Lay This Burden Down

Trust me #120
Lay This Burden Down by Mary Love

Discogs can provide a good indication of the value soul fans place on a song and record. 215 people have a 7-inch of Mary Love's Lay This Burden Down, but 1,498 want a copy. For those willing to sell, they can get up to £300 from collectors and fans willing to go that high. Fear not, the good folk at Kent Records have included the song on a couple of their excellent compilations - which is where I discovered the song.

I rediscovered it recently while browsing the soul section in Monorail with my sister Carla on Record Store Day. I advised Carla to get the Mary Love compilation that they had. And I'm glad that she did. Little sisters don't always take their big brothers advice!

Lay This Burden Down is 2-minutes and 35 seconds that are simultaneously heartbreaking and utterly exhilarating. Released in 1967, the energy leaps out of the record from the off, the rumbling bass and piano are joined by a fast and steady beat. The energy rises at 10 seconds in when Mary Love begins to sing.

I know I'm heading in the wrong direction

'Cause I'm weak from the lack of affection

I've been afraid to accuse you my darling

'Cause I didn't wanna lose you my baby

I've been knowing about your other love a long time

Given you a chance to make up your mind

Then Love explodes into the chorus, recognising what she needs to do, learning from her tears.

But

Tear stains on my pillowcase

Tells me not to hesitate

I've got to lay this burden down

I've got to lay this burden down

I've got to lay this burden down

The arrangement by Arthur Wright and production by Richard Parker is sublime, absolutely perfect. Everything flows, the band (the Arthur Wright Orchestra) are exceptional and Mary Love is completely in the zone. No wonder this song sends people on to dance floors to this very day. 

The second verse feels even faster, the thunderous wall of sound, driving beat and bass that feels like a heart about to burst. The pace is phenomenal, Love singing about the stress of trying to hold on to a love. 

And then back to the chorus, Love's tear soaked pillow cases underlining what she already knows in her heart of hearts. Love's voice entwined with her backing singers sounds sublime, through speakers or on headphones (for extra appreciation). Heartbreaking and euphoric.

It's grip on my heart, I've got to shake it

Hang around another boy, I've got to make it

I've got to get away so I won't be saved

By the things that make me weaker and fall deeper

I've made up my mind, to make a change

My whole life, to rearrange

But

Tear stains on my pillowcase

Tells me not to hesitate

I've got to lay this burden down

I've got to lay this burden down

I've got to lay this burden down, yeah,

After an instrumental Love's voice soars and brings us back to the chorus, with a little bit of glorious ad libbing afterwards over her backing singers. What an absolute gem of a song, so much soul and emotion in just 2-minutes 35 seconds - POW!

Lay This Burden Down 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.

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

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From 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. Freakscene by Dinosaur Jr

54. Thank You For Being You by The Pastels

55. I Think I'm In Love by Spiritualized

56. Chestnut Mare by The Byrds

57. Cannonball by The Breeders

58. Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

59. You Make Me Weak At The Knees by Electrelane

60. Lucky by Radiohead

61. Strange Currencies by R.E.M.

61. I Am The Cosmos by Chris Bell

62. Like A Ship (Without A Sail) by Pastor TL Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir

63. Nothing But A Heartache by The Flirtations

64. Made of Stone by The Stone Roses

65. Tonight In Belfast by Orbital, David Holmes, DJ Helen and Mike Garry

66. Anything by Adrianne Lenker

67. I Hold Something In My Hand by Bill Ryder-Jones

68. I Meant Every Word by Burnett Sisters

69. Dream Baby Dream by Suicide

70. Stove by The Lemonheads

71. Red Lady by Phil Cordell

72. Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb

73. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart by Taylor Swift

74. Turnin' My Heartbeat Up by The M.V.P.'s

75. Razzle Dazzle Rose by Camera Obscura

76. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

77. The Rat by The Walkmen

78. My God Has A Telephone by Aaron Frazer

79. Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

80. Sweet and Tender Romance by The McKinleys

81. Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros

82. 69 Police by David Holmes

83. Hey Lisa by David Holmes

84. I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel

85. Kung Fu by Ash

86. Kids by MGMT

87. Slight Return by The Bluetones

88. Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band

89. Cut Your Hair by Pavement

90. Race for the Prize by The Flaming Lips

91. Waitin' for a Superman by The Flaming Lips

92. Acquiesce by Oasis

93. This Is Music by The Verve

94. Lone Swordsman by Daniel Avery

95. Sparky's Dream by Teenage Fanclub

96. Common People by Pulp

97. Let Our Love Grow Higher by Eula Cooper

98. Regret by New Order

99. Keep On Keepin' On by Nolan Porter

100. Sit Down by James (Live at G-Mex) by James

101. Never Lose Your Sense Of Wonder by Yeti

102. Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over by The Charlatans

103. Life Is Sweet by The Chemical Brothers 

104. How Can I Tell You (To Love Me More) by Brooke Coombe

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

108. Cobra by Geese

109. All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers

110. Vapour Trail by Ride

111. Teardrop by Massive Attack

112. Since I Left You by The Avalanches

113. Good Dancers by The Sleepy Jackson

114. Kiss My Love Goodbye by Bettye Swann

115. What Difference Does It Make? by The Smiths

116. Get Out Of My Dream by The Clouds

117. Sundress by Ben Kweller

118. I Love You by Primal Scream

119. Calico Skies by Paul McCartney

In Giraffe by Adventure Team

 

Over the last month I have really fallen for Adventure Team, a multi-national trio who are based in Berlin. The Monorail mailing list was responsible for my introduction to the band. This particular email was written by Lauren who also happens to be releasing Adventure Team's new album In Giraffe via her Heavenly Creatures record label.

