MELODY MAKER November 4 1978

MELODY MAKER
November 4 1978
Cover: Keith Richards
Lead album review: 'Dub Housing', Pere Ubu
Lead live review: The Clash
Single of the week: 'Nothing New', Bethnal

The chances are that any TV show setting itself at the tail-end of 1978 would be using punk/new-wave music and imagery to help set its scenes, with maybe some disco elements thrown in for good measure. One look at the front of this issue of Melody Maker paints a very different picture, featuring as it does Keith Richards, Rod Stewart and Mike Oldfield. The Clash & Third World get a look in next to a piece referred to as 'Kraftwerk The Movie'. No such film exists as far as I know but instead ties to an article written in the style of a film script. 

The lead piece on Keef relates to him taking to the stage in New York after his trial following his legendary drugs bust in Canada, which ultimately triggered him finally kicking heroin. I used to have a poster of photos of Keef from 1962 through to around 1990 and it always seemed to be that his appearance changed significantly around this time; it was almost as if the heroin had been slowing down his ageing process. There's a gallery here where you can judge for yourself. 

Richards has also claimed that he never had a cold during his heroin years, and that governments knew full well it was the cure for the common cold but didn't want to admit it. It can be assumed then that Eddie & The Hot Rods weren't users as p3 reveals they were cancelling a short run of Scottish dates as various members of the band had flu. 

I was pleased to see an ad for Our Price inside the front cover, having worked there over a couple of stints a decade or so later. I was there when they were a fully-fledged national chain and opened their 300th store; in November 1978 they had 10, all with 01 telephone numbers. Alongside a Top 60 rundown ('Grease' at #1), the ad prominently features the Fabulous Poodles. From flicking through this pile of issues they, along with several other bands I'm not familiar with, crop up quite a lot although my route to them was via seeing their singer (Tony de Meur when he was a Poodle; Ronnie Golden when I saw him; his website reveals more on his various personas) provide the musical backing for 'Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen' (downloadable here).

Johnny Rotten may have worn a customised 'I Hate Pink Floyd' t-shirt but Melody Maker were happy to give keyboardist Rick Wright a platform to discuss his recent solo album while also dropping hints about a new project Floyd were about to start work on: "I can't say what it is .... it's Roger's baby, his thing ....it is a very strong idea .... a very involved thing and we're doing a film as well. It's a film based on the idea of the music that Roger has written for the album". The elongated recording process of the resulting album, The Wall, would see Wright leave the band albeit remaining as a session musician for the record and as a hired hand on the subsequent tour.

Paul Weller reviews the singles, name-dropping that he's a "personal friend of the band" before saying that Blondie's 'Hanging On the Telephone' just "doesn't do a lot for me". That's certainly not the only new release he dismisses, but the fact that he says on three occasions that he prefers the b-side shows he was pretty thorough. 

His appearance in the office doesn't prevent All Mod Cons from getting almost as good a kicking as the man who was down in the tube station at midnight; "If Paul Weller were to be a little less enthusiastic, a little less concerned with churning out singles like a bottle factory, and a little more selective in his approach, The Jam would not be in danger of becoming tiresome".

All the way through to its merger into the NME, Melody Maker was the go-to magazine for musicians wanted ads. Assorted tales exist of careers that owe their existence to those pages. Given he was born a few weeks after the ad to the right was placed, it's a fair guess that Mike Skinner didn't take almost a quarter of a century to go from a manager-less hopeful 'ready to roll' to the man behind Original Pirate Material. Whether Iver's Sledgehammer found themselves a vocalist, or Fanni from the Stillettos took any worthwhile calls from drummers may never be known. At a different level, a Mr Luigi was seeking a synth player to accompany a drummer on Friday & Saturday evenings, from nine until one pm in an Italian restaurant. Given that reads to me as a 16 hour shift I'm hoping the money was extremely good.

