Named after the debut single by Teenage Fanclub.
This blog is all about being a music lover in Glasgow; reviews, interviews, memories, old faves, new discoveries (past and present), playlists and more. Thanks for visiting - I hope you discover something amazing you have never heard before, or that you rediscover an old favourite.
Regular features/playlists; Never Ending Mixtape / Cover Version of the Month/ Trust Me.
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Trust me #114 Kiss My Love Goodbye by Bettye Swann
Bettye Swann's Kiss My Love Goodbye recently came on while I was playing my Never Ending Mixtape. I must admit to being taken by surprise, it sounded familiar, but I'd forgotten it! I must have played the song at least a dozen times over the next few days. And I have been playing it regularly ever since.
As I tend to say when I fall for a song - this is an absolute gem! Kiss My Love Goodbye is on Swann's Complete Atlantic Recordings album, one that I have just vowed to order on vinyl after blasting it out regularly and dancing around our kitchen.
In fact, I've been playing this song so much that my youngest daughter Rosie now recognises it and sings along to the hook!
Swann released her debut single at the age of 20 in 1964, having already performed in a trio. Swann was one of 14 children - so if she wanted any attention she had to stand out. Her voice might have helped!
The 60's saw Swann have some success with singles like Make Me Yours, which topped the Billboard R&B chart in 1967, the Summer of Love. There was also a trilogy of albums.
Swann signed to Atlantic Records in 1972 but only seemed to release 7 singles due to label politics. The Complete Atlantic Recordings brings together 23-tracks, everything she recorded for Atlantic, including 7 previously unreleased songs.
So check the full album out, but start with Kiss My Love Goodbye! Incredibly, this was a b-side! It was on the flip of 1974's The Boy Next Door.
Kiss My Love Goodbye shimmers into life with a drum roll, lush strings and then Swann begins singing as the beat kicks in over CHIC style rhythm guitar.
What a groove! I can imagine this packing floors at a northern soul night thanks to the sweeping, cinematic strings. The production and feel in the recording is sublime, it hits the sweet spot.
Swann's vocals are super cool, delivering a lyric about finishing a broken relationship and moving on with a coolness that feels empowering rather than heartbreaking. Her voice rises at all the right times. Swann doesn't wanna hear any sweet talkin' from the guy who has done her wrong. She is leaving, outta there - just ease on out of my way.
The next verse is great, Swann telling him she saw him with her own eyes, also admitting that if she hadn't, she might have fallen for his lies - again!
I admit you were slick
You sure played it cool
I may be a little slow learning
But Mama didn't raise no fool
The little flourish and lift in the strings into the next section/verse is seamless. Swann is in the zone, telling him like it is. I love the flow and emphasis on the last line.
The taxi is waiting, I've heard your sad song
About the time you realise I'm leaving
That's the time I'll be long gone
The Supremes-y guitar break here over the strings is glorious. And then there is the kiss off chorus.
So you can kiss my love goodbye
You can kiss my love goodbye
It's a cool, cold day to you know where
You can kiss my love goodbye
Ooft what a tune. There is another run through the verses above and into a final couple of choruses, the backing vocals are sublime and Swann really sounds like she is super happy singing this song.
Kiss My Love Goodbye is added to my Trust Me playlist; search for Everything Flows - Trust Me on Spotify or CLICK HERE. Check below for all previous blogs in my Trust Me series.
105-107. Wigan Casino - Three Before Eight - Time Will Pass You By by Tobi Legend, Long After Tonight Is All Over by Jimmy Radcliffe, I'm On My Way by Dean Parrish
I often think that Happy Mondays don't get the credit they deserve. They were like nothing before or since. Unmanageable, inventive, street wise, not only at the heart of the scene, but dealing drugs for the scene and also soundtracking it. Of the time, but completely different from any other band around.
24-Hour Party People was the title of their third single and it described them perfectly. The Mondays lived and breathed the lifestyle. It seemed like they didn't stop from 1987 - 1992, releasing 4 albums and a string of singles.
The band were self confessed drug fuelled scallies and chancers. Their don't give a f**k attitude was pure punk. Happy Mondays were out for a ride and they were going to ride things until the wheels fell off.