Lauren's passion for this band and record leapt off my screen and into my heart. I checked out their 2018 album Anyone Can Draw and was immediately sucked in by the glorious guitar sounds spread beautifully throughout. Lauren has also snapped up The Cords (interview here), so I'm keeping a very close eye on Heavenly Creatures. It could be my new favourite record label!

Adventure Team are Jonathan, Ian and Juan and in the email Lauren wrote beautifully of the band driving 17-hours while listening to Teenage Fanclub, The Clean and Yo La Tengo. The trio were heading for a remote farmhouse north of Bordeaux, where they recorded In Giraffe in only 3-days. 

'There is one song that was written as a blatant Dinosaur Jr. rip-off ... Sucker from Outer Space ... as a reaction to getting constantly compared to them.' Jonathan

Guitar sounds crash, collide, jangle, blur and beautifully push the needle into red at times. The title comes from Marshall Rosenberg's theory that giraffes speak the language of the empathetic connection.

A friend turned me on to Marshall around the time I was writing the record. 

It's a plea for overcoming our differences with each other. Jonathan

Lets get back to the music!

Fuzzy, scuzzy guitars that can take off and soar, or just chime along in the background as if the band were recorded jamming and then came up with the vocals and melodies over the top.

Listen to the middle instrumental in Goodbye Zen Arcade head for the sun and then drop back down, or the intro to Quench (fantastic song title) that you'd happily let run on for 5-minutes. There's an urgency to Spinning, it sounds like vocals are traded and the guitars are just sublime.

Got off from a train

Same as yesterday

No-one said a word

My head gets spinning

Winegum is a real favourite of mine. There is another delicious intro that will make you pause and consider if electric guitars are capable of the coolest and most beautiful sounds of all time. Birds singing? Babies gurgling? Or Adventure Team jamming and sounding super glorious? I love that we go back a long, long time refrain.

Anyway, I was delighted to discover that Adventure Team were in a position to add two Scottish dates to their tour diary. So I got in touch to see if they would answer a few questions. Thanks to Jonathan for taking the time to answer.

Adventure Team play Bar BLOC, Glasgow on Thursday 13th June (free entry) and Leith Depot, Edinburgh on Friday 14th June.

Interview with Jonathan Stroemer from Adventure Team

EF - Who is in Adventure Team? How did you meet and form?

Adventure Team are Ian Tilling, Juan Carrizo and myself, Jonathan Stroemer. Ian, who plays drums in Adventure Team, is a musician, game programmer and astrophysicist originally from Shropshire. He also sings and plays guitar in his own fantastic band Grief Scene and he used to be in Trapped Mice, back when he was still living in Scotland and Leoprrrds during his early days in Berlin. 

Juan, our bass player, is a musician, videographer and DJ from Córdoba, Argentina. He used to play guitar in Les Leitmotif. Myself, I’m originally from a small village in the Sauerland, a rural area in the West of Germany. 

I started Adventure Team in 2015, as a vehicle for my songwriting. Around the late summer of that year, I met our first bass player Emile Cerf through a Craigslist ad, him and I shortly after recruited my old friend Malte Quiter on drums. We played our first show at The Sunday Matinee in November of that year. The Sunday Matinee is an inclusive, monthly DIY concert series friends of mine from bands like nunofyrbeeswax, Brabrabra, Apostrophe and Jetzt werd ich dumm had just started in Berlin around then. It’s actually still going, I joined them in organising the Matinee early in 2016. These days, besides a little bit of booking, I’m mostly doing sound on the actual days of the event. 

Before I moved to Berlin, I used to live in Hamburg for a few years, where besides failing to get together a band for my own stuff, I studied historical musicology. I still played lead guitar in a band with some friends of mine though and we played gigs around town. At the point I arrived in Berlin, I’d almost given up hope of ever finding people to play with— I remember thinking that perhaps being in a band was a thing of the past I as a late-born had missed out on. Thankfully, all that changed when my friend Bastian from the band I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, whom I’d just randomly met at Barry Burns’ Neukölln bar Das Gift, dragged me along to a Brabrabra gig, which was my first real touching point with the Berlin DIY music scene.

