Saturday 27 May 2023

Never Ending Mixtape part 82

Aaaahhhhh I never noted the last song when I last updated you all on my Never Ending Mixtape! So I'm just going to go with a hunch and bring you up to date on a few additions. I think you all know the score by now.

Back in the day I'd put an awful lot of thought, time and effort into creating mixtapes (and then mix cd's) for family and friends. I still put quite a bit of that into my Anything Goes & Everything Flows monthly 60-minute playlists, but for my Never Ending Mixtape playlist, I just add stuff on a whim.

There are now 3,306 songs on my Never Ending Mixtape and 314 lovely people follow it. Thanks very much if you do and thanks very much if you just check it out from time to time. 

Search for Everything Flows Never Ending Mixtape on Spotify or CLICK HERE

Latest additions include;

OLD FAVES

New Sensation - INXS, Going Nowhere - Oasis, Oh! Vanity - The Charlatans, Run of the Mill - George Harrison, 

DISCOVERIES

I'm A Rolling Stones - The Sonics, Look Both Ways - The Rain Parade, Celebrate Me - Baxter Drury, 

NEW RELEASES

One Week - Carla J Easton, Mother Father - Eyes of Others, The Narcissist - Blur




Thursday 25 May 2023

One Love

Released during the heatwave of July 1990, Stone Roses One Love b/w Something's Burning was the sound of a band completely in the zone and out on their own. 

The band were streets ahead of their contemporaries, in fact they barely acknowledged them. They had DJ's rather than support bands at their landmark Spike Island and Glasgow Green shows that year. No other band could touch them.

Fully aware of this, the Roses turned down support slots with New Order in America and also The Pixies. Ian Brown also delivered a typically memorable quote when asked why they had turned down an opportunity to play with The Rolling Stones. "It's 1990, The Rolling Who? F**king hell they should open for us. It's obscene that they're even touring."

Following the release of their eponymous album and Fools Gold single, the Roses were the band of a generation; changing the way people looked, acted and spoke. Soundtracking the times with sublime guitar pop and providing visuals through John Squire's artwork.

Check the footage from Spike Island via the link below. It's electric. 

'The time, the time, the time, the time, the time is now' declared Brown, as the band sauntered onstage at their legendary show to the sounds of Small Time Hustler by The Dismasters on a loop. Brown grooves to the song, Mani pumps the air with his fist and Cressa is dancing behind a bank of effects. 

Mani described the event as 'a gathering of the clans'

Spike Island footage


Their time was now! Following on from 1989's Fools Gold 9.53, Stone Roses continued to push boundaries with their sound. Squire on guitar, Mani on bass and the effervescent Reni on drums stretched out blissfully to create almost 16-minutes of dreamy, groove based psychedelia on One Love and Something's Burning across the 12-inch single.

Riding in on some outrageous Squire guitar heroics, Mani and Reni fall effortlessly into a groove behind him, allowing Ian to come in with a hushed promise, sung in an almost menacing whisper.

Any time you want me

Any time at all

Any time you need me

All you gotta do is call

The bridge to the chorus is all kinds of trippy cool. Brown sings about being a dolphin who doesn't live in the sea, before the beautiful line you feel my flow and you flood my brain , slowing things down into a delicious groove ...

Show me your vision, your wild apparition

And sink to the depths of your soul

... before Squire delivers some star spangled riffs as the band hit the chorus;

One love, we don't need another love

One love, one heart and one soul

Reflecting on One Love in 1998, Ian Brown said "The chorus wasn't strong enough. We tried for an anthem. We wanted to cover all bases and ended up covering none."

Roses fans didn't agree, pushing the song to number 4 on the charts, their highest position until Love Spreads arrived over 4-years later. However, perhaps the chorus could have been hammered home through repetition. But after one run through, Brown then sings we can have it all, easy peasy. And they had it all; the talent, the looks, the artwork, the songs and enough cool to carry a generation.

After another run through the first verse and a slightly different bridge, the chorus is then extended, ending with a lyric that would become the title of their phenomenal Turns Into Stone compilation of non-album single and b-sides.

Your fruit's in season

And these feet fall surely sound

And what goes up must come down

Turns into dust, or turns into stone

Remarkably, all of the above (and more) is delivered in 2-minutes 45 seconds, leaving the Roses a full 5-minutes to play with on the 12-inch version. Mani's bass is central to the extended outro, allowing Squire ample room to play and Reni to jam along with some kind of sample/programmed beat. 

