Should’ve paid more attention.

8. Lampchop – “Nashville Parent” (2000)
It doesn't work so well the rest of the week but on sore head Sundays Lambchop’s Nixon does the trick.

9. Art Brut – “Sealands” (2011)
In which Art Brut successfully navigate away from their usual stormy sea into fresh calmer water.

10. Comet Gain – “Herbert Huncke, Part 2” (2011)
Naming your song after a Beat Generation icon almost guarantees a Monkey Picks mention, especially when put to a chugging Velvet Underground rhythm.