In the aftermath of our first gig at The Sunday Matinee, Emile, Malte and me started playing a lot of shows around Berlin and we went on a first short tour with nunofyrbeeswax around Northern Germany in 2016. We also played at a few small festivals. In 2017, we recorded our first album “Anyone Can Draw” with my friend Jaike Stambach. The album came out on cassette tape in early 2018 on Dutch indie label Geertruida. We continued to play around Berlin as much as we could, but Malte’s and Emile’s personal responsibilities made scheduling a real ordeal. In late 2019, Emile told us that he wanted to leave the band to focus on his illustration work. A few months passed without any leads for a successor and I was starting to feel pretty desparate, until one day in January 2020, out of the blue, Juan contacted the band account on social media. It turned out he’d seen us play with The Goon Sax and he was a fan of the band. Juan had just arrived in Berlin the previous year, via Copenhagen, which had been his first stop in Europe after having spent a year travelling and working around New Zealand. Him and I immediately bonded over our mutual fandom of Flying Nun Records (specifically Here Come The Cars by The Clean’s David Kilgour) and Television Personalities. About a month after we’d first met, we'd built up a live set again and we managed to book a few shows around Berlin for the spring of the same year. Of course, that’s when the pandemic started.

When live music finally came back in Berlin, quite a bit later than in the UK, it became apparent that Malte’s focus had shifted away from playing with the band. After a longer period of no communication whatsoever around the summer of 2022, fate had it that Ian was playing at The Sunday Matinee with his electronic solo project Hex Organ. As we were chatting, Ian signalled cautious interest in joining the band on drums, which was further propelled by the encouragement of his girlfriend Rachel. Apparently Anyone Can Draw had been on heavy rotation in their flat throughout the pandemic, so when we finally had a first practice together a few weeks later, he already had a pretty good grasp of some of the older material. Ian and I had already gotten to know each other at another Sunday Matinee a few years before, when he played with his band Leoprrrds. When we got re-acquainted with each other, it wasn’t long until we started identifying a lot of parallels in our respective upbringings—the rural environments we both grew up around, our first steps in the digital realm at the helm of the mighty Commodore Amiga 500, allergies we both share and of course a lot of musical overlap, the latter of which culminated in our simulaneous presence, unknowingly, at a bunch of Primavera Sound festivals in Barcelona in the late 2000s.

The songs on your new album sound very 'natural'. Do you take a lot of time on song structures and guitar sounds? Or does it all happen naturally through jams?

All of the songs on In Giraffe, with the exception of Spinning, had already been written by me before Ian completed the new line-up. So there wasn’t too much jamming going on for the most part. When I write a new song, I usually tend to write all the different instrumental parts at once. So when I come up with a melodic riff on the guitar, I usually already have a pretty defined idea of what the other instrumental parts are going to sound like. It’s just the way my brain works. 

Juan and I came up with Spinning during our first time we ever played together. It started out with this melody that Juan came up with on the bass, then we basically finished up the rest over the course of the next two hours and we recorded a demo of the song on a four-track tape machine in our practice room, with Juan scribbling his part of the makeshift lyrics onto an empty beer can. The finished song on the album doesn’t veer too far from this original version.

It does seem like we’re slowly gravitating towards writing more stuff together in recent times though, as the band is getting to know each other better. But I suppose that ’natural’ feeling might be what I’m listening for when I’m arranging a newly written song, like adding the right amount of salt while cooking, or finding the perfect composition for a photograph you’re taking. It does kind of feel like songs dictate their own form, but obviously that’s all informed by the music we’ve been listening to growing up, the music that shaped who we are. For me, all that started with The Beatles and Catholic hymns in church. It’s definitely true that I find myself strongly drawn to effective arrangements in songs—when I was in my early 20's, I got obsessed with the songwriting of Motown songwriters like Holland-Dozier-Holland and their chase of the perfect pop hit formula, which I used as an excuse to write my BA thesis about Motown and Stax. I love power pop like Big Star or The Flamin’ Groovies too. 

I guess I spend some time on getting the guitar sounds right the way that I'm hearing them in my head. Overall though, my general approach to all that hasn’t really changed very much in pretty much the last decade or so. I can basically make it work with whatever Fender-type guitar and a bunch of different gain pedals that I’m stacking in various parts of songs for different gain and volume levels. The quality of the result is more down to finding a combination of guitars, amps and pedals that match each other. My basic sound has been for years a Jazzmaster played through these two clones I built of the Crowther Audio Hotcake (a legendary, Flying Nun-related overdrive pedal from New Zealand) into a Vox AC30. I’d attribute the rest of the ’natural’ sound you’re perceiving to our recording engineer Jaike’s general, rather Albini-influenced approach. I guess he’s mostly just trying to capture the sound of the band in the room.

Speaking of the new album, I love the limited fanzine that comes with the Monorail edition. It sounds like you had quite a road trip en route to recording! Did your band mates turn you on to any songs you hadn't heard before?