At times Mani's bass seems to be influenced by The Doors - ironic as they don't have a bass player, but they do have some incredible bass lines sprinkled throughout their back catalogue, played by Ray Manzarek on keyboards.

Tantalisingly, the song seems to have found another groove just as it ends. It could have gone on and on. The Roses look super cool in the video, playing and grooving as flames shoot up all around them

John Leckie is on production duties, helping to take the band in a different direction than their 1989 eponymous debut album. Paul Schroeder is on mixing duties. Leckie walked out on The Second Coming due to lengthy delays and Schroeder took over.

As always, the artwork is a John Squire creation. Although this wasn't without controversy. One Love was originally scheduled to come out to co-incide with the Spike Island show but was delayed due to the suggestion that a swastika was visible in the abstract artwork. Horrified, Squire tore up the proofs and created new artwork.

Stone Roses, 1990, photo by Mike Prior

Something's Burning is as fluid and trippy a song as the Roses produced. The first 70-seconds sound like the band just mucking around with programmed beats and some effects for inspiration, then Squire coaxes a gentle riff from his guitar and a whispered Ian Brown vocal comes in, singing proverbs through the first verse.

There is a lift into the chorus and I particularly love the flowing melody of the final line.

I can see the love and the hate in your eyes

Penny for the thoughts behind your disguise

What you gonna go and what you gonna day?

I'm not the only one believing there's an easier way

And then a little groove into the next section that ends with a classic Ian Brown line;

It doesn't pay to disorientate me

It doesn't cost to be someone

I am the vine 

And you are the branches

The band run through another couple of verses and choruses before finding the refrain 

What you gonna do with the rest of your life?

Penny for the thoughts behind your disguise

Something's Burning grooves on for another 97 seconds, a dreamy jam, some spacey keyboard effects over Squire's guitar and some cool beats. 

I've said it before on this blog and I'll say it again. The Fools Gold and One Love b/w Something's Burning singles are a glimpse of where the Roses could have gone if they hadn't got caught up in legal wranglings. Can you imagine an album full of blissed out psychedelic grooves, jams and beats? 

As it was, after Glasgow Green on 9th June 1990, the coolest band on the planet didn't play live again until April 1995. After the release of One Love on 2nd July, they didn't release any new material until Love Spreads in December 1994. What could have been?

One Love official video 

One Love live on Hit Studio International TV



Tuesday 23 May 2023

Foreign Land

Photo by 
Donald Milne

Teenage Fanclub released new single Foreign Land earlier today with no prior announcement. A couple of hours later, Monorail dropped some news about their forthcoming album Nothing Lasts Forever, due on 22nd September ahead of their comprehensive European tour.

Foreign Land begins with fuzzy guitar feedback, leading to a fast paced rhythm guitar that underpins Norman harmonising beautifully with Euros. Raymond adds little riffs at times, before taking off on a soaring solo after the second chorus. 

Blake's songwriting is mature and poetic, saying so much about how in love he was and how he now recognises it's over, equally heartbreaking and full of hope. After a heavy heart and sleepless nights, there is now recognition that the past is in the past and it's time to move on. The two line chorus says it all. 

The past's a foreign land

I did my best to understand

Teenage Fanclub are in great form, McGinley's beautiful meandering guitar solo (a cousin to Home) is deliciously playful, both mid-song and through the outro. Euros keys on the outro jam are more evident after a couple of listens, I look forward to hearing this live.

The video was filmed inside Hamilton Mausoleum, one of the largest in the world. Francis MacDonald released an album of chamber music back in 2018 that was inspired by (and recorded in) the venue. It clearly left quite an impression and it is a cinematic setting for the video, absolutely stunning!

On the single and album;

Raymond - "When we got offered ten days in Rockfield, we weren't ready in our minds but then we just thought, 'fuck it' and went for it. If you're sitting around waiting for the stars to align, you can end up never doing anything. We turned up and worked our way through ideas and came up with some while we were there. Foreign Land was born in the studio. If we hadn't gone there at that point through happenstance, that song wouldn't exist. We like to let things happen. As people, we find a deadline inspiring. We like to put ourselves on the spot and see what happens. We usually get away with it. This record is the cliche of the blank canvas, which thankfully we managed to fill."

Watch the video HERE or below.

Roll on September and the tour.