Would anyone other than Tony Wilson and Factory Records have invested so much time, patience and money in Shaun Ryder and co? The Mondays grew and developed with the times, but there is also an element of the band being in the right place, the right city (Manchester), with access to the right club (the Hacienda), at the right time (Acid House), when the right drug came out (ecstasy) and on the perfect record label.
The Mondays had something; raw and untamed. Pure but dirty. Post punk, post funk, double double good. Wilson saw it and so did New Order, Mike Pickering and others in and around the Factory scene. The band learned to play their instruments along the way - but they always had an ear and feel for a groove. Producers helped bring some structure to their madness - John Cale, Martin Hannett, Paul Oakenfold . Listen back to those first few albums and you can see the direction of travel and how producers helped them to develop their sound.
You couldn't create the Mondays. They were real, genuine and complete one-offs. That's what made them so magical. You didn't know what they were going to do next - what they would create, what Ryder would say or do, or if they would show up! They had the look, the flares, the drugs, the club, the label, the songs, the producers, the front man and ... Bez!
Listening back to some of my favourite Mondays tunes, watching YouTube clips and reading about their adventures has been immensely entertaining. My big takeaway has been how integral Mark Day's guitar is to a lot of the Mondays songs, especially my favourites. The reverb drenched Performance, the baggy riff that is central to Kinky Afro, the scuzzed Chic riff on WFL .. Day (and indeed the rest of the band) are rarely talked about when it comes to the Mondays. Along with Gaz Whelan on drums and Paul Ryder on bass, the beats and grooves they conjured up were sensational.
Against all the odds, Ryder and Bez and co are still touring and will be playing 3 sold out nights at the Barrowland Ballroom next week to celebrate 35-years of their seminal Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches album.
Here, in no particular order, are 5 of my favourite Happy Mondays songs (moments and stories!).
1. Performance
The Happy Mondays drug consumption was merrily discussed in the music weeklies as much as their music, if not more. And no wonder! They revelled in the lifestyle, on stage and off. And ... they made it look fun, to the extent they turned Manchester into Madchester. Things were bright for a long, long time, before they turned decidedly darker.
The first time I heard Performance was on a Happy Mondays and Stone Roses VHS cassette bootleg that I bought from a record fair. The bootleg mashed together band interviews, performances and videos recorded from the TV. I played that video to death.
Photo by Kevin Cummins
My jaw dropped when I saw The Mondays playing Performance on Tony Wilson's Other Side Of Midnight show. Visibly off their heads, Bez dancing in a trance around the set, looking like he is attempting the breast stroke through air. Ryder just eggs him on, vibing off him. The chemistry, no pun intended, between them is incredible. At 1-minute 42 seconds into this performance, Ryder is literally playing his maracas on Bez. The energy is off the scale. I can't take my eyes off them, even all these years down the lines.
The reverb on the guitar is sublime, The Mondays are completely locked in to create an infectious groove, while Ryder and Bez look like they are having the time of their lives. Bez, eyes shut, just constantly grooving. Ryder somehow loses his glasses and at 2-minutes 40 seconds, when Mark Day takes off on an inspired solo, Shaun is off to groove with Bez, squatting, vibing, his mate is lost in the groove. Utterly spellbinding.
2. Kinky Afro
Late 1990, certainly in terms of chart performance, was peak Happy Mondays. Step On, the lead single from Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches reached number 5 in the charts in spring and seemed to hang around all summer. Kinky Afro, the follow up, wasn't released until October and it also reached number 5.
The groove of the song originated from bass player Paul Ryder jamming around Hot Chocolate tunes that he had been listening to. Gaz Whelan came up with some beats and the working title of the song was Groovy Afro, changed to Kinky Afro after The Farm released their Groovy Train single. They took the groove out to LA where the band were going to work with Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osbourne.
Oakenfold and Osbourne cleaned and polished the Mondays sound. They kept the grooves that the band had displayed on the likes of Wrote For Luck and Hallelujah, but gave them a sheen that made them more radio and chart friendly. What would Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches have sounded like if Martin Hannett had continued as a producer following his work on Bummed?
