Audio Journal : 10/05/2010

There is something maddeningly anthemic about the songs of James; even when Tim Booth is singing about some perplexing metaphor such as porcupines (as he does on the band's new EP, The Night Before) or something really mundane, the result is the kind of song it's difficult not to feel an emotional connection to. I've had it explained to me before, and I've probably misquoted it here before and so I won't attempt to do so again, but there is an undeniable quality to the James catalogue – consistently so – sufficient to imagine yourself singing along loudly and rapturously at their concerts almost unprompted. Well, that's what I think anyway.

Consequently, it's quite hard to find anything new to say about The Night Before, beyond the fact that it's eight tracks of the usual high quality James fare. That shouldn't be read as 'more of the same', but it's meant that despite middle-age, break-ups and a complete redefinition of the 'indie' world they grew from (check the song 'All My Letters' for a neat backwards look), James's quality remains undiminished. And I can only thank them for that. Download it now at iTunes.

Television's Marquee Moon is one of those NYC watershed albums from a band that defined the nascent CBGBs / US punk scene. However, even CBGB head honcho Hilly Kristal didn't really consider Television to be 'punk'. Marquee Moon isn't the snarling, amphetamine-driven speed-rock that its labelling as a punk album would have you believe; it's undeniably 'alternative' to much of the Seventies rock dross, but couldn't be compared to say, The Ramones, who fit more neatly into what we think punk should sound like. US punk was, however, about a way of thinking, an attitude, and much more artistic than its drooling, seething UK sibling. For a start, Marquee Moon has riffs (and often long ones at that), something that UK punk had eschewed in the wake of Prog excess. Television were thus dubbed 'art rock'.

Adventure (1978) is harder to slot into the art rock strand of US punk; in contrast to the more edgy, nervous elements of Marquee Moon, Adventure is positively MOR in its leanings. There is also a strong strain of country in some of the sliding guitar passages. (Perversely this would have probably been more appealing to Hilly Kristal, who originally set up CBGBs for country and bluegrass acts.) That's not to say it's a bad or even dull album; it just takes a few listens to understand it in the wake of exposure to Marquee Moon.

I've been watching the new BBC series, I'm In A Rock 'N Roll Band, whose first episode featured the magnetic role of the band's singer. The programme was actually pretty good, compared to those turgid Channel 4 chart-format rundowns; you know the drill, 50 Greatest Albums or 50 Greatest Boybands (are there 50? Are any deserving of the adjective 'great'?) The talking heads interviewed also weren't your usual fare – no David Quantick or Paul Morley here – and a very likeable Iggy Pop spoke at length about his almost compulsive need to crowd-surf. His recent gigs with The Stooges, performing the Bowie-produced Raw Power, have met with considerable acclaim, and the combination of the two – the programme and the gig reports – have made me think that it's high time I reappraised Iggy.

So this week I took a listen to The Stooges, their debut album from 1969 which was produced by ex-Velvet Underground man John Cale. I've listened to it many, many times but generally get bored after 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' and consequently I don't really know half of the album. I appreciate this might sound like heresy, especially as The Stooges were an important step in the genesis of NYC punk and a big influence on its UK sibling also. All I'll say is that I'm sorry I ever stopped listening to it. It's a work of considerable, assured genius, especially 'We Will Fall' – a song I detested before – which has a classic Cale viola drone, and almost raga vibe. It's also reminded me that it's high time I got round to buying The Idiot and the aforementioned Raw Power.

Vinyl Corner



Human League '(Keep Feeling) Fascination' (Virgin 7", 1983)

I've said here before that I like early, pre-Dare Human League; I also have Dare (doesn't everyone?) and one of their more recent albums, the brilliant Secrets. However I don't have the album from which this cheerful, soulful, Fairlight horn-deploying track was taken, as it wasn't actually on an album. If I had to rank my favourite League tracks, suffice to say it wouldn't be anywhere close to the top. It doesn't help that my copy of this was rather warped, making those horns sound queasy and unpleasant to listen to.

The B-side, 'Total Panic', once again wins the day. It's an instrumental, which side-steps any issues I have with the Oakey / Catherall / Sulley vocal trio, and contains some nice phased synths. I'm not sure necessarily that it lives up to the scenes evoked in the title, but as a small synth-pop vignette it's actually quite good.

As for the absolutely awful sleeve...