But my favourite ad has to be this one. I'm not entirely convinced this would be acceptable under current-day equal opportunities legislation. Is the 'warning' paragraph a description of their predecessor? Though it should be noted that to be (r)ejected you'd have to be all of those things and it's a pretty niche list. So if you're still determined you know what to do.

SOUNDS June 17 1978

I recently visited my local Freecycle group's page for the first time in a while and was immediately drawn to the following listing:

Melody Makers, 1978-1982. Over 20 copies, plus odd copies of Sounds, Record Mirror, Hot Press from that area.

Even better, they were only round the corner from me so I fired off a hopeful email. It turned out I was the only respondent and a few hours later I had them in my possession. Seems like a good idea to work through them, starting with ....

SOUNDS
June 17 1978
Cover: The Clash
Lead album review: 'Tonic For The Troops', Boomtown Rats
Lead live review: Ian Gillan Band
Alternative chart #1: 'Ain't Got No Clue', Lurkers
Single of the week: 'Under The Eye', Dennis Linde

1978. I should really have done some research on what was happening back then so I could pretend in the style of those ‘I Love The 70s’ shows that I have crystal-clear memories of things that I was obviously far too young to have shown even the slightest bit of interest in at the time, let alone recall.

It's a fair guess that I was either down the park playing football or out on my bike trying to clock up a few extra miles on my mileometer (okay, allow me a brief moment to reminisce – it was a hand-me-down Raleigh Strika, essentially a junior version of the Grifter but one-up on the Boxer, and with a pedal-back brake).

Hello (hello) hello (hello, hello)

What I definitely wasn’t interested in, or even aware of, was The Clash, yet here they are adorning the front page. Arguably punk's front-runners at this point given Johnny Rotten's recent departure from the Sex Pistols (page 2 references their search for a replacement singer along with details of Rotten's new, as-yet un-named band with Keith Levene & Jah Wobble), it's only right that I take this opportunity to slip on their debut LP, purchased nearly twenty-five years ago in a charity shop in, appropriately, Hammersmith.

Paul Simonon

It's a curious article, prefaced thus: "Pete Silverton gets them to talk. Chalkie Davies gets them to dress up in silly clothes and pose for pix". And it's true that Davies does just that, and recalling Mick Jones & Paul Simonon in their sailor outfits during their time with the Gorillaz makes me wonder whether this photo session gave them a taste for daft outfits.

Squeeze also command a large article as they tour the U.S. before they truly hit the UK charts, and their stride, the following year. At this stage they had the (largely) John Cale produced debut album under their belts; significantly, the two singles released from it were songs he didn't work on.

The issue's centre pages are taken up by a reasonably minimalist ad for Ijahman's debut LP, 'a joyous symphony that will enrich the spirit' apparently. Indeed it gets a 4* review a few pages on and the album's musicians get name-checked including the familiar-sounding rhythm section of Sly on drums and Robbie on bass.

Other LP reviews heap praise and 5* on the Boomtown Rats ("an outright masterpiece that gives rock and roll a good name") and the Real Kids ("one member of staff reckons it sounds like The Ramones meets Status Quo, which when you think of it is a pretty good gap to bridge"), while Dire Straits find themselves in just that with a mere 2.5* for their debut, with its "monotonous vocals" and a "lack of variety in momentum".

The fact that the live reviews kick off with ex-Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan, with Meat Loaf on the opposite page (they have Suicide in-between them), hammers home the fact that music magazines in 1978 didn't elect to limit themselves to specific genres. They were more all-encompassing (one issue I have to look forward to has Cliff Richard as its cover-star), with Sounds also carrying columns such as the 'Ranking Records' reviews of the latest roots & reggae releases.

Wot, no Judas?

The letters page proves that some activities now carried out online had their equivalents in 1978, hence Neil from Shepherds Bush criticising Sounds for allowing people to advertise Bob Dylan tickets at inflated prices. However the fact he didn't call anyone a Judas makes me think he wasn't really a true fan anyway.

