FOTS-POD#23 - “I Just Called To Say I Robson’d You”

Episode 23 of the Friends of the Stars podcasts breaks new technological ground, being the first recorded entirely over Skype.

Campbell, Craig & Executive Producer Robson discuss a variety of topics, including Campbell’s brief stint as the Milk Tray Man and his dalliance with a make-up artist called Kindly. The boys then push the boundaries of Voice Over IP technology by trying (and failing) to make beer appear over the internet. There is also a lot of bickering and swearing.

Listen:

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TRACKLISTING:

Blindness - The Fall
Ridin’ In my Car - She & Him
Night of the Long Knives - AC/DC
That Makes It Tough - Buddy Holly
I Can’t Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles
Every Day As We Grow Closer - Alex Chilton
Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman
Tennessee Blues - Bobby Charles

DOWNLOAD FOTS-POD#23

LINER NOTES:

Blindness - The Fall
Especially for anyone who doesn’t believe the recent chat that Mark E Smith is putting out great, career-high stuff at the moment. I must admit I was one. A few too many late 90s, early naughties dawgs put me off the scent. But I’m like a Bisto kid again with The Fall. MIGHTY

Ridin’ In my Car - She & Him
Don’t tell the Missus but I reckon I may have fallen in love with Zooey Deschanel. This from her and M Ward’s terrific second LP. Her singing really reminds of someone - suggestions on a postcard because I can’t for the life of me place it. What I do know is she is legit. I love her style - not brassy or sassy but just confident and classy.

Night of the Long Knives - AC/DC
They’ve never done a Best Of - criminal really because lots of sniffy people who dismiss AC/DC as metallers would probably then realise that they are one of the greatest rock n roll bands, of all time, no comebacks, period. Question is, would this awesome tune even get on it?

That Makes It Tough - Buddy Holly
Just got the Complete Buddy Holly studio recording box set. Buddy Holly is awesome. AWESOME. Again, purists get sniffy about some of the overdubbing that went on with his demos after he died. Like this one. BUT, excuse me but this sounds like Highway 61 Revisited. Also shows you what an incredible artists Buddy Holly would have become through the 60s. Hard to grasp just how further amazing he would have been

I Can’t Stand The Rain - Ann Peebles
Ann Peebles is a fine singer but what really marks her out from the Southern Soul crowd back then is the fact she wrote the tunes. Now, that’s fine and dandy if those tunes are pleasant ditties. But Ann wrote “I Can’t Stand The Rain”…  as you can plainly hear, that tune kicks your face off.

Every Day As We Grow Closer - Alex Chilton
I don’t know much about this tune. I think it’s a post Box Tops and pre Big Star Alex Chilton solo thing. Anyway, see my thoughts about Alex Chilton below. This tune is really beautiful and probably meant absolutely fuck all to him. Whattaguy. x

Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman
Every POD I do seems to need Randy Newman. I love him so much. This one is just so beautiful and quietly angry, righteously angry, I can barely believe how great it is. If you need to get into the vibe, think of Katrina and then remember this was recorded 30 years before it. Then get righteously angry yourself.

Tennessee Blues - Bobby Charles
Where to begin? One of the very greatest songwriters to take a breath. Walking to New Orleans? See You Later Alligator? This tune is from his eponymous LP, very hard to find these days, which was recorded up in Woodstock with guys from The Band in the early 70s. This is basically Triple XXX Catnip for me.
By the way, this and the two previous tunes (and the customary  secret track at the end) are a ramshackle, free association tribute to the recently late, very  great Alex Chilton & Bobby Charles.

New Orleans is the right flavour for these blues.

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Pop Art

Here’s a fun video we came across. French band Hold Your Horses have borrowed heavily from several classic works of art for their “70 Million” video.

(and here’s the link for those reading the feed)

Botswanan Guitarist.

From the marvellous ‘Intercourse With Biscuits’ blog. They say “Absolutely loving this Botswanan guitarist. The technique is really intriguing. Apparently, it’s common there to deliberately ditch two strings.”

Alex Chilton, 1950 – 2010

As tastemakers have now conclusively identified, getting all mawkish and puffy and snivelsome online over the death of a celebrity is no longer okay, OK?

I myself have long railed (at whom is another question) against the vapid pointlessness of Tweeting my big sad face or “Liking” that one of your school colleagues that you no longer speak to wrote “RIP Lenny Bennett, I remember your name from on the telly from when I was young” (I’ll check whether Lenny Bennett has actually died in a minute and consider deleting this or leaving it in for some ineffable comic effect).

