I Burst Out ... I Transform!

I'm listening to the glorious new single from Siouxsie. It seems to have been an age in the coming but it was finally released today. I love it. I love the video. I love the 'B' side 'Swansway' which is Siouxsie all smokey and midnight-nightclubby singing the single slowly accompanied by a piano. And there's a lovely photo of her hidden away on the inside of the sleeve.

Next Monday is 'Mantaray' day. Next Wednesday is signing day at HMV Oxford Street. I'll be there.

Giotto's Bell Tower

I need to get some new business cards to reflect my new job. Ok, I go through new jobs pretty quickly but it's been a while since I was an international superstar DJ so now I'll just be a plain ole travel photographer. Or, more accurately, a published travel photographer.

My photo of Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence has been picked up by Schmap online travel guides and included in its latest guide to Florence. And I get a name check. There are 11 photos showing different aspects of the Tower and mine is one of them.

Now, I know that all Schmap has done is a search of Flickr for holiday snaps and then emailed the owners for permission to use them, but I don't mind at all. They wanted to use another of my photos earlier in the year but I didn't get back to them with permission until after the guide had been published.

Now that I have my vocation I just need to go on more holidays ...

Bearded Wonders

Did you see the article on the Beeb news site about the beardy competition down in Brighton (it would be)? How fab are those works-of-art-on-chins? Now I have something to aim for.

Jane Aire & The Belvederes

Sadly overlooked in the re-issue stakes is Jane Aire, with the grand total of one song available on CD (the glorious 'Yankee Wheels' on a Stiff Records compilation). I liked Jane (real name Jane Ashley) back in the day and , now that I have a magic vinyl-to-digital record player, thought I would hunt for her records. My collection became complete last week and I now have a new CD in my collection: 'The Complete Jane Aire & The Belvederes'.

As far as I know, Jane released five singles, one album and featured on the 'Akron' compilation album. She was a protege of Liam Sternberg and 'the Belvederes' don't seem to have existed other than in name at first but, when she came to London the role was filled by a band called the Edge (made up of Lu Edmonds, Jon Moss, Gavin Povey and Glyn Havard). Other famous names associated with Jane are Kirsty MacColl and Rachel Sweet who provided backing vocals on her album (Rachel also featured on the 'Akron' album).

When I Was Young/I'm An Actress ('Akron', 1978)

Both songs are on the 'Akron' compilation album, famous or infamous for it's "scratch'n'sniff" tyre on the cover. Both songs stand out (along with Rachel Sweet's tracks) as being proper songs rather than the semi-experimental nature of some of the other tracks. I've always liked them. They're relatively raw pop-punk in a USA-stylee. The album has never been released on CD as far as I know but I bought the vinyl at the time.

Yankee Wheels/Nasty... Nice (1978)

This was Jane's first single and 'Yankee Wheels' has the honour of featuring on a Stiff compilation CD. I lurve the chugging chorus as she bellows out the title and the slightly out-of-time vocals but I've no idea what the song is actually about (and I don't really care). 'Nasty... Nice' is less poppy and more in keeping with the experimental style of the 'Akron' album with Jane in shrieking mood. I like both tracks, bought the single back then and played it a lot.

Call Me Every Night/Lazy Boy (1979)

Jane moved from Stiff to Virgin and this single was obviously meant to break her in the UK being a picture disc (the latest trend in records). A lot more poppy and commercial, almost touching on the power-pop sound created in the early 80s by Kim Wilde and others. 'Lazy Boy' is a bit moodier and uses horns for emphasis in the chorus (another sign that money was invested on this single). I don't recall it charting but I suspect it was meant to keep Jane in the light until the album was released. I bought the single.

Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache/Life After You (1979)

A single with two tracks from the album, presumably issued to promote the album. I don't have the single.

Jane Aire & The Belvederes (1979)

A 10-track album released by Virgin and produced by Liam Sternberg that I didn't buy at the time, quite possibly because I didn't know it existed (I certainly don't recall it). The sound and songs are very different to her work the previous year, far more commercial and targeted at the young punky-pop/power-pop market (which it seems to anticipate).

It tries out various musical styles, touching on a sort of Motown/Northern Soul feel to some tracks, straight out-and-out pop, a couple of tracks even seem to anticipate the 'power ballad' style that emerged later in the '80s. 'No More Cherry Icing' sounds like the Go-Gos would sound a few years later (which must be the Sternberg influence).

Listening to it for the first time 28 years after it was released and I have to say it's not bad at all! It has aged a bit but no more so that many other bands at the time. I'm sure the sound would be fuller if it was re-mastered and issued on CD. I'd buy it.