Rachel, a "13 and a half year old XTC fan" from Caterham thanked Swindon's finest for putting on an under-16s concert at the Marquee, calling it "the best 60p I have ever spent" and adding that she hopes "Sounds do not ridicule my heroes again".

I couldn't find the single of the week (sorry, "this week's leading legend") on Spotify, but thankfully YouTube came to the rescue. "Hopefully this one won't be missed by the masses" they said. It was. But fear not. Dennis had the fact that he wrote 'Burning Love', a hit for a guy called Elvis who didn't work down the chip shop, to keep his spirits, and bank balance, up.

Indeed their are a few artists with singles out that I've never heard of. Listening to some of these today I'm thinking Mr Albarn may have heard Patrik Fitzgerald's 'Backstreet Boys' ("unique urchin makes good EP shock"); elsewhere there was Humphrey Ocean's Ian Dury-penned 'Whoops A Daisy' ("sounding not surprisingly Dury-esque"); and Johnny Rubbish with 'Living in NW3 4JR', who also doesn't make it to Spotify, maybe due to him apparently being "rubbish by name and nature".

My head is going round in circles ...

It's been easy for me to avoid getting caught up in Record Store Day. Without a dedicated independent record shop in Cambridge it's not really been on my radar. Heffers, predominantly a bookshop, has maintained a small offering but for 2015 they have been joined by two vinyl-only retailers in the city - Relevant and Lost In Vinyl. I can cycle (this is Cambridge after all) to the former in under 5 minutes and so I took more interest in this year's releases than ever before.

Thankfully there wasn't too much on the list that appealed and so I wasn't tempted to join the queues that reportedly started forming outside Relevant at 4.15am. Sure, I could see some good titles on there - some that I already had (Otis Blue; L.A.M.F; Roger The Engineer; Don't Stand Me Down), some that I could see the appeal of should you be so inclined (the Creation Artifact boxed set; and the album that went on to top that week's vinyl-only chart, The Holy Bible) but there was only one title on the list of 550 exclusive products that truly caught my eye: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces, predominantly due to the fact that it came with the circular sleeve.

Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake - Record Store Day 2015

This is something I've kept half-an-eye out for a while and I wasn't going to get an original copy on the cheap. Buoyed by the fact that I'd just picked up some bargains in local charity shops (amongst them Bowie's Young Americans; Madonna's Immaculate Collection; a few Nancy Sinatra singles and a selection of new wave 7-inches such as Jilted John and Rock Lobster) I felt I could justify picking it up.

In doing so I was reminded that my brother had this, and if I recall correctly had bought it at Tower Records somewhere around 1985. Which in itself surprised me - that far after its release they were still producing the, presumably expensive, circular sleeve? Checking on Discogs I can see a 1980 reissue and expect it was that, but bear in mind this isn't something that was solely released as a tie-in to a one-day event. It was released in that sleeve as someone presumably decided it should be available again rather than just re-issuing the rather unsatisfactory square sleeve with the circular image.

On further reflection and again in the mid-80s, I bought The White Album in my local Our Price and it came with the inserts. A few years later I was on the other side of the counter in that exact same shop in my first full-time job; vinyl sales were tailing off and we had a gradually dwindling range but I can confirm that The White Album still came with the inserts as late as 1990. Maybe EMI over-printed back in 1968. I can't say the same for Sgt Pepper, and although we did still stock New Order's Blue Monday 12" it was no longer being produced with the die-cut sleeve. I don't recall Their Satanic Majesties Request being stocked but if it was I'm certain it would have been in a similar sleeve to the copy I picked up cheaply around four years ago.