Photo by Kevin Cummins
Any excuse to get on an E!
However, the band had already moved on with the W.F.L single that saw Vince Clarke and Paul Oakenfold (through his Think About The Future) remix Wrote For Luck.
The change in producer certainly helped with the Mondays sound. Some would say they transformed it. However the move from recording Bummed in Stockport to Pills ... in the sunshine of Los Angeles also played a part. You can almost feel the sunshine and warmth coming out of the record. Factory also licensed the album to London Records - the Mondays were going big time.
The groove is there from the off, synth strings, Day's guitar riff, then Ryder coming in with a catchy vocal melody with self-confessional and self-reflective lyrics.
Son, I'm thirty
I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirty
And I don't have a decent bone in me
What you get, is just what you see, yeah
Ryder's hook for the chorus is a cross between Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Lady Marmalade by Labelle. The instrumental section comes back to Day's circular guitar riff. The video is like the Mondays take on Robert Palmer's classic Addicted To Love promo - more colour, street clothes for the band and Shaun's hairstyle looking like he could be in the Inspiral Carpets.
It was the first song they'd written that felt like a massive pop song. Rowetta, The Guardian, 2014
3. Stinkin' Thinkin'
Tales of the Mondays heading to Barbados to record Yes Please, their fourth album, are legendary. Factory allocated a phenomenal £150,000 budget and Barbados was suggested as a location as there was no heroin available. However, there was a bountiful supply of crack. The Mondays, by all accounts, were in complete disarray there were marriage breakdowns, copious amounts of drugs and alcohol and mere scraps of songs to take to Barbados.
Shaun Ryder reportedly spent 20-hours a day smoking crack. Bez broke his arm 3 times - crashing a car, in a speedboat accident and when his girlfriend sat on it. This resulted in some legendary photos of the dancer with an external metal brace pinning his arm together.
Ryder sold his clothes for crack, sun loungers for crack and even held the master tapes to ransom. The £150,000 that had been budgeted was now a drop in the ocean. 5-weeks in, the Mondays had only completed one song. The album eventually cost £380,000!
Despite the frazzled and fractured state and status of the band, Stinkin' Thinkin' is a gem. The groove is like Barry White and his band if they landed in Manchester and had a weekend at the Hacienda - soul funk sleaze, super cool. Ryder is half singing, half whispering;
Kiss me for old times sake
Kiss me for making you wait
Day's guitar lifts off a little, in tandem with Shaun changing the vocal melody
I've got to pick out what's in the pockets
So I can leave those pockets clean
It's a delicious groove, the Mondays just keep it going and Ryder, as he always does to the best grooves and riffs, lifts his own game too. Rowetta's vocals add extra soul and a club feel. This is a real favourite of mine.
4. W.F.L. - The Vince Clark Remix
For their 1988 Bummed LP, that Wrote For Luck featured on, the band worked with Martin Hannett, consuming ecstasy on a daily basis and taking in all kinds of influences to create sounds on whatever instruments they could get their hands on.
Hannett found an incredible guitar sound for Mark Day, one that, even through all the synths and beats, is central to Wrote For Luck. A funk punk Chic sound, scuzzed up and drenched in reverb.
Wrote For Luck starts at pace, big beats and Day's guitar over the top, Shaun then begins to sing and spout his unique poetry over the top.
You were wet, but you're getting drier
You used to speak the truth
But now you're liar
You used to speak the truth
But now you're clever
The original version of Wrote For Luck has a sense of urgency and even danger to it; a raw white boy funk groove stretched out to a little over 6-minutes, riding on Day's guitar, Shaun groaning and moaning an extra little melody to add to the feeling.
Vince Clarke, in his W.F.L remix totally gets the groove and brings the bass to the fore, the guitars (at least at the start) are gone, the beats are more clubby, the synths are making all kinds of cool noises and it's Shaun at the heart. The original raw version is just cleaned up a little, becoming more clinical ... more chemical.