The fanzine is all Lauren from our label Heavenly Creature Records' work. It’s been great to collaborate with her and to finally see what she would come up with. But yes, it’s been quite the road trip and one that all three of us thoroughly enjoyed undertaking! We pretty much listened to music non-stop on the way down there to France and back, just sort of picking music at random as certain bands and albums would come up while the three of us were chatting in the car. An album that really stuck with me since the trip was Nighthawks At The Diner by Tom Waits that Ian brought up. I knew the album from far far back, but it was Juan’s first time ever hearing any of Tom Waits’ stuff. Other than that, Juan introduced us to some Latin American indie, he’d specifically prepared a playlist for the trip. All three of us took a pretty deep dive into our musical biographies. I played the other two Daisies of the Galaxy by Eels at one point, a record that had a really formative influence on teenage me back in the early 2000s. And then there was stuff like Like Flies On Sherbet by Alex Chilton or Saturn Strip by Alan Vega.

As for the recording, how important was it to have a short and tight timeframe to get things done?

It definitely made for a very condensed experience. If you’re working against tight constraints like we were, you do get a different kind of determination in the back of your head to make every moment count. But I think I can speak for the whole band when I say that we went in pretty confident, since we knew we could a hundred percent trust Jaike. The rest was all on us. But that said, we also went into it with a mutual understanding that mistakes were bound to happen and we were actually welcoming the good kind of them. 

There of course were some hiccups too, but minor ones, that we managed to navigate pretty well, in my personal opinion. It’s a bit grandiose to pretend it was all part of the plan, since the way it happened was really due to considerations of scheduling and finances, since we’re all just regular people working jobs, with families, like myself, but there definitely is something about that whole Minutemen “We jam econo” kind of ethos when it comes to capturing the essence of what you’re doing artistically.

How was your album launch party? How does it feel to play your music live?

It was great, really. We had our friends Slipper join us for the occasion, one of my personal favourite bands in town and beyond. They write these great, timeless, folky songs with an almost pastoral feel. Two of them, Rachel and Sean, are actually Glasgow transplants. We were playing at this place in Friedrichshain called Loge, a relatively new venue in town, where we’d played before just once, the previous year. Ian has also played there twice already with Grief Scene. It’s this DIY kind of place that looks like an unassuming kind of bar from the street, but there's this great concert room in the catacombs underneath. Most importantly, people turned up and they enjoyed each of our sets, to the point where we were being asked to sign records by the end of the night. Other than that, it was just great to see a lot of familiar faces and chat away on the sidewalk outside the place.

And I love playing with Juan and Ian, both of them play with a lot of passion and at the same time, I know I can totally rely on them. They really make the songs come to life and I love how playing with the band, the songs start to develop a life of their own, independent of their humble beginnings of how I wrote them originally.

Will you make it over to Scotland to play a show or two?

As a matter of fact, yes, we are! We’ll play at Bloc in Glasgow on the 13th of June and in Edinburgh at Leith Depot on the following day, the 14th. Hope to see you there!

What are your plans with the band? Do you look ahead, or even get time to? Or just focus on enjoying the moment?

I guess we aren’t really looking so far ahead at this point, but the general plan is to play more shows, especially outside Berlin and abroad, and of course to keep making new music together. It’s a dream of Juan’s and mine to get to play in New Zealand sometime. But for starters, it would be great to just manage to book more shows outside Berlin in general. We’re keen.

Bo's New Haircut / Rather Not Stay by The Cords

Back in January I interviewed The Cords, a young band of two sisters from Inverkip. They'd been on my radar for a while, thanks to my own sister Carla who met them at Rig Arts Centre in Greenock where she helps out with a community class. Carla sent me recordings that she had captured on her phone and raved about their creative nature and pure raw pop guitar sound. Pretty much everyone who meets and sees The Cords live goes on to rave about them. 

Eva and Grace Tedeschi are young teenagers who, if they had a Delorean, access to a flux capacitor, plutonium or the ability to harness a bolt of lightning, would set their time circuit settings to circa 1985 so they could try and get a song on NME's C86 compilation. 

The Cords have racked up some impressive support slots (including The Vaselines and The Umbrellas) and won the heart of Lauren who runs the label Heavenly Creatures (check the Adventure Club album they have just released) and most (probably all) of Monorail where they regularly hang out and buy records.

And now, if you haven't seen them live yet, you can hear why.

Bo's New Haircut / Rather Not Stay is the debut single by The Cords, released on limited edition tape. 

Bo's New Haircut has an instantly pure and catchy vocal melody over fast paced guitar (with limited or no effects) and beats. Told from the perspective of their dog Bo, this is over in a beautiful 100 seconds and a flash of sunshine. Three verses. Fast paced fun indie guitar pop. Pure. No pretence. No bullshit. Just naturally cool without trying. 

I think it might be cool if I looked like you

Give me a new haircut and I will be happy

Grace (drums) and Eva (guitar an vocals) - The Cords

Rather Not Stay sounds absolutely ripe for a good old indie disco (National Pop League) at the Woodside Social Club! After a slow burning 20 second intro, the fuse is well and truly lit and the song explodes delightfully into life. Eva's vocals sound pretty angelic and her lyrics are full of teenage innocence and honesty. The chorus will win your heart.