I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten/Heat Of The City (1982)

Jane was quiet for a few years and then issued this single on the Stiff label. It's an interesting single and I'm intrigued by the choice of title song. After only a few seconds of listening it shrieks "1980s" at you, with that tell-tale electronic drum-beat/drum-clash without any resonance (as the CD producer commented). More interesting is the 'B' side which was co-written by Jane and has a white-boy reggae rhythm going on in the background.

So, that's the discography. 'The Complete Jane Aire & The Belvederes' tracklisting is:

When I Was Young
I'm An Actress
Yankee Wheels
Nasty... Nice
Call Me Every Night
Lazy Boy
Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache
No More Cherry Icing
Driving
When You Can't Be Loved

Take It To The Next Wave
Duke Of Love
Come See About Me
Life After You
Wind Up
Love Is A Fire
I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten
Heat Of The City

Transfer to CD and production/engineering credits are awarded to Chris Voisey of Voisey Enterprises Inc.

I've got no idea what happened to Jane and she doesn't feature very often in internet searches or have many photos online that aren't record sleeves. I'll add the poor quality photo on the right which is from the inside sleeve of the 'Akron' album. According to one source she married a Boomtown Rat. Where is she now, I wonder? If you know, I'd love to hear. And if you know of any other records please tell me.

Thank you, Jane, for the music I loved when I was a teenager and thank you again for my more recent quest to collect your records.

Prince at the O2 Arena

Saturday evening saw the journey to the O2 Arena at Greenwich to see Prince.

I'd never been to the O2 before or even to the Dome (when it was the Millennium Dome) so that was a bit fun. And how convenient that it has its own tube station. It's quite nice inside, all fresh and new (and over-priced) and the Arena itself looks great, with everyone (at least in theory) getting an excellent view of the stage in the round. I wouldn't want to be up in the gods, though, too high and too steep a climb for me. And seeing the lighting people climb up into the lighting rig was a veritable orgy of vertiginousness (is that a new word?).

In we go after being given a coy of his new album and there's the stage in the shape of Prince's 'symbol'. I start to get excited - that's where Prince will be in half an hour or so, that's right, *Prince*! The crowd assembles and I find I'm sitting behind a giant... even on the banked seating his head still blocks the stage. Why me? Luckily there's enough space to move so I can get a good view of the stage. I saw the band walk into the Arena and disappear under the stage and a big box is wheel in, following them, presumably encasing the Purple One. The lights dim, then blaze and there he is!

He opened with 'Planet Earth' from the new album, standing in the centre of his symbol with guitar in hand, the band in the circle part, and the two singers and dancers striding all round the symbol-stage giving us what-for. The stage is bathed in all the colours you can image and so is Prince, dressed in white with a colourful tunic. The dancers give it some bootylicious hair-flicking, bum-pounding action sufficient to make be feel tired and the singers strut their stuff wearing hat and funky '70s afro, all round giving us a professional show designed to thrill . And it did.

Not much talking from Prince, he launched into one great song after another, on-stage for about one and a half hours, teasing and taunting the audience, going off into guitar solos at the drop of a hat with drums pounding ("not bad for a girl" he says) and horns blaring. The music sounds great but the vocals sounded a bit muddy. They did 'Honky Tonk Women' with Shelby J singing lead and 'The Long And Winding Road' with Prince all soulful (I've never liked that song and still don't) and Shelby leading on Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy'. He was generous sharing some vocals with Shelby who has a great voice and does good strut.

It was a great show and the Arena seemed fine except for the sound problems. Getting home was a nightmare. First off being ushered out through an exit round the back rather than through the main entrance/exit meant a slow and increasingly painful walk through huge crowds moving slowly through relatively narrow 'streets' of restaurants and bars in a big arc round to the front, not pleasant at all. Then thinking it would be fun to get the clipper boat upriver to Waterloo... unfortunately a lot of other people thought that as well. We eventually got on the midnight boat and arrived at Waterloo after the tube had closed and ended up getting a taxi home (after another queue). Two and a half hours after the show ended we arrive home, knackered and with some of the shine knocked off the show. At least I know for next time!

It was a great show, though, and will stay in the memory for a good while. I loved the stage, bathed in colours and the whole thing was slick and very professional. Highlights for me were '1999', 'Guitar', 'Nothing Compares 2 U', 'Cream' and 'Purple Rain'. I liked the piece of 'Little Red Corvette' delivered by him at the piano as part of a medley (although I thought he'd benefit from playing lessons from Amanda Palmer, far too gentle, making love to his piano) and it was fun when he shouted out, "I've got too many hits".

Balls

As punishment for buying too many records I must go to the gym and the pool more. Or maybe I should bring the gym to me ...
I went to the physio this morning and he sat me on a big green gym ball to develop the band of 'core muscles' around my stomach and lower back. Sit and raise one leg then the other. Easier said than done. I used to do this with my personal trainer last year, except with him I was raising weights as well. All of it is about focusing on the band of muscle around your waist and strengthening it which is a good thing generally and, for me, will help to protect my back.