It's time to move along

Leave the past behind me

A heart was like a stone

Now it's beating brightly

The past's a foreign land

I did my best to understand


Beneath the moon and stars

I loved her most profoundly

I wandered in the night

But now I'm sleeping soundly

The past's a foreign land

I did my best to understand


Wednesday 17 May 2023

Love Will Tear Us Apart


Ian Curtis' original handwritten lyrics for Love Will Tear Us Apart

Cover version of the month #85

Hot 8 Brass Band cover Joy Division

Recorded in March 1980 and released that June, just a month after singer Ian Curtis had committed suicide, Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart is a bonafide classic single that has has come to define the band.

Curtis' lyrics of loneliness, sadness and heartbreak pack are bleak, honest and devastating, telling the tale of his marriage falling apart. Yet, somehow, the chorus and keyboard riff are in complete contrast, almost euphoric. I think that has been heightened over time; the way the song has become an anthem and the way New Order sing the chorus when they play it live. 

The pop aspect is reflected in the length and structure of the song. Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus x 2 all delivered in 3-minutes 30 seconds.

When you read Curtis' lyrics without listening to the song, you'd expect Love Will Tear Us Apart to be slow, mournful and lengthy. 

When routine bites hard and ambitions are low

And resentment rides high, but emotions won't grow

And we're changing our ways, taking different roads

Ouch! Three lines that tell so much. Curtis' vocal is slow and mournful, yet drums are pulsating and Hooky drives the song along with his bass, the keyboard echoing the melody of the chorus sounds hopeful, even when Curtis is singing love, love will tear us apart again.

Photo by Kevin Cummins

Curtis dives deeper into his pain, deeper into his story in the second verse. Despite his marriage, their love falling part, he tries to make a move but there is nothing in return. There is still an appeal, an affection, an attraction ... but it's not happening.

Ian Curtis' skill as a writer is phenomenal. His poetry, heartache and feelings speak volumes in just 3 lines.

Why is the bedroom so cold? You've turned away on your side

Is my timing that flawed? Our respect runs so dry

Yet there's still this appeal, that we've kept through our lives

In the third verse Curtis comes to his conclusion, there is nothing left. 

Do you cry out in your sleep, all my feelings exposed?

There's a taste in my mouth as desperation takes hold

Just that something so good, just can't function no more

A double chorus leads to Joy Division locking into a guitar, keyboard, bass and drum groove for 40-seconds to play the song out. Love Will Tear Us Apart is glorious, timeless, perfect. It's poetry, music and pop combining to tug on your heartstrings and move you to tears. Somehow, it can also make you want to punch the air, sing to the chorus, hug your mates and dance. The power of music!

The accompanying video of the band performing the song in their old rehearsal room only helps add to that timeless feeling the song has. It's like a time capsule and must have inspired countless post-punk bands to meet up in garages and warehouses worldwide in the belief they could create something equally as special. Few, if any, have.

So how on earth do you approach covering Love Will Tear Us Apart? Well, if you follow a couple of my other regular features you might have an idea. (NOTE - it's not Paul Young's 1984 cover!)

I first highlighted Hot 8 Brass Band's version in October 2021 when I added it to my Never Ending Mixtape and then again in March 2023 when I included it in my Anything Goes & Everything Flows DJ Mix 22

I've been sitting on this blog for a while. Then, at the weekend I was searching through Glasgow music listings and discovered that Hot 8 Brass Band were playing Saint Luke's in Glasgow on 31st May! I immediately bought a couple of tickets!

Hot 8 Brass Band transform Love Will Tear Us Part into a high energy song with infectious rhythms, bundles of brass, handclaps and a communal chorus. New Orleans jazz with dashes of funk and soul.

The hook is teased and then released, broken down hip hop style into a vocal chorus and slowly built up again before a freestyle trumpet solo. The chorus just keeps coming and Bernard Sumner's keyboard riff sounds incredible when played by horns.

Check the official videos for both songs below plus a 1979 Peel session by Joy Division, their original abandoned recording from January 1980 and live versions by New Order and the Hot 8 Brass Band on Later.

All previous cover version of the month blogs are listed below. To listen on Spotify, search for Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist, featuring all of the songs below, or CLICK HERE

Official video - Joy Division

Official video - Hot 8 Brass Band

1979 Peel Session version

January 1980 Pennine Sound Studio version

New Order live at Finsbury Park

Previous covers of the month

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
82. Drop

Friday 12 May 2023

Anything Goes & Everything Flows DJ Mix 24


This months 60-minute mix/playlist starts with an incredible song by Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra. I first heard this song on a James Murphy/DFA Fabric mix album I bought. What a song and what a way to open a set. I pinched the idea from them! At almost 9-minutes long this really takes listeners on a journey!