Relevant Record Cafe - Cambridge

Photo: Ben Attenborough

By the time I moved to Cambridge it was an independent record shop free zone. We had a HMV and a Fopp, both of which survived when HMV entered administration in 2011; Zavvi until its demise on Christmas Eve 2009 (coincidentally the only day I ever bought anything in there, completely unaware that it was about to shut for good) and a branch of Head briefly operated in 2012/3. Visual evidence of past emporia still exists, such the Hot Numbers mural on Kingston Street (right), the name having more recently been brought back to life in the form of a thriving coffee shop - and more - on parallel Gwydir Street.

Photo: found0bjects.blogspot.co.uk

At the other end of the latter street can be found the seemingly abandoned store front for Roll On Blank Tapes (left), where a hand-written price list reveals that a C30 Ferric tape would have set you back 55p; an extra 10p would have got you an upgrade to Chrome. A MiniDisc sign in the window shows that the shop did try to diversify but it was too little too late.

Nearby Mill Road also saw the first permanent branch of independent chain Andy's, its founder Andy Gray, having previously traded at Cambridge market. Gray currently runs BGO records, a reissue label named after Andy's sister store, The Beat Goes On, which focused more on second-hand and rarities. King Street was also home to numerous record shops; as I understand, Parrot was, to steal a phrase from Graham Jones, the last shop standing on that particular street, closing in 2002.

And it's Mill Road where the Relevant Record Cafe has taken up residence. As the name suggests its more than just a record shop, with a cafe on the ground floor and the all-important vinyl in the basement, Note: vinyl. There's not a CD to be seen, and if you don't have anything to play vinyl on panic not, as Relevant stock a range of turntables (only this morning I saw a couple walking along Mill Road, each carrying a freshly purchased Steepletone turntable). The vinyl is split roughly 50/50 between new and second-hand. The 'new' is a healthy split between recent releases and back catalogue. The second-hand section would have made my own quest to rebuild my collection far simpler, spying as I did things such as the Quadrophenia soundtrack for a very reasonable £9. And not a tatty sleeve to be seen; all the second-hand LPs would by my reckoning be graded as VG at the very least; and unlike buying online you can see & feel exactly what you get.

They've included a small seating area in the basement - a nice panoramic shot can be found here, courtesy of @ChrisRandWrites - which doubles-up as an in-store performance area (and for such occasions you can make use of the cafe's alcohol licence). And rather brilliantly Relevant is operating extended opening hours, meaning that after spending much of Black Friday scoffing at videos of people fighting over 40" TVs I was able to drop in at 7pm that evening to pick up the 'Morrissey Curates The Ramones' RSD release.

Welcome to the area Relevant - not least for encouraging me to write a blog post for the first time in over a year!

Relevant Record Cafe, 260 Mill Road, Cambridge
Facebook
Twitter


Andrew Matheson - Monterey Shoes

Andrew Matheson
Monterey Shoes
Ariola ARL 5025
£1
Filed between The Matadors (self-titled) and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 'Greatest Hits'






Released while fellow former Hollywood Brat Casino Steel's band The Boys were still a going concern (but still a year before the Hollywood Brats LP, recorded in 1973, had been granted a UK release), Matheson's solo LP is far less punk although it wouldn't sound too out-of-place if spun alongside 'new wavers' such as Joe Jackson and Graham Parker.

The Corpse Grinders - The Legend of the Corpse Grinders

The Corpse Grinders
The Legend of the Corpse Grinders
New Rose
99p + £2 p&p
Filed between and Alice Cooper 'Killer' and The Corpse Grinders 'Valley Of Fear'



Given the band's links back to the New York Dolls I'm surprised that I went this long without ever hearing The Corpse Grinders (and just to make sure, I bought their 1982 LP 'Valley Of Fear' at the same time).

The most immediate thought: was Rick Rivets mimicking Johnny Thunders' guitar style or was it his style first from when he was an original Doll? There's nothing in this LP to elevate the Corpse Grinders to anything other than a footnote but it's decent enough Dolls-esque trash.