I don't want to go away

But I'd rather not stay

Produced by Simon Liddell and Jonny Scott and mastered by Nova Sound, The Cords have captured a beautiful moment in time for their debut single. I can't wait to hear what they capture next.

The Monorail edition SOLD OUT IN 15-MINUTES!

A Heavenly Creatures version is out this evening complete with handwritten lyrics and lollipops! 

NOW - available on all streaming/download platforms.

Keep an eye on The Cords Instagram where they may be announcing a show real soon. 

Circus Moving On

 

Poster Paints - Simon & Carla by Craig McIntosh

You say I need to walk before I float

But I'm already flying every day

Poster Paints continue to build momentum towards their eponymous debut with the release of the spellbinding Circus Moving On as a single. 

This song does float and glide beautifully through the verses, it's mellow, tender, dreamy

Then ... at 48 seconds ... the slow burning star becomes a shooting star lighting up the night sky at pace. A double chorus is delivered with strings

You say I need to walk before I float

But I'm already flying every day

I didn't know that I would be the joke

That got you crying when you say my name

When you say my name

You got under my skin,  in my hair, on my lips

Under finger nails, on my hips

And in my dreams

You got under my skin,  in my hair, on my lips

Under finger nails, on my hips

Everything slows to leave space for the next couple of lines

Between my teeth, under sheets

In my dreams

And then ... we explode back into the chorus again. The strings sound even more cinematic, it might as well be your own heart strings that are in the song. 

Here is what Carla had to say; "We worked remotely with Andrew Jin Chung based in Canada for the beautiful string arrangements that really made the findal recording soar. The initial idea was based around Mellotron sounds after a discussion about how much Simon and I both loved the song All My Happiness Is Gone by Purple Mountains. Subconciously that was perhaps a jumping off point for the lyrics and combining a classic sad/happy juxtaposition between words and sounds. It's not the Poster Paints sound you might be expecting but it's one of our favourites on the album and is a joy to play live."

Poster Paints have just announced a show at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow to celebrate the release of their eponymous debut album. Come and hear this song live ... bring your heart strings.

CIRCUS MOVING ON (LYRIC VIDEO)

TICKETS HERE

PRE_ORDER ALBUM HERE (MONORAIL EXLUSIVE)

I Can Feel Your Love

Trust Me #30 - I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor

Whenever I visit the wonderful Monorail in Glasgow, I often gravitate to the soul section. There are always wonderful compilation records available and for me, they can easily make a case for the most value for money records in the store. Most recently, I've bought 2 of the Shaolin Soul compilations - songs that RZA from Wu-Tang Clan has sampled - he has unbelievable taste!

Kent Records are arguably the masters of the soul compilation. Originally released back in 1982, their For Dancers Only compilation is a record I pulled out of the rack while browsing in Monorail one day, many years ago. I am a real sucker for sleeve notes and some soul comps go to the trouble of having a track-by-track run through. 

On the For Dancers Only sleevenotes, the words every track is a great 60's dancer leapt out at me before the curator, Harboro' Horrace, went on to say the record was for dancers, drinkers and DJ's. Those words were enough for me.

That's the other reason why I love soul compilations - indeed, all kinds of compilations. They are great for DJ-ing as (unless your a purist) they mean you don't have to cart quite as many records around! When I bought this some friends and I would put on the odd DJ night in the downstairs basement of a pub called O'Henry's (now the Yes Bar) across from the famous Horseshoe Bar in Drury Street, Glasgow.

We always played vinyl. And on the rare occasions I do DJ, I like to use vinyl. I'm not a purist who plays originals only and I totally get the ease of using downloads/streaming, but I love the thrill of the needle drop and the skill of getting the next song right.

the aforementioned Shaolin Soul record - when I DJ'd in Mono in November 2021

Anyway, For Dancers Only was full of songs I could play when I DJ'd but one jumped out at me in particular - the mighty I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor.

After a glorious introduction with horns leading us into a groove, there is a run of I Can Feel Your Love backing vocals sounding sweet and sublime, and then we're introduced to Felice Taylor's voice cutting through; strong, true, soulful and packed with emotion.

I can't explain this feeling that I get when you pass by

I guess I always knew that your love would get me by and by

I see the stars above me and my heart starts to cry

Cause you're the only one that I need by my side

And I can feel your love, oh yeah, coming down on me

And I can feel your love, oh yeah, coming down on me

What a vocal! The song is relentless, the backing vocals are delicious, the beat is perfect and somehow beautifully understated, the horns stab in all the right places.

And then things are lifted in a short instrumental section with horns to warm hearts before kicking back in to soar higher.

My darling when, I feel alone

I feel like I, just can't go on

Nothing seems to go right

Baby when you're, out of sight

What a song! It never fails to make me smile or reach for the volume to crank it up. I Can Feel Your Love continues to blow me away every time I hear it. Enjoy.

CHECK ON YOUTUBE HERE

You'll find a list (and links to) of all the previous songs featured in the Trust Me series below.