Tim Burgess from The Charlatans released an album with Peter Gordon back in 2016 and when thinking of a Charlatans track that could follow, I thought Scorched might work pretty well. I think it does - do you?

Suicide follow, super cool and edgy, then New Order kick in big time. Then there is a double dose of Prince magic. Controversy is my favourite Prince song, it's arranged like a remix - incredible!

It's Alright, I Feel It is beautifully uplifting, the Prince Language remix of LCD's 45:33 is sublime and this mix ends with two hands in the air belters.

Enjoy this mix.

Search for Everything Flows DJ Mix 24 on Spotify or CLICK HERE

Beginning of the Heartbreak / Don't Don't - Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra

Scorched - The Charlatans

Last Time - Suicide

Vanishing Point - New Order

Controversy - Prince

I Wanna Be Your Love - Prince

It's Alright, I Feel It - Nuyorican Soul & Jocelyn Brown

45:33 (Prince Language Remix) - LCD Soundsystem

Love Has Come Around - Donald Byrd

I Feel Your Love Comin' On - CHIC


Monday 8 May 2023

Thank You For Being You

Trust Me #54

30-years ago #4

Thank You For Being You by The Pastels

A joyful burst of exuberant guitar pop perfection, Thank You For Being You by The Pastels was released 30-years ago. As far as I can remember, this was the first single I bought by the band, closely followed by the Truckload Of Trouble compilation album that also came out in 1993. 


Thank You For Being You explodes gloriously into life from the start with fuzzy electric guitar over acoustic, a funky bass and cool beats. Stephen Pastel ends the first verse by crooning 

Baby you know you are 
Getting close to my heart

Love simply pours out of this song. In the second verse Pastel recognises that he is a better person for having this love in his life; my hope, my faith and my guiding light, your love is super fine and it feels good in my heart

Indeed, Stephen is so head over heels in love that he needs 5 words rather than 3. The chorus is beautifully simple and it says everything you need to know.

So good to know you
So good to hold you
Thank you for being you
It's so good, to know you

Behind Stephen, The Pastels sound sublime. Annabel (Aggi) Wright on bass, Katrina Mitchell on drums and David Keegan joining Stephen on guitars. Norman Blake sings harmonies on the chorus. Paul Chisholm was on co-production duties with the band for this gem and it's a winning team. Listening on headphones, you hear the extra little strums of the acoustic and the way strings are allowed to ring out melts my heart. The little riff is gorgeous. The guitar solo is exquisite. 

The brass section isn't overpowering, becoming part of the song, almost melting into it. The production and arrangement really is top drawer.

Pastel is taking nothing for granted, empires may fall part and rivers may part but all he cares about is being part of his new love.

I hope that I'm a part of you

Thank You For Being You is a f**king brilliant guitar pop song that melts my heart every time I hear it. I've actually just listened to the song 6-times in a row on my headphones while writing this blog and I doubt I'll ever tire of its many charms.

Enjoy if you are listening for the first time. For many of you reading this blog, I'm sure you'll know this song and I hope you love listening back.

YouTube audio

A list of all previous songs I've blogged about in my Trust Me feature are listed below, along with links to each blog. Thank You For Being You joins them.

I've also collated them all into a playlist on Spotify that you can find by searching for Everything Flows - Trust Me , or you can CLICK HERE

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton
1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells
2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond
3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell
4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot
5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon
6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras
7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans
8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland
9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave
10. Sometimes by James
11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time
12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre
13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields
14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals
15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser
16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes
17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth
18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter
19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground
20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub
21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub
23. Belfast by Orbital
24. Clouds by The Jayhawks
25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral
26. Everlasting Love by Love Affair
27. Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke
28. Teenage Kicks by The Undertones
29. Shaky Ground by Sneeze
29. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells
30. I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor
31. The State We're In by The Chemical Brothers w/ Beth Orton
32. Sunshine After The Rain by Ellie Greenwich
33. Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem
34. Mondo 77 by Looper
35. Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton
36. Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats
37. How High by The Charlatans
38. I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands
39. Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.
40. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective
41. There She Goes by The Las
42. We're Going To Be Friends by White Stripes
43. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo
44. Sister Rena by Lomond Campbell
45. Revolution by The Beatles
46. Lazarus by The Boo Radleys
47. Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays
48. American Trilogy by The Delgados
49. Loser by Beck 
50. Silent Sigh by Badly Drawn Boy
51. Comedy by Shack
52. Take The Skinheads Bowling by Camper Van Beethoven
53. Freak Scene by Dinosaur Jr