So this afternoon I went out and got one. After wobbling all over for a while I started to (vaguely) get the hang of it. Sitting properly and balancing is really rather strangely tiring. I'm going to set myself the task of 5 minutes morning and evening and I suppose I could even watch telly on it...Now, that's *my* kind of gym!

I have been bad...

Well, strictly speaking, I've been bad over the last couple of weeks and it came home to roost today, via Mr Postman.

I'd been out to see my physio at St George's and when I returned there was a lovely pile of parcels waiting for me. Christmas has come early! In five parcels I received:

Jane Aire & The Belvederes: her self-titled LP from 1979. That, I think, completes my collection of her vinyl and I will, over the weekend, burn me a 'The Complete Jane Aire' CD for my personal delectation. Kirsty MacColl and Rachel Sweet provided backing vocals on the LP. More will, no doubt, follow on Jane Aire...

'Greanta' by PottedHeid: I came across PottedHeid months ago on a sampler CD from Toppler Records and then found them on MySpace. I now have their one and only album - I suspect 'their' is actually 'his' since the band seems to be Fred who also masterminds Toxik Ephex. He's sent me the CD and just asked me to put a fiver in the post, so I will do. He also sent me a sampler CD of some of his other music that I haven't heard yet. One of my favourite PottedHeid tunes is 'Cheery Beery Night' with the title repeated over and over as a chorus, a lovely, simple song that does what it says on the can! The music is a strange mix of electro-celtic-eastern-folk songs - none of those labels are sufficient, really, but I like it.

'Follow Your Heart's Desire' by Pura Fe: ordered from the Music Maker Relief Foundation, an indie folk label in America with charitable status, Pura Fe's CD also arrived today in a huge envelope along with a magazine and stickers. The CD was even carefully wrapped in tissue paper - that's how special the music is.

I got Pura's latest CD from France a couple of weeks ago. I first found Pura on a DVD about 'powwow rock' with her vocal band, Ulali. I then found her on MySpace and listened to some of her solo tracks and liked what I heard. Pura identifies with the Tuscarora Nation that live in the southern states of America and a quote on the CD states that 'Pura Fe's voice soars the heavens, elegantly stating the indigenous influence on the birth of the blues.' I think I read somewhere that she's planning a new album and hoping to collaborate with her heroes like Buffy Sainte-Marie and Taj Mahal. Need I say more? Pura's excellent version of 'Summertime' is my current tune on my MySpace site.

'4 Track Sampler' by The Dresden Dolls : I won this CD/DVD on eBay a month ago but was accidentally sent the wrong CD so after some to-ing and fro-ing I finally have the right one. It's a few years old and is on Amanda's own 8ft Records label, from before The Dolls were signed to Roadrunner, so I was hoping that some of the songs might be earlier versions or demos. But, even if they weren't and they were exactly the same, then I'd still be happy to have it as a collectors item. Well, blow me, they *are* early versions, sounding rawer and live! Coo! On the CD are 'Girl Anachronism', 'Coin-Operated Boy', 'Gravity' and 'The Jeep Song'. The video for 'Girl Anachronism' is on the DVD. I'm particularly partial to 'The Jeep Song' so it's nice to have this version. One can never have too much Dresdens or Miss Amanda.

'Star - The Best Of Sylvester' by Sylvester: why isn't Sylvester available on re-mastered CD? I borrowed Chris's copy of this CD ages ago and have been listening to it regularly on iPey so thought it's about time I invested in my own copy. The ultimate Disco Diva has landed! We need more Sylvester.

'Looking Back - The Definitive Collection' by John Holt: a double CD from Trojan. I've been releasing my reggae soul over the summer and John is another one of those under-rated reggae stars from the '60s/'70s who deserves another listen. I bought his '1000 Volts of Holt' a month or so back and one of my favourite tracks is his wonderful version of 'Mr Bojangles'. He co-wrote 'The Tide Is High' with his band, The Paragons, which, presumably, still earns him money from Blondie's cover, but he did so much more than that.

'Very' by The Pet Shop Boys: the re-mastered double-CD version. I'm not a great PSB fan - or at least I wasn't until Chris took me to see them at Hammersmith a few months back. I've always been more of a PSB singles man rather than albums, but I'm slowly exploring their back catelogue. They've produced some truly great catchy songs over the years (and still are, with things like 'The Sodom And Gommorah Show') so I'm looking forward to listening to this.

So there you are. A nice selection, I think, with lots of different musical styles from the well-known and the less-well-known. It's nice exploring new music.

Chemically Clean and More Bollocks

From a pharmaceutical point of view, I'm the cleanest I've been in years. And it feels odd.