And you can check them all out via my Spotify playlist by searching for Everything Flows - Trust Me or by CLICKING 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

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From 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

HMV

Between 1994 and probably until 2004, I must have spent a high percentage of my lunchtime's visiting HMV on Sauchiehall Street. My first job in Glasgow was along at Charing Cross so I'd skip along at lunchtime to browse and buy. I then moved to 301 St Vincent Street to work in the huge Abbey National building and befriended a couple of other music nuts and Monday lunchtimes would see us religiously head to HMV to check the latest releases.

At the height of Britpop I'd be buying 2 or 3 releases a week, often singles due to the sheer volume being released at that time and also due to the cheap pricing. 7-inch singles tended to be 99p in the first week of release to get a chart position. I even picked up very limited 7-inch vinyl by the likes of Elastica who pressed 500 or 1,000 of some of their first singles. Bargain!

The 90's was the era of the CD and for £1.99 you could pick up a 3 or 4 track CD single/EP. B-sides meant something, Oasis had gems like The Masterplan, Fade Away and Rockin' Chair on them, other bands used it to experiment or play covers.

I don't recall buying many vinyl albums from HMV. I tended to buy them from Missing Records on Oswald Street or when they moved to larger premises on Washington Street. I don't know why, Missing always just felt like more of a vinyl store for me. Although I did buy a lot of 7-inches from HMV.

And it was always HMV for me. Tower Records was an occasional treat, usually after a few drinks in town killing time before a train back to my home town of Carluke, but it was too expensive. And I never really spent much time in Virgin. HMV was conveniently placed close to my work and it just became the place I went to for music.

I still have all my CD's. I must have spent thousands and thousands of pounds on them, so even though they are pretty worthless (in monetary terms), I refuse to throw them out due to the memories and the fact that I spent so much time with them and money on them.

It must have been years since I set foot in an HMV, let alone buy something. In 2004 I changed careers to start working in the voluntary sector and moved out to work at Maggie's first Glasgow centre at the old Western Infirmary, near the foot of Byres Road. So I wasn't in the city centre  that much, I tended to head up to FOPP in Byres Road for releases and around that time I really started buying a lot of older vinyl second hand. I didn't fall in love with as many new bands so I really didn't have a reason to visit HMV.

FOPP were also selling back catalogues of artists like Neil Young for £5 a CD album. They quickly became my record/CD shop of choice for a while.

There would still be the odd venture into the Sauchiehall Street store but then along came the likes of Monorail where you could browse, discover, buy and then grab a beer and/or lunch.

The world was changing and I was older. Where I once religiously bought the music weeklies Melody Maker and NME, listened to the Evening Session and Peel and bought things on the strength of a written review, I was now digging more into Uncut and Mojo magazine and discovering older music, also record shops like Mixed Up Records on Otago Lane - a cracking record shop with a fine selection of second hand records.

I never got into file sharing or Napster. Firstly, they were illegal, secondly, the music world seemed to be against it. I was on the side of the musicians.

So much was changing, along came MySpace and all of a sudden artists seemed fine to have their music out there for everyone to stream and download for free. It helped to break artists like Lily Allen and the Artic Monkeys, but people were still buying physical copies.

I moved out to work in Springburn, so I was in the city centre even less. That was in 2011 and I think I must have rarely set foot in HMV since then. The days of walking up a few lunchtimes a week were long gone, now my record shop of choice was Monorail and I went through a long period of visiting a couple of Monday's a month after work before playing five-a-sides.

My friends and I used to (half) joke that it was impossible to visit Monorail without buying something. I would rarely visit without spending a minimum of £30 on CD's, vinyl or the occasional ticket.

iTunes came along, Spotify, Amazon, Discogs, Bandcamp .... there were more ways than ever to discover and own music. And I haven't even mentioned Ebay! I went through a big Ebay phase, tracking down records I couldn't find in shops.

In some ways the ease of which you could consume music hurt me. A record collection and a knowledge of music really meant something. And I had invested in it! Vinyl, cd's, bootlegs, imports, magazines, books, videos .... now someone could stream, illegally download and view on YouTube. They could read about an artists history, reviews, setlists, access press releases ...

That ease was one of the reasons I refused to explore Spotify for a long, long time. I stuck with iTunes and downloaded legally, I still bought CD's and vinyl on a monthly basis and supported artists by attending countless concerts and buying merchandise at their shows.

Then Spotify, which had been kind of illegal for a while, became legal. I thought I would check it out although I was extremely late to the party. And ... to my horror ... I really fell in love with it.

Now if I am reading a book, let's take Meet Me In The Bathroom, a book about the New York scene from 2001-2011. I can check out a song or artist that is mentioned immediately. My thrill back in the day of FOPP selling back catalogues for a fiver an album was now replaced with the fact I could check out entire back catalogues any time I wanted!

Spotify, for me, is user friendly and for £10 a month I have more music at my fingertips than the teenage me could ever have even dreamed of. A friend and I used to wish we could work at Missing Records and access all their music all day long at work, or even just buy the store. Now I had access to even more music than Missing could ever have held.