So, imagine the problem when one of your deeply-held heroes dies. It’s an even greater problem when that hero is a guy you mostly loved for being awkward, diffident, unsure or, more likely, unwilling to accept his stellar talent and, in short, someone who probably wouldn’t have liked seeing mawkish tributes to himself. If this wasn’t being written about the untimely death of Alex Chilton from a heart attack at just 59 but about Alex Chilton being justifiably but implausibly honoured at the Grammys, I visualise him standing there bristling a little from disdain and embarrassment, a little awkward twitch, not making eye contact, like George Milton from Of Mice and Men in a tight, starched collar.

Alex Chilton’s application to the higher echelons of rock artistry, as opposed to fame and success of course, is quite an untidy scrapbook of achievements really, when you look at it.

The Box Tops were great, certainly the original and best Blue-Eyed Soul group going, but that was mostly about the songwriting of Dan Penn and Wayne Carson Thompson. Young Alex’s voice was powerful and thrilling of course.

Then came Big Star and, well, Big Star weren’t as good as you think they were. This isn’t clever revisionism. It’s fact. Chilton used to say it in interviews and everyone thought he was being difficult or weird. But he meant it and he’s probably right. It’s not a great mystery that no-one bought Big Star back then, they were a ramshackle and dysfunctional, not great live, version of power pop that The Raspberries and others were selling more of. Plus no-one wanted adult pop songs, adults wanted rock gods, kids wanted cutie-pie pop.

BUT when Big Star were good, mostly Chilton’s songs, they were amazing. The Ballad of El Goodo, Thirteen, Daisy Glaize, Feel and of course September Gurls. All copper-bottomed classics.

The third album “Sister/Lovers” is a favourite of some; it’s wigged out on downers and booze and it’s pretty depressed and depressing. There’s a song called Holocaust on it. People dig it because it wasn’t released until later (no wonder) when Big Star’s cult was percolating in those bedrooms changed forever by punk, then indie. The album is a curate’s egg and has some kind of twisted genius bravery to it, but it IS the sound of an unfinished album played by down-on-their-luck Memphis session guys (Steve Cropper’s on it for fucksake) in the mid 1970s totally bummed on sour mash and Quaaludes. It sounds like a progenitor for the early Palace records in places. It sounds like a lot of odd things to be honest.

Then his later, patchy and intermittent solo stuff went through odd twists and turns, veering this way or that both attracted and energised by the East Coast new wave but also, at the same time, totally rejecting it. Listen to Like Flies On Sherbert. It’s a ride. But he also did wonderful things like his cover of Can’t Seem to Make You Mine, Bangkok, Lost My Job. Patchy, random, brilliant and a bit unsettling. Plenty of spikes and splinters in there.

Even when he came back to playing gigs as Big Star and the Box Tops, he looked pretty pissed off by it all. A wiry-thin, awkwardly morose guy, hardly moving, trotting out September Gurls for college audiences who weren’t even born when he first recorded it and no one cared. But yet he kept on doing it, attracted and repulsed at the same time by his whole career.

Makes me sad to think but, from reading comments from his Memphis friends after his death was announced, apparently he was living a pretty settled life with a wife and son. Maybe that’s why he kept gigging as Big Star, maybe he was just cool with it now. Fair enough and I’m sorry it didn’t last for him.

You might read this and wonder why the hell I would give a shit about Alex Chilton’s death, ‘he doesn’t sound like much of a fan’. Well, every word in here is WHY I’m a fan and why I tweeted my big RIP whilst simultaneously not liking people who do such pointless things. Alex Chilton was fucking great.

FOTS-POD#22 - “Robson Man 2″

Episode 22 of the Friends of the Stars Podcast is  now up on the internet. …Don’t all rush at once.

This hour-long episode, entitled “Robson Man 2″, finds Cam and Craig in blistering form as they discuss the various merits of iPhones, Spotify and SKY Sports before moving on to give an insight into the working processes of a band lumbering towards the completion of it’s 2nd LP. It’s nowhere near as dull as it sounds, honest.

FOTS-POD#22 - “Robson Man 2″ - DOWNLOAD MP3

Listen:

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TRACKLISTING:

Love Like A Fountain - Ian Brown
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
I Have Learned To Do Without You - Mavis Staples
Beard of Bees - Stately Homes of England
It’s Time To Move On - Tom Petty
Prisons - Trashcan Sinatras
No Regrets - The Walker Brothers
On The Floe - Thin White Rope
Saturday Gigs - Mott The Hoople

Liner Notes (with Spotify links, where available)

Ian Brown - Love Like A Fountain

Ian Brown has made a bagful of groovy in his career - here’s one of the best. BTW drummer Simon Wolstencroft was a total metronome when he played with The Fall in the late 80s and early 90s…. it’s him on this (ie it’s not a loop).

LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out

20 yrs old - pretty classic.

Mavis Staples - I Have Learned To Do Without You

One of the greatest, sexiest, most soulful, most powerful voices ever committed to shellac.