Thursday 4 May 2023

Freak Scene

Trust Me #53 - Freakscene by Dinosaur Jr

Freak Scene was my introduction to Dinosaur Jr. This was probably back in 1992 and very probably through my  my friend Grant Mitchell who used to make me some super cool mixtapes. Grant was so on it with Americian independent guitar music. Freak Scene led me to buy the bands Fossils compilation on CD from Missing Records and I've followed the band ever since.

Freak Scene was originally released in 1988, as a single and on Bug, the bands 3rd album. J Mascis' guitar sounds absolutely captivated me. In Freak Scene he has a couple of Townsend windmill moments after the first verse (that contains the memorable line the weirdness flows between us), then there is a heavy chugging riff before J breaks out of it with a super clean jangle sound, before going back to the heavy chug.

As the second verse begins (the first repeated again) there is an acoustic, J's vocal is pretty hushed but then things explode after 90-seconds as Mascis sings;

So fucked I can't believe it

If there's a way I wish we'd see it

How it could work, just can't conceive it

Oh what a mess, is just to leave it

Mascis then shreds his guitar gloriously, creating a truly beautiful noise. Then it cuts as he brilliantly rhymes thrill you, kill you, will you, still you - utter genius. Super cool and outstanding use of swearing.

Sometimes I don't thrill you

Sometimes I think I'll kill you

Just don't let me fuck up will you

'cause when I need a friend it's still you

Dinosaur Jr then make the last 60-seconds sound like being in an indie punk guitar band is the most fun thing you could ever do with your life. In fact they do that throughout the song! But they really hammer it in the last minute! They sound so fucking cool, fun, fresh and vital.

Verse, guitars, repeat verse in a different way, chorus?, guitar solo, verse, another guitar solo.

Long live J Mascis!

Original video

Trailer for Freakscene - The Story Of Dinosaur Jr

A list of all previous songs I've blogged about in my Trust Me feature are listed below, along with links to each blog. Freak Scene joins them.

I've also collated them all into a playlist on Spotify that you can find by searching for Everything Flows - Trust Me , or you can CLICK HERE

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton
1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells
2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond
3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell
4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot
5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon
6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras
7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans
8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland
9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave
10. Sometimes by James
11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time
12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre
13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields
14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals
15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser
16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes
17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth
18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter
19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground
20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub
21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub
23. Belfast by Orbital
24. Clouds by The Jayhawks
25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral
26. Everlasting Love by Love Affair
27. Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke
28. Teenage Kicks by The Undertones
29. Shaky Ground by Sneeze
29. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells
30. I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor
31. The State We're In by The Chemical Brothers w/ Beth Orton
32. Sunshine After The Rain by Ellie Greenwich
33. Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem
34. Mondo 77 by Looper
35. Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton
36. Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats
37. How High by The Charlatans
38. I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands
39. Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.
40. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective
41. There She Goes by The Las
42. We're Going To Be Friends by White Stripes
43. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo
44. Sister Rena by Lomond Campbell
45. Revolution by The Beatles
46. Lazarus by The Boo Radleys
47. Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays
48. American Trilogy by The Delgados
49. Loser by Beck 
50. Silent Sigh by Badly Drawn Boy
51. Comedy by Shack
52. Take The Skinheads Bowling by Camper Van Beethoven



Tuesday 2 May 2023

James are 40 at the Armadillo Glasgow

 James has always made a point of doing things differently. It's what has kept them fresh (as a daisy) after all these years ... 40 of them! So, last night, James brought their James Lasted tour to the Armadillo in Glasgow and their performance displayed the energy, boldness and inventive playfulness to suggest they will be going for many more years yet.

To celebrate 40-years as a band, James decided to go on tour with a 22-piece orchestra and gospel choir! No messing! And certainly no expense spared.