The guitar groove is finally dropped in for the last 2-minutes and it sounds even more glorious over the menacing bass groove that Clarke has created and the clubby beats. The video captured the times perfectly - Ryder off his face in a club, ecstasy fuelled grin plastered on his face, with everyone around him going for it big time. FULL BLOG HERE
5. Hallelujah - Club Mix
It's difficult to pinpoint peak Happy Mondays. In terms of success, there is no doubt that it was the Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches album, singles, tours and festivals. Musically and in terms of being completely in the zone as a band (totally original) and with culture, I'd argue that it was in the last quarter of 1989 through the W.F.L single, which was followed by the Madchester and Hallelujah EP's, just before the whole rave/house music scene went overground.
The Mondays released their Madchester Rave On EP in November 89, with Hallelujah as the lead track. Memorably, they played Top of the Pops with fellow Mancunians The Stone Roses who brought out the phenomenal Fools Gold 9.53 the same month. Check my blog on that landmark release HERE.
Ryder and Mani discussed taking acid and mixing the bands up, but I'm glad that didn't happen. The Roses went out and smashed it out the park, looking impossibly cool. Their appearance on TotP is still discussed regularly to this day. For some reason, the Mondays isn't.
Kirsty MacColl joins them in double denim (she sang on one of the remixes) and the TotP camera doesn't really know whether it should be focusing on Ryder and Bez or not! Given the amount of times it pans away from them for extended passages, I like to imagine the producer and directors of the show screaming 'move away from the mad men, not the mad men!'
The Hallelujah Club Mix has both Andy Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold working on their magic on the Mondays sound. The result is sensational. Like a pure MDMA rush - a synth bass groove, a scream of hallelujah, chemical beats, house piano pushed to the fore ... Weatherall and Oakenfold have fun - dropping things in, taking them out, building it up, letting it fall and then lifting it higher.
Ryder is almost rapping in his own distinct Mancunian style;
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Shaun William Ryder
Will lie down beside you
Fill you full of junk
Then the Mondays go off on one, Day's piercing guitar then falls back to a dirty groove, things are stripped to the persistent house piano and a beat, Ryder returns and the Mondays, aided by Weatherall and Oakenfold, roll on. There is an energy and urgency to this song and mix that can't be replicated. Magical.
Released in 1995 on Creation Records, Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix album is home to some of the bands most beloved songs. About You, Sparky's Dream, Mellow Doubt, Neil Jung, Don't Look Back, Verismilitude, Discolite and Going Places are among the very best of their extensive back catalogue. Not to mention Tears, an underrated gem and Say No - surely one for Raymond to consider bringing back when the band tour later this year.
Teenage Fanclub were on fire. Remarkably, a further 11 original Blake, Love or McGinley originals are spread across the b-sides of the Neil Jung, Mellow Doubt and Sparky's Dream singles! In addition, there are choice cover versions of songs by Yo La Tengo, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rutles, The Buffalo Springfield, The Creation and Velvet Underground.
Back in the 90's, record labels chose to release multiple versions of the single with different b-sides to capitalise on the huge interest in CD singles. They were great value for money, tending to cost only £1.99 if you bought them on the day of release/first week of release.
As someone who was regularly in HMV Sauchiehall Street most Monday lunchtimes, this meant I had rich pickings! With The Grand Prix singles being a real treasure trove.
My Neil Jung single
and signed Grand Prix CD above
Teenage Fanclub were prolific through the 1990's. Releasing 7 albums (including The King) and (by my reckoning) 20 singles or EP's.
The CD singles from the bands Grand Prix were released in 2-parts, each with different b-sides. They also had slightly alternative versions of the lead song. There is another stunning album in there!
Reflecting on their career and particularly the era of b-sides, the band could consider a trilogy of b-sides compilation records. Or a box-set of rarities - sessions, live songs, songs that were on compilation records ... many have never been release on vinyl. I have heard through a number of sources that Raymond has an extensive (and carefully curated) archive of everything that the Fanclub has recorded.
Teenage Fanclub recorded Grand Prix in just 5-weeks. As a result, there is a warmth and freshness to the album that also comes across in the b-sides. I'm guessing that the covers (and even some of the others) were recorded live or within a couple of takes.