Stately Homes of England - Beard of Bees

Fellow Brum-centric but multi-city musical troupe, this is a great tune. Andy from the band used to work with Cam too. Two musical geniuses under one roof - what were the chances?

Tom Petty - It’s Time To Move On

FOTS love TP but even we maybe weren’t as au fait with his 90s and naughties output until recently. This is a typically beautifully judged and introspective gem from Wildflowers - probably his most cohesive and listenable album (if Damn the Torpedoes and Full Moon Fever have all the blockbusters and Hard Promises has moments of peaking genius and the rest all have wonderful moments). Incidentally, Wildflowers isn’t credited to The Heartbreakers, even tho they all play on it and…musically… it’s probably them at their finest. Check Benmont’s piano on the title track… heartmelting.

Trashcan Sinatras - Prisons

More perfect tunecraft from Scotland’s enduring bridesmaids. They are from Cam’s home territory (Irvine, Kilmarnock) and he’s very evangelical about them. In 20 years, over five albums, they have hardly missed a beat. Check em all out.

The Walker Brothers - No Regrets

When Scott went back to his “hombres” in the 70s, commercially washed up, kind of need of some middle of the road paydirt, they came up with some real gems. Sounds obvious, but even so it would be great to hear Glen Campbell doing this.

Thin White Rope - On The Floe

In the late 80s and early 90s, before Kate Thornton decided Indie was cool and some twisted notion tugged at Cowell’s bawhairs from the future, students up and down the UK were listening to REM, Throwing Muses and these guys. I have always loved great outros, that build and build and go right through the gears… Tumblin’ Dice does it, The Concept does it, Motorway to Roswell does it, On the Floe does it

Mott The Hoople - Saturday Gigs

I haven’t checked but Mott may have been played more on these FOTS PODS than any other band. That’s because they rule and people might not fully know just how great they were. This was their farewell single. I mean…C’MON… what a farewell 45 this is! Maybe, MAYBE, bettered by Beat Surrender but that’s a moot point (a Moot the Hopple point?….sorry).

Incidentally, farewell singles are much missed - a kind of grand gesture by bands to their own gangs. A bit of a thank you to the boys. FOTS would love if it you commented on this post with other examples of the lost artform of the farewell single, when the band came out in advance and said it would be their last…. so the expectation was REALLY high and yet they still delivered. Looking forward to them.

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Meadowlands Festival 2010

Friends of the Stars are late additions to the bill at the 2010 Meadowlands Festival in Lewes (which we believe is in Sussex), and takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend of 29th and 30th. We’re not sure at the moment whether we will play on Saturday or Sunday, or indeed where on the bill, but we’ll post more details as and when we have them. In the meantime, here’s the festival poster.

FOTS-POD#21 - “A Robson In Winter”

Happy New Year from Friends of the Stars. Here’s wishing you a safe, happy and prosperous 2010.

As for us, we hope to have a new record to tell you about shortly..watch this space. In the meantime, it’s time for another installment of our ever-popular Podcast. Somewhat amazingly, we’re now clocking in with Episode 21.

FOTS-POD#21 - “A Robson in Winter” - DOWNLOAD MP3

Listen:

Episode 21 finds Campbell and Craig tucking into a couple of afternoon beers during the recent post-Christmas lull. The boys discuss Craig’s recent fatherhood following the birth of his son, Mac Charlie, and also the joys of accompanying Executive Producer Robson on a fraught trip to IKEA. The podcast once again features swearing and also music from Kris Kristofferson, The La’s, Randy Newman, Bobbie Gentry and more.

Enjoy

x

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TRACKLISTING

Feelin’ - The La’s
Closer To The Bone - Kris Kristofferson
Trains to Brazil - The Guillemots
Fancy - Bobbie Gentry
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Who You Gonna Call on Judgment Day - Prince Far I
Lyla - Oasis
Raspberry Beret - Hindu Love Gods
Everyday - Slade
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Baltimore - Randy Newman
Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) - George Harrison

LINER NOTES: (Now with Spotify links, where available)

The La’s - Feelin’

Way too long for one of the best British bands ever (with obvious caveats, natch) to make an appearance on a FOTS Pod

Kris Kristofferson - Closer To The Bone

Bob Dylan is on this recent high watermark from the former Oxford Don and chicken murderer. A sanguine ode to getting old - makes songwriting sound effortless, right?

The Guillemots - Trains to Brazil

Pretty amazing songwriting chops on display again. We kind of knew Fyfe a while ago when he was part of marvellous Brummie oddballs The Courtesy Group, a band fronted then and now by Fyfe’s brother and good pal of FOTS Al Hutchins, who performed at our album launch party for Lighting & Electrical.

Bobbie Gentry - Fancy

Bobbie Gentry is a bit of an unsung songwriting heroine - probably unsung because she was a looker too. But, in her own words, “”Fancy” is my strongest statement for women’s lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for — equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights.”

Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill

Man, Genesis and Peter Gabriel take a lot of liking but you can’t deny this tune. Amazing.

Prince Far I - Who You Gonna Call on Judgment Day

Scary Dub. The former Studio One bouncer’s first album “Psalm’s for I” features the Lord’s Prayer and various Psalms and was dedicated to the illiterate who could not read the Bible for themselves.

Oasis - Lyla

By a mile the best thing they have done in the last 15 years - great tune and confirms what all the cool people knew already, that they coulda been AMAZING (without the dough, the drugs, the genes)

Hindu Love Gods - Raspberry Beret

Warren Zevon and guys from REM give this classic Prince tune a nice Paisley (Park) Underground vibe

Slade - Everyday

Lovely ballad but if you was a burd, you wouldn’t want Noddy bellowing at you, wouldya? After a bottle of Mateus Rose, it would feel like the gates of hell were in fact mutton chops flecked with Banks’ bitter foam and pork scratchings.

Whitesnake - Here I Go Again

When Whitesnake were pioneers of British heavy metal (which, at its best, was just great rock music made by Wilfred Owen and Beano fans), they made this awesome tune. Then David Coverdale nobbed off to America and remade it, with a supermodel and spandex. The first one was better

Randy Newman - Baltimore

Randy Newman is becoming a bit of an obsession, as was The Wire when I finally got around to it last year. This is a FOTS tribute to both.

George Harrison - Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

All Things Must Past was the best thing any ex-Beatle ever made

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Hark! The Herald…A Jailbird Sings

Here’s a Christmas treat for you from Friends of the Stars….

“Christmas Inside” by Barry Linnie & Friends of the Stars

If Friends of the Stars were going to do a Christmas song, it just had to be about Yuletide in prison, right? The whole story of how “Christmas Inside” came about can be found on the Sunday Herald website but the potted version is as follows:

Writer, broadcaster and pal of FOTS, Graeme Virtue, asked the band to help him with a very scientific project for a piece he was writing for The Herald, Scotland’s quality national newspaper - He was seeking to harness the essence of Christmas songs and to replicate it with a song of his own. Graeme (pictured below) takes up the story of the song’s creation…

“Sonically, I want to shoot straight for the mass-market, mimicking the soaring secular hymns of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, those galactically popular songs of mid-tempo tenderness and iPod-ready transcendence. But instead of generalised expressions of hope, longing or catharsis, I want to tell a proper Christmas story, with a beginning, a middle and, obviously, a punchline”

Not sure if we ever found that essence, Graeme, but we had a laugh working on it and the tune’s our once-a-decade stab at going for those elusive Snow Patrol millions buried somewhere deep underneath the middle of the road. In 2019 Bono’s gonna help us sing “Foreign Muck” via satellite at a gig in Digbeth; and 2029 might involve a laser keyboard like Jean Michel Jarre has.

Anyway, Graeme also went on BBC Radio Scotland last weekend to talk about it and play wee snatches of the tune. Listen again here (about 1hr 2mins in, right after The Dickies).

Merry Christmas and lots of love from Friends of the Stars

xx

DOWNLOAD “Christmas Inside” (MP3)

Performed by Barry Linnie vs Friends of the Stars
Written by Graeme Virtue and Cam Docherty
Vocals and Guitar - Barry Linnie (aka Graeme Virtue)
Guitars, Bass, Glock, Programming - Cam Docherty
Arranged and Mixed - Cam Docherty

X-Factor Silence…

Last year I was occasionally writing about X-Factor here, as do most other Country/Folk artists on their own sites.  This year, I’ve kept reasonably quiet on whole thing. There are two reasons for this…

1) It’s a lot more fun to participate in the live bile-fest that occurs each Saturday night over on Twitter

2) The nice folks over at Holy Moly do a much better job than I ever could. Matt Edmondson’s videos in particular are well worth a gawp at.

For those that hate X-Factor: Don’t worry, it finishes soon.

FOTS-POD#20 - “The Amityville Robson”

Listen:

TRACKLISTING:

Minstrel Show - Barry Goldberg
I Can Never Tell - The Crawdaddys
Son, This Is She - John Leyton
Beautiful Waste - The Triffids
Sand - Hush Arbors
Empire (State of Mind) - Jay-Z Feat Alicia Keys
Kingfish - Levon Helm and the Dirt Band
Reggeaman - Jack Morgan
Country Pie - Bob Dylan
Bad Fog of Lonliness- Neil Young
Woman’s Prison - Loretta Lynn
I’ll Be The Other Woman - Soul Children
Blue Skies - Noah and the Whale

DOWNLOAD FOTS-POD#20 - “The Amityville Robson”

LINER NOTES:

Minstrel Show - Barry Goldberg