I've always loved making mixtapes or cd's and giving them to family and friends. Now I can share mixtapes (playlists) with the world! Speaking of which, I hope you have checked my regular Never Ending Mixtape playlist on Spotify which I add to and blog about monthly.

I do still buy the odd CD and record, but nowhere close to the volume I once did. My peak vinyl/CD buying years were a long time ago. Now, with two kids and a busy job, it is a treat to actually get time to go to a record store. Whereas once upon a time visiting HMV was convenient for me, then FOPP and then Monorail, now it is convenient for me to stream. I'm guilty as charged! Some months I don't buy any physical releases at all, it's my £10 a month for Spotify that keeps me in music.

But enough about me, enough about my history with record shops and buying or listening habits.

HMV looks like it is going to close for good. God bless HMV and all who have sailed in her and God bless the 2,200 staff currently sailing who are set to lose their jobs.

I hope it can revive itself to keep going, but it's not looking good. It's great that vinyl sales continue to rise, but CD and DVD sales are not enough to keep HMV in its prime retail space locations open, nor is their move into the headphone, speakers, t-shirts and accessories market.

Many have shared memories about HMV online, but, very sadly memories are not enough to keep their stores open and relevant. Maybe a knight, or knights, in shining armour will appear and refresh this once great brand to keep it going.  But, for me, the competition is simply too fierce and it looks like it will be R.I.P HMV.

Record Store Day 2016

Record Store Day 2016

I really enjoyed Record Store Day 2016 in Glasgow. I visited Love Music and Monorail; bought some records, caught some live music, met some friends and also had a great family day out with my wife and 2 daughters. The sunshine even appeared in the afternoon, perfect for a few beers outside Mono.

Zoe and I caught the 1pm train into Glasgow and headed straight to Love Music to look for the Ette album Homemade Lemonade. Not due until July, Olive Grove Records released 10 copies to Love Music for Record Store Day.

The added incentive was that Zoe is on the cover - Ette is the solo project by my sister Carla who is in TeenCanteen.

Zoe and I were filmed in Love Music and you can see us at 40-seconds in, I’m also back in at 2 minutes 20 seconds.

Love Music had wisely decided to put live bands on in The Vale pub, mere yards from the store. While this took some of the buzz away from the shop, it meant that those purely interested in shopping had space (sometimes) to move. The store was busy and the half a dozen staff that were on looked tired but happy.

Space is at a premium in Love Music and putting the bands on in The Vale meant that people could get a drink and catch bands like Man of Moon and hotly tipped artist Be Charlotte alongside DJ’s from Podcart and Scottish Fiction.

We hot footed it over to Monorail and immediately bumped into friends Ben, Matt, Alison, Anissa and young 15-month old Martha sitting outside. Zoe and I attempted to go record shopping, but as it was mobbed we settled for a beer (me) and some chocolate and water (Zoe) and went outside for a natter.

Monorail and Mono Cafe Bar make a real effort to include youngsters and they had face painting and arts and crafts for the kids. Zoe got a fairy tattoo on her arm and I got a RSD16 tattoo!

My wife Lynn and youngest Rosie joined us and I finally got into the record store and bought releases by The Charlatans - Trouble Understanding (Norman Cook remix), Primal Scream - Mantra For A State of Mind - a cover of S-Express with Jason Pierce on guitar and a beautiful 7-inch by Glasgow band Spinning Coin - Albany. (blog coming soon).

I bumped into Greg from Machines In Heaven who will be dropping their new album in May. They’ve already released this gem 20xx and Greg was talking passionately about the album and the process behind the way they recorded it. Expect a blog and interview in the future.

Emma Pollock started a live set at 4pm, playing a beautiful old guitar. I was right down the front with Zoe and I couldn’t help think about how positive it was that Zoe (4) was able to watch Emma playing live at such close proximity and at such a young age. I swapped with Lynn halfway through the set and went outside with Rosie, but was able to bring her in to take this cracking picture.

It was a top day - records, music, family, friends, beer, sunshine and Glasgow. I need to make sure I have another day like this soon!

Guiding Star

Cover of the month #11

Guiding Star - The Pastels

Katrina and Stephen, New York City, 1995

Don’t you think you’ve heard this song before?

So sings Katrina Mitchell, drummer and co-singer from The Pastels. As Guiding Star is a cover version of West Coast of Scotland contemporaries Teenage Fanclub, the chances are/were that a lot of their own fans will/would have.

The line has added irony due to the fact that Gerry Love (who wrote the song and sang the original on Bandwagonesque) from Teenage Fanclub plays and sings backing vocals on The Pastels version. I can imagine there were a few smiles in the studio as Katrina was singing that line.

Bandwagonesque came out in 1991, with Spin magazine declaring it album of the year ahead of the likes of Nevermind, Screamadelica, Out Of Time, Blue Lines and Loveless.

Guiding Star was the penultimate song on a glorious album of guitar music. Fuzzy and controlled distorted guitars are played over a warm acoustic, Fanclub voices combine to create a sense of dreamy, psychedelic calmness as the album heads towards conclusion with Is This Music?