Here is a run through the 18 b-sides from the Grand Prix singles. An interview from around this time suggests that the band considered a b-sides album entitled Pit Stop ... or Pits Top!
Also, check this YouTube playlist of Fanclub b-sides and rarities. Enjoy.
Neil Jung b-sides
My Life(McGinley)
Every Step Is A Way Through (Love)
The Shadows(Blake)
Traffic Jam (Blake)
Hi-Fi (McGinley)
I Heard You Looking (Yo La Tengo cover)
The Neil Jung b-sides see Norman sounding beautifully melancholic and reflective on The Shadows. Traffic Jam has a gorgeous sparseness to the verses, Blake delivers a really relaxed vocal performance that I love, before the song bursts into life for the chorus; things are changing, can't you see? the lights are turning green for you and me Raymond's guitar solo is glorious.
Speaking of Raymond. He delivers a couple of gems. My Life sounds almost demo like, with McGinley in typical autobiographical form. So many of his songs start with I ... Here, among other things, he is singing;
I'm tired of philosophy
I think that I know where I wanna be
Gerry's Every Step Is A Way Through is spellbinding, absolutely beautiful. I'd forgotten about this song until the band played it at Oran Mor in 2008 and I was convinced it was a cover. But no, it's a Gerard Love original that is sprinkled with the same fairydust quality of the 60's choice cuts that he loves. Look at the fun Norman is having on the outro from their Manchester show in 2018 HERE
Meanwhile, TFC's epic cover of Yo La Tengo's instrumental I Heard You Looking is 12 minutes 47 seconds of guitar heaven. Your spine will tingle as the intensity builds and your emotions will be heightened by the sound of Blake, Love, McGinley and Quinn at their very best. If you've never heard this then CLICK HERE to check it on YouTube. If you have, then I'm sure you won't need any encouragement to listen again. I'd love the band to play and jam on this live.
Mellow Doubt
Getting Real (Love)
Some People Try To Fuck With You(Blake)
You're My Kind(McGinley)
About You (acoustic) (McGinley)
Have You Ever Seen The Rain (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Between Us (Rutles cover)
The Mellow Doubt CD singles contain 2 of my very favourite Fanclub flip sides. Gerry's Getting Real is a garage guitar pop banger, the band fly through it and the energy leaps out to grab you, shake you and lift you. A gem.
Speaking of gems, Norman's Some People Try To F**k With You is a sparkling example of author and band at their best. Blake has written so many songs about love that his fans can relate to. Here, he cuts to the chase with the chorus;
Some people try to fuck with
They'll get down on your luck with you
For covers, I'm pretty sure that this was my introduction to Creedence Clearwater Revival, resulting in me buying their exceptional Chronicles compilation album.
Sparky's Dream
Burned (Buffalo Springfield cover)
For You (McGinley)
Headstand(Love)
Try And Stop Me(The Creation cover)
That's All I Need To Know (McGinley)
Who Loves The Sun (Velvet Underground cover)
God bless Teenage Fanclub and their b-sides. They turned me on to so much good music. Burned is incredible guitar pop music and resulted in me buying some Buffalo Springfield albums from FOPP.
Try And Stop Me is a cover by The Creation (the band that gave Alan McGee the name for his label). It was really Ride's cover of How Does It Feel To Feel? that prompted me to buy their best of compilation. Norman's voice is beautiful on The Velvets Who Loves The Sun.
Raymond's For You is pretty emotional, his voice and guitar sounds really tug on the heart strings, while his That's All I Need To Know has a beautiful hook - it's your love, I dream of and that's all I need to know. I love his voice on this.
Gerry was quite simply on fire during this period. Look at his songs on the album, plus his b-sides. Headstand is a 3-minute rush with Gerry sounding chilled while singing about sunlight in your head, before a beautiful line while you get so high coming down leading into the chorus;
She wants to be thrilled by you, she wants to be thrilled by you
It's not every day that you meet an international pop star!
I was browsing Instagram at the start of March when a post from Assai Records Glasgow popped into my feed. Robyn, the pop genius, was coming to the store to sign copies of her new album Sexistential.
Really?
Robyn? In town? For a record store signing session? 3-months ahead of her Hydro show?