From the very off this tour (and the forthcoming album recorded with the orchestra and choir) was billed as greatest hits, fan favourites and deep cuts. I excitedly poured over setlists from previous shows in advance and the ecstatic reviews coming in from fans on social media had me playing non-stop James leading up to the show. I hadn't listened to some of the songs the band were playing in years.

My brother had bagged us tickets centre stage and 6 rows from the front. The Armadillo chairs are extremely comfortable and I joked to the lady to my left that the DJ (playlist) should play some more upbeat tunes before the band come on, so we don't fall asleep!

There was no danger of that. The orchestra (Orca 22), choir and conductor took to the stage before the band walked on ... but no Tim Booth ...

Ah, but Tim was here, up on the top floor, spotlight upon him, singing Magic Bus (not The Who song) and causing those below him to crane their necks to get a view.

Dust Motes was spine tinglingly beautiful and an early outing for She's A Star got a few of the audience on their feet, while the chorus of We're Going To Miss You was exceptionally powerful, lifted by strings, choir and audience backing the band. I think the band expected more from the Glasgow crowd (although man had travelled from further afield) though and Saul Davies said as much, commenting that he knew it was a Monday night and that we might be hungover ... blame Tim for the setlist!

Tim also commented a couple of times through the performance. Saying he had been saying to the orchestra - wait until we get to Glasgow. Also mentioning that the last time they played the Hydro 500 people had been ejected! Saul also used the old trick of playing the Glasgow crowd by saying Edinburgh had been a lot louder a couple of nights previously.

This wasn't a normal James show though - if there is such a thing as a normal James show!

Photo from @pmjawn

Hymn From A Village, dating back to 1985 was played with verve, enthusiasm and passion. The Lake (a b-side) was utterly gorgeous, you could have heard a pin drop. 

James are playing two sets/performances on this tour. They ended the first with a stunning Tomorrow that had a large percentage of the crowd out of their seats and dancing. It felt like a shame to pause it for a break as everyone was warmed up and going.

After a 30-minute break we were back and in our seats. The orchestra took to the stage and then Tim came on and said we're just waiting for the conductor. He played it beautifully as everyone around me joked that he must be at the toilet. Booth picked up his baton, dropped it, and the orchestra responded to his every movement as he picked it up and dropped it again. The conductor eventually came on and Orca 22 started playing something really beautiful. Tim started to sing Sit Down. It was a really stunning arrangement. There was no need for the choir to be on stage.

Say Something was sublime, Tim wandered through the crowd and was singing to someone at the end of our row. Moving On was dedicated to everyone who had lost someone over the last few years. The hook leave a little light on, leave a little light on was sung heartily by all and Andy Diagram's trumpet sounded beautifully poignant.

Alaskan Pipelines from the Pleased To Meet You album was seemingly created for a night like this. Gentle, dreamy and emotional. 

I wasn't expecting Seven to get an outing. It sounded even more pure, perfect and heavenly than ever. The chiming guitars and soaring strings with Tim singing love can change anything moved me, I was lost in the moment.

And that is exactly what James wanted from the night. the band and venue politely asked fans to switch off their phones and refrain from taking pictures or filming during the show. Hence I have lifted a couple of photos from the end of the night from social media.

 I jumped to the toilet as James started Medieval from 1988's Strip Mine album. It seemed to me like a few people were leaving the venue, unhappy with the performance.

I rushed back as quickly as possible and was able to stand at the back of the hall for an immensely powerful ending with everyone singing we are sound, we are sound, we are sound.

I was kind of hoping the band would swiftly start to play Sound! What an intro that would have been!

All The Colours Of You transforms into the closing mantra of Many Faces, crowd and choir as one.

After a very short encore (the orchestra don't leave the stage) the band return to play a string laden Sometimes that melts my heart and I got a little dust in my eyes. A rousing Nothing But Love has everyone on their feet, the Monday night show with seats is forgotten and Tim knows it, quickly rounding everyone to play one more - Getting Away With It -  one of my very favourite James songs!

A memorable night. The orchestra and choir brought out the best in the band, re-energising some 'lost' songs and reinventing some favourites. 

Although it was a mixed bag for many. Some songs, understandably, landed better than others. Tim seemed to be aware of that, facing the audience and saying not what you expected, huh? at one point.

Having monitored setlists and social media reviews of the first 4-nights, I knew what was coming. The introduction of Born of Frustration and Laid in place of some lesser known songs would have got the Glasgow crowd on their feet a little more. But when have James got the bends from pressure? ;-)