The Pastels version (below) has a different kind of calmness to it - a velvet-y (underground) lullaby with Katrina’s pure vocals, raw guitars and the melody picked out on a glockenspiel (?).

Stephen Pastel had this to say on their Facebook page very recently (pushing the cover of the month I had planned back to next month);

‘We recorded it in Stuffhouse Studio, off Great Western Road, Glasgow in 1994 or 1995. We rehearsed there often - mainly Annabel, Katrina and me, but sometimes with David (Keegan) or Jonathan (Kilgour) or Gerard (Love). We would get a sandwich from Bakehaus on the way to the studio, so it always felt like a conceptualised event although our playing was often the opposite. The guys who ran it were brilliant and had a group called The Ocean who could properly play their instruments. They seemed to like us too and painted a room for us and encouraged us to record there. We started Mobile Safari there before moving on to CaVa which was very plush in comparison. I can’t remember why we recorded this but it sounds nice and Gerard is obviously playing and singing too. It’s been out of print for too long, a definite contender for inclusion on a retrospective.’

This follows on from Stephen confirming that The Pastels would be working on archive project this year when I spoke with him a couple of months ago in Mono. As someone who discovered The Pastels in the early 1990’s, I’m excited by the prospect of gems like this receiving a welcome issue alongside songs like early Creation singles Something’s Going On and the quite stunning Million Tears that I sadly only discovered via YouTube earlier this year.

I’ve read a lot of books on alternative Scottish music and The Pastels (and Stephen in particular) is a name that crops up regularly. They actively encouraged and supported countless bands back in the day (The Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub and Jesus and Marychain to name but 3) and that still happens today through their Geographic label and over the counter and across cups of coffee in Monorail/Mono.

An archive project/anthology/re-releases will be very welcome, highlighting the incredible output of The Pastels and I’m sure the blogs and articles that come out of the project will also highlight the bands importance in indie/alternative music.

This is a beautiful heartfelt cover version. Enjoy.

Previous covers of the month

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 
8. Sound and Vision 
9. All Along The Watchtower
10. I Am The Walrus 

Edwyn Collins at Mono, Sunday 15th December 2013

Last night was a joy. Edwyn Collins played an intimate show at Mono in Glasgow, we were just a few rows from the front and got to witness one of Scotland's finest at close hand.

London Mississippi were the main support act, with Edwyn's young son Will playing bass. The 3-piece played well, delivering a high energy set of guitar power-pop with loads of soul and attitude. Dropping in a bit of Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' towards the end of their set. A song that may or may not be titled 'Stay' was a real highlight.

Mono is one of my favourite venues (indeed places) in Glasgow. Tucked neatly out of the way but still within walking/stumbling distance of trains and the city centre, it has a unique vibe, laid back to the max, fiercely independent, supporting the arts and it has a great record shop to boot.

I didn't need any proof that Mono represented an intimate show, but evidence presented itself to me when I nipped to the loo just before Edwyn was due on and found myself taking a pee just along from the great man! There are no backstage areas at Mono!

I can't remember the exact setlist order, but here is what went on.

We had tucked ourselves in three rows from the front, so we had an excellent view. Edwyn's band took to the stage before he came on stage to a huge ovation. Sitting on an amp he introduced the opening song - 'Falling and Laughing', his debut single with Orange Juice, released away back in 1980. As openers go, this was up there and it set the tone for a wonderful set that drew from his extensive back catalogue and this years fantastic 'Understated' album.

Edwyn introduced his band who were absolutely sensational from the off. 'Dilemma', '31-years', 'Understated' and a gorgeous 'Forsooth' from the current LP all slotted in with ease next to songs that Edwyn has been singing for over 30-years.

'What Presence', 'Felicity' and 'Blue Boy' thrilled the crowd and Edwyn looked just as pleased and happy to be singing them.

There were a number of times throughout the show when I reflected on Edwyn's lyrics - very positive but also reflective on life and death, even the early stuff. I guess they take on a new perspective following his brain haemorrhage in 2005. This was a life affirming gig in more ways than one, there was such warmth in the room.

There were some emotional moments when Edwyn rose to his feet and tried to move his microphone up on the stand but needed his tour manager to help. Even more so in the encore when he tried to do this with his mouth, lost in the moment of the music.

'Losing Sleep' was brilliant, a pounding Motown drum and a song that just seems like one long chorus. 'Ghost Of A Chance' flowed superbly, highlighting the brilliance of the band and the genius of a songwriter that Collins is.

'Rip It Up' was a buzz, I took the time to look around the room and everyone was grinning and dancing along. It has to be one of the best pop songs ever produced by a Scottish artist, if not the best. It was then followed with 'A Girl Like You', the searing guitar sounded incredible.

Edwyn came back on and announced that although he was born in Edinburgh he was home again, playing a lovely version of 'Home Again' back by acoustic guitar and keys.

'Don't Shilly Shally' sent the crowd out into the winter night with huge smiles on their faces. This was a stunning show from an exceptional artist. The added bonus is that I get to do it all again at the re-opening of the Glasgow School Of Art in the new year.