On the Buses - A Very Special Guest Post

 

Following incessant pressure from Ernie I am now including Buses as the next theme for Transport Tuesday.

I am totally humbled to say that we are starting proceedings with a very special guest post from our dear friend Brian of Linear Tracking Lives! fame. He still comments on blogs regularly but I think that this is the first time since he stepped down that he has offered up a guest post. And it is totally worth the wait.

Take it away Brian:

The above art is from a split 7" that came out in 1993 and is shared by German bands Die Fünf Freunde and Die Time Twisters, Verdammt!

The sleeve suggests otherwise, but none of the songs appearing on the 45 have anything to do with buses. The use of it today is merely a cheap plug for the wonderful song "Jetzt" by Die Fünf Freunde. Nearly a decade ago the song squeaked in at number 100 in my Top 100 Tracks from the 1990s

Now let's hop on some buses, and don't pull the cord too early because we are making stops in Australia, America, and the UK. No worries. Free transfers!

First up is late '80s Melbourne band Captain Cocoa, headed up by twin brothers Glenn and David O'Neil and a revolving door of musicians. The band's original recordings go for bags of cash these days. Fortunately, for those of us all about the jangle, trumpets and budgets, Firestation Records assembled a well-done compilation of their work in 2022. The lads make it clear the beautiful people are not welcome on their route with the splendid "Barbies Off the Bus."

Captain Cocoa - Barbies of the Bus

I picked up one boxed set in 2023, and it has given me hours of pleasure. The 1985 album 'Tim’ from The Replacements receives a  new mix from Ed Stasium, and the original album loses its cloudy sound with a crisp remaster. There is also an entire disc of rare and unreleased tracks and another disc containing a live show from my old stomping ground, Cabaret Metro in Chicago, circa 1986. Nearly as important is the lengthy booklet telling the jaw-dropping tale of the band's self sabotage in front of every major label only to have Seymour Stein save the day. We know CC has earned his bus pass, but Paul Westerberg sings of a different kind of pass with "Kiss Me on the Bus." Here is a decidedly louder and less melodic studio outtake.

The Replacements - Kiss Me on the Bus

One downside of retiring a blog is you tend to lose touch with your online pals. Even though we haven't conversed in a long while, I thought of our mutual friend, The Swede , the moment this bus idea popped up. We have a shared love of Robyn Hitchcock, and Hitchcock is a man who loves a good mode of transportation, particularly trains and buses. I envy the Swede for seeing Hitchcock perform at a venue as unique as the Ipswich Transport Museum, and our chum chose the same song to accompany his post about the show as I thought of for this post on buses." Raymond and the Wires" is Hitchcock's vivid recollection of a trolley-bus ride he took with his dad in 1964. This one tugs at the heartstrings. I dedicate this pick to the Swede. Let's catch up soon, friend.

Robyn Hitchcock - Raymond and the Wires

 Last stop takes us to Preston and a record shop that has been around for more than 40 years. Action Records has been a label as well, releasing music by the Fall, Boo Radleys and today's choice, indie popsters Big Red Bus. I didn't really know this band until the turn of the century when a song popped up on the first volume of 'The Sound of Leamington Spa' series. Big Red Bus released a scant two 12" singles and a mini album between 1989 and 1991, and that's it. One song appears on Cherry Red's 'C89' box, and Firestation released a band compilation on CD in 2017. I never imagined I would ever see any of their original releases in a shop. Inexplicably, I found the mini album while on vacation in Palm Springs a few years ago. It was a good day.

Thanks, CC. Looking forward to seeing more buses leaving the depot on these pages.

Big Red Bus - Cathedral Walls

CC writes

The thanks are all mine Brian. It is an honour and a privilege to host you on these pages.

Another guest post will feature next Tuesday

 

U.S. Highball

 

In December 2021 I saw Dropkick for the first time at a sparsely populated Hug and Pint. The were supported by Hugh Sturgeon & the Infomaniacs and U.S Highball

U.S Highball were on first. Two quirky Glasgow lads (James Hindle and Calvin Halliday) pootering about on synths for about 20 minutes. It didn't do much for me at the time

A good while later out of curiosity I downloaded their 2023 album No Thievery, Just Cool. I then forgot all about it until fairly recently when I got round to giving it a listen.

Quirky yes and a bit twee but also surprisingly catchy and good fun. "Is that Teenage Fanclub?" Mrs CC asked. A good shout but I would have them more in the BMX Bandits camp. It seems that they have a bit of a cult following and the good folk in Monorail appear to be fans.

So too is our dear friend Brian who I know is also a fan and it is payback for something which will appear here tomorrow.

U.S Highball - Irresponsible Holiday

U.S. Highball - Paris 2019

Sunday Highway Songs 2

 

One good thing about Sunday's is that the highways are usually quieter than normal.

Kicking off the Highway songs for this week are The Doors with Queen of the Highway from their Morrison Hotel album. A song called Highway Queen is scheduled to appear later in this series .