Lords of the New Church - self-titled

Lords of the New Church
Self-titled
Illegal Records ILP009
£1.04 + £2 p&p
Filed between Lords of the New Church - self-titled and Lords of the New Church 'Method To My Madness'



Oops. Ah yes, forgot I already had this one. I got a little carried away placing bids on various LPs one seller had listed; was outbid on most but this was one of two LPs that eventually came my way. But at least it has a different cover to my other copy.

Talking Heads - Fear Of Music

Talking Heads
Fear Of Music
£1






Proof you should never give up hope when trawling through those bargain bins. One local charity shop carries, at a guesstimate, in excess of 1,000 LPs (predominantly classical LPs that will never, ever sell). This was the very last one in the last rack.

The Ramones - Leave Home

The Ramones
Leave Home
Mau Mau MAU 602
£2.99 (+£3.50 p&p)
Filed between 'Quadrophenia (Original Soundtrack)' and The Real Kids (eponymous).


For some reason I was often offered records at school, usually ones that belonged to the seller's older brother. One such offer was the first two Ramones albums. Aged about 14 at the time, I'd only ever heard 'Bonzo Goes To Bitburg' on a Beggars Banquet sampler LP, but keen to hear more and knowing that the friend was an Ultravox fan I offered him my copy of their Quartet LP. I thought this was slightly cheeky (it was 2 LPs for 1 after all) but he couldn't agree quicker.

The next day the swap was made. A mutual friend urged me to reconsider, citing examples from the lyric sheets that he thought would put me off. Knowing that Quartet was a terrible album I of course had nothing to lose and the deal was sealed.

(A later deal I made from a different person's older brother's collection saw me acquire a copy of Ultravox's 'Young Savage' single from their pre-Midge Ure-era - if you've never heard this I suggest you trawl download sites for it immediately - or buy Ha! Ha! Ha! - as it's a bona fide new wave classic that will make you wonder how they 'progressed' to Vienna is less than two years.)

My first reaction to listening to the two albums was to be amazed at how fast the songs seemed, both in terms of tempo and in the way they just kept coming, one after the other. 20+ years on they no longer have that effect on me, though my toddler-aged son has developed a keen ear for the band, particularly 'Blitzkreig Bop' - I think it's the simple 'Hey Ho Let's Go' refrain that sees him stop and restart the CD - and 'Rockaway Beach'.

Shame to have replaced my original Sire copy with a reissue, but that's my stupid fault for selling it in the first place! But then again it does have 'Carbona Not Glue' on it ..

Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

Buzzcocks
Singles Going Steady
Liberty LBR 1043
1979

99p  (+£1.99 p&p).
Filed between David Bowie 'Aladdin Sane' and The Byrds (self-titled best-of).

I can pin-point my introduction to the Buzzcocks to April 1989. The Rockit Dolls had played their first gig and we were told by local legend Pete Murphy (who we later immortalised in song) that we sounded like them. Funnily enough the band we were most trying to resemble were Soho Roses and once our singer, Mark, picked up a copy of Singles Going Steady it became apparent that Paul Blitz and co were Buzzcocks fans and that we’d acquired the similarity second-hand.

Wreckless Eric - The World According To Wreckless Eric

Wreckless Eric
The World According To Wreckless Eric
Stiff SEEZ 9
Green vinyl
£1.79 + £3.00 p&p
Filed between Velvet Underground 'Loaded' and Young Fresh Fellows 'This One's For The Ladies'.

I was a very late convertor to Wreckless Eric, effectively only ‘discovering’ him at what could best be described as a Cultural Exchange when he toured with the Rutles (I went along for Innes & co, my wife for Mr Goulden). I’ve seen him again once since, in a pub venue in Cambridge playing to about 30 people on a tour with his new wife, Amy Rigby, that doubled-up as their honeymoon. And given the lovey-dovey nature of some of their joint material there were times where it seemed we, the audience, were imposing somewhat.