I took a chance, ordered a copy of the record for my daughter Rosie who is slowly but surely building a cool collection that includes; Robyn (my sister Carla had got her a cracking ltd edition RSD album for Christmas), Gracie Abrams, CMAT, Madonna and Taylor Swift. I also ordered a CD to ensure I could definitely get in with Rosie.
As time progressed, I really wondered if I was dreaming and found myself checking the Assai Insta post and my email confirmation on multiple occasions. But yes, it seemed like Robyn was coming to Glasgow and Rosie and I were going to meet her.
Assai sent an email the day before the event to say that we should get there for 1.50pm. So, on the day ... still scarcely believing we were going to meet an international pop star, a true pioneer of synth pop, a brave woman who stepped away from the industry cycle to do things on her own terms, songwriter and performer of pure pop magic ... Rosie and I jumped the 1144 train into town. We grabbed lunch at the excellent Franco Manco near Central, walked up to Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street (where Rosie grabbed the new Hannah Gold book) and then sauntered further up to Assai at around 1.30pm.
I was surprised to find the shop pretty quiet, but posters were up, staff were getting ready and then (by chance) someone said; 'Are you Murray?' To which I replied; 'Are you Radhika?' After we both confirmed we were who each other thought, I introduced Rosie, to which Radhika replied 'Yes, I've seen you in Since Yesterday.'
It was lovely to meet in person. Radhika very kindly answered some questions for my blog back in January. I'm excited to hear Cine-Pop, her forthcoming debut album and finally get to see Radhika perform live with her band at Mono on 5th June. TICKETS
Radhika told us that Robyn would be arriving soon and that we should join the queue outside. Thankfully, the rain (which has been super heavy overnight and through the morning) had stopped. We sheltered in a doorway round the corner and got caught up in the excitement when 2 blacked out mini-buses arrived and Robyn's team came out to meet the Assai team. We could see someone make a call to confirm everything was OK and one of the buses zipped off to collect Robyn.
The Assai team started to move people in, but thankfully we were just on the corner when Robyn arrived and went in the side entrance. It was cool to see Rosie getting excited. As was I! We enjoyed some chat with a couple of lovely guys behind us, one in particular was a huge Robyn fan and had a clutch of her records with him. His friend/partner had an amazing pair of shows on - I was glad he got inside before the rain came back on!
Robyn was in, signing records and posing for photos, and we began to edge round the shop to the front of the queue. Radhika was taking peoples phones to ensure they got photos, so it was lovely to hand my phone to a young musician to take a photo of Rosie meeting another.
Rosie was the only kid there! Robyn smiled as she approached with her record (vinyl as the hipsters in the shop call it) and asked her name. 'Is that Rosie with a Y or I E?' There was a short chat and then Robyn ushered Rosie to come alongside her and she put her arm around her which was lovely.
And then it was my turn. Robyn asked if the CD should be made out to me, or Rosie. I said Rosie, and talked of how she had a record player and was enjoying buying albums and how she loved music and dancing. As I then grabbed a photo, I also said, thanks for creating such amazing pop music.
Dancing On My Own, Hang With Me, Dopamine, With Every Heartbeat, Call Your Girlfriend ... as mentioned at the start of this blog, Robyn is a genuine pop genius.
Sexistential is a cracking album. Dopamine (the first single) is sublime, Rosie and I first heard it on 6Music while driving home from her dance class. 'Is that Robyn?' she asked, leaning forward to turn the radio up as familiar sounding synths kicked in. Indeed it was Robyn, with an outstanding burst and rush of electronic pop brilliance.
Nothing's ever gonna cut you as deep
As the very first time
Nothing's ever gonna taste just as sweet
As when it is just out of reach
Blow My Mind (about her son) is a cool groove that melts my heart.
It's like you're the cloud underneath my feet
And you're the reason that I breathe
Light Up is spine tingling with brilliant synth sounds, the song threatens to drop big beats several times but somehow refrains. Album closer Into The Sun is all kinds of 80's pop bliss with a modern sheen. 9 songs, 29 minutes, brilliant pop music that will leave you wanting to play it all again.