Next up is Joe Pug with Highway Patrolman. If you are thinking " hang on, is that not a Springsteen song?" you are not wrong there. Joe's version is taken from a compilation/ tribute album Return to Nebraska acknowledging the Boss' greatest album.

Finally, for this week it is the turn of the great Lefty Frizzell. He often wore his heart on his sleeve but today it's on the highway.

We will be hitting the highway again next Sunday.

The Doors - Queen of the Highway

Joe Pug - Highway Patrolman

Lefty Frizzell - Heart's Highway

Saturday Shuffle 49

 

I had a major catastrophe when I was at the gym yesterday. The MP3 player had run out of gas and I was subjected to the dross which pumps out of the speakers. I must have left it on the last time I used it.

When I got home the first thing I did was charge it and I did a shuffle while this took place.

First out the hat was a bit of glam. From 1973 here is a song written by Ian Hunter and performed by Mott the Hoople. Roll Away the Stone entered the charts on 24th November 1973 and stayed there for 12 weeks peaking at number 8. I played my small part in this as I bought the single.

Something a lot more up to date for the second offering. From earlier on this this year in fact . Present Tense is taken from The Shakes the most recent album by Glasgow's Savage Mansion

Finally a song which I am much less familiar with. Along Comes Mary by The Association is taken from a compilation which has appeared here a few times before Jon Savage's 1966 - The Year the Decade Exploded. It was a top ten hit in the US but did not trouble the UK charts.

The half century Shuffle will be along next Saturday

Mott the Hoople - Roll Away the Stone

Savage Mansion - Present Tense

The Association - Along Comes Mary

NB - you very nearly got 53 Miles West of Venus by the B52's until I noticed that it had appeared on Saturday Shuffle 23

The Home Nations - 3

 

I remembered this week!

As per the last two times  the nations will feature in alphabetical order to stop accusations of bias or favouritism.

Therefore we start with England - not because it is the biggest and thinks it is superior to the others - but because it is the first of the four alphabetically.

We will start this week with the wonderful PJ Harvey with the title track from her excellent 2011 album Let England  Shake. I kind of lost touch with her after this one, something I should probably try to rectify.

Next we are off to Downpatrick, County Down in Northern Ireland the hometown of the band Ash. Although they have had many great songs and albums they have never bettered Girl From Mars from their 1996 debut album 1977.

Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote was commissioned to produce a soundtrack to the documentary From Scotland with Love. Mrs CC and I were privileged to see him perform the album in its entirety at a eerie Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow in March 2020 a couple of days prior to lockdown. Here is his homage to the Ayrshire seaside town of Largs.

Finally we have the Super Furry Animals a Welsh band who are even better than The Stereophonics. Hard to believe I know but it's true.

More jingoistic nonsense next Friday.

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Ash - Girl From Mars

King Creosote -Largs

Super Furry Animals - Hermann Loves Pauline

The Trouble Tree

 

The Missing Haul - Freedy Johnston - The Trouble Tree

I was stood at the till in Missing when the chap behind it advised that he couldn't find the CD by Willie Campbell of Astrid fame which I'd hoped to buy. This was a first for me although how they find anything given the quantity of CDs and albums they have is a mystery to me.

I therefore had to pick up something else as part of a 3 for £5 package and I opted for The Trouble Tree the 1990 debut album by Freedy Johnson on the Bar/None label.

I've had the 1992 follow up Can You Fly for years and it is a big favourite of mine. So much so that I chose it as one of the 50 Americana Albums to Hear Before you Die series.

After a first couple of listens I'm still unsure about The Trouble Tree .It's a bit raw. Reviews range from 4/5 by Allmusic to 1/5 by The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. I'm somewhere in the middle

Trouser Press write that  it captures Johnston’s wheedling and whiny voice in extreme close-up, forcing listeners to seek refuge in overextended wordplay and spare guitar-based arrangements whereas The Spin Alternative Record Guide called it raw-sounding, infatuated with dangerous sorts, and a bit unformed lyrically.

Hopefully it will be a grower.

It appears to have two different covers. The one pictured above is the one I have.

Freedy Johnston -Gina

Freedy Johnston - Little Red Haired Girl

Mike Mills Presens ....

 

I'm cracking on with the cull of compilation CDs currently in boxes as there is no room for them on the shelves.

As things stand about 40 or so, mostly from Mojo and Uncut, have been downloaded on to the hard-drive and stuck on a memory stick prior to going to charity (hidden under clothing in case they are reluctant to take them!.)

The R.E.M Collection Disc 1 - Mike Mills Presents an Uncut compilation from July 2005 was on the pile and very nearly went before I had second thoughts. 

The reason? Just look at this tracklist. The vast majority of the 14 tracks are from bands that I have a great deal of time for. I probably already have about half the tracks  but I couldn't let it go.

It is appeared on these pages once before when Green on Red and Jason & the Scorchers featured. This time round it is the turn of The Dream Syndicate, The Replacements and the Long Ryders.

Mr Mills certainly has good taste

The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show

The Replacements - I Will Dare

The Long Ryders - And She Rides

The Blasters are on the phone - they want a word!