I've stopped taking the painkillers/anti-inflamatories that I've been taking for the last 14 months, stopped taking the synthetic morphine, not even a paracetamol since Friday. And no alcohol for two and a half months. I've had no pills (other than my diabeatnik-related ones) for two days now and it'll probably be another few days until the chemical remnants are fully out of my system. I've felt a bit strange all day and I can't really describe it. I thought that maybe my blood glucose was playing up but it's not (it seems under control for the first time in ages). It feels odd though. What's that old Ian Dury song about wanting to be straight?

Is this how the rest of you feel all the time?

Never Mind The Bollocks!

Mr Lydon's Army Of One site reports some important news:

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ Virgin Records are releasing a series of stunning limited edition vinyl reissue replicas. The Sex Pistols first four classic 7" singles – the only singles that really matter – will be released one a week throughout October; followed by the legendary ‘Never Mind The Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols’ LP.

'Anarchy in the UK', 'God Save The Queen', 'Pretty Vacant' & 'Holidays In The Sun' will be issued in heavy-weight paper sleeves featuring all the original iconic artwork. ‘Never Mind The Bollocks' will complete the series; issued – just as it was originally released on October 28th 1977 – with the one-sided 'Submission' 7" single and 'NMTB' poster. It's the proper bollocks!

Release Dates:

Anarchy in the UK / I Wanna Be Me - October 1st

God Save The Queen / Did You No Wrong - October 8th

Pretty Vacant - October 15th

Holidays In The Sun / No Fun - October 22nd

Never Mind The Bollocks - October 29th (with Submission 7" & poster)

I never bought 'Anarchy' when it first came out so I'll make up for it this time round. But gosh, 30 years is a long time...

More Bollocks

As I've said before, fans have responsibilities as well as the joys of fandom, so I dutifully went to HMV after work to pick up the CD single of Maximo Park's 'Girls Who Play Guitars' (the CD also has a bonus track not available for download). In I go, happy-go-lucky and looking forward to a bit of a browse when I notice they've got the barriers up and crowds are filling the aisles near the stage... o bugger, there's a band on!

I scurried over to the singles section beside the stage and luckily the Maximo's single is on the 'public' side of the barrier so I grab a copy. Phew!

Shortly afterwards the band appeared. They're Japanese and no-one mentions their name and I'm not interested enough to look it up. They're loud and presumably 'experimental' or something. Wailing guitar and wierd synth sounds backed by relentless drumming. OK. Radical. I could well image some of the manga-esque kids there thinking this would scare their parents but really, it's not that new. As I left I thought they sounded a bit like Can on speed. Do young people still speed?

Now, I might think they're shite but I'll defend their right to be shite if they want to be. And I'm pleased that HMV stages these little promo gigs - I've seen the Maximos and Buzzcocks at HMV after all. So good on ya's for being brave enough to get up on stage and do your thing and good on HMV for hosting it. Just don't do it when I'm shopping for new releases, ok?

Maximo Park - Girls Who Play Guitars

The new single is out today, and most excellent it is too.

'Girls Who Play Guitars' was the opening song at Maximo gigs on the last tour and gets it all off to a good start. The single is available in various formats and you can download it and the 'B' sides from iTunes - 5 tracks for £1.99 is a bargain! Two versions of 'Girls' and three brand new Maximo songs for my delight, including another in the 'obituaries series', this time about artist Joe Brainard. I will, of course, pay a trip to my HMV-of-choice later for a hard copy.

I'm Gorgeous

I *am* y'know. You might as well face facts.

I realised this fact when I was in the toilets at MisterSister the other night and I glanced up while I was standing doing my business, saw myself in a mirror and thought, 'cor!'. I'm not entirely sure why there are mirrors above the urinals. There were several beards that night but none as graceful or dynamic as mine. Gareth even referred to me as the closest to a 'glitter bear' in the party (which I'll assume was a compliment). Now, I didn't have any glitter on me but that's an idea for the upcoming festive season, and my beard is the perfect colour.

MisterSister seemed to be a great success for it's first night and Dawn was suitably attired in butterfly eyelashes. I think I was the first paying punter through the doors at about 9.30pm and it was most odd to see the place empty - I've seen it not very full before, but never empty. I indulged in a can of diet coke (I live on the wild side, y'see) as punters started appearing, which was a slight relief. Dawn was spinning the choons but had no SLADE (how can you call yourself a DJ and not have an emergency SLADE CD in your bag?). I was deathly tired after a week at work and walking along the south bank to Vauxhall, my back playing up from being stationary too long so after swallowing some pills we departed just before midnight, so missing the two turns that were coming on stage after midnight.

Anyway, back to me.

I confirmed my gorgeousosity this morning when I trimmed the beard. I'm not one to shape it or primp or preen but if you could see me with a freshly trimmed beard you'd understand.

This pic is a few weeks old now, but this is what you're missing...