Hugh Cornwell - Live Review

I like to try and document the shows I go to, but there have been quite a few that have slipped under the bloggin' radar for one reason or another... Probably because

a) I had other posts on the go at the time, or
b) I couldn't quite be arsed!

Having now left it too long, much of the detail has now drifted away from my decaying noggin, leaving me with just a general overview of the event - but I'd like to log a few of 'em for posterity, and the delay might give a different slant on my usual style of review... So I'm going to try and drop a few of them in over the next few weeks. I'll start with the oldest one...

Hugh Cornwell Live at Basfest, 4th July 2009

I'll level with you, Basfest is no Glastonbury... hell, it's not even a Reading a Latitude or Guilfest. There is less of the on-site new age hippery and chilled atmosphere you have come to expect, and more undertones of violence and an unhealthy array of sexually transmitted disease tents (I actually did send a text to a mate saying "meet you by the chlamydia stall"). But Basfest is free, and very occasionally they will book an act worth turning out for. In 2008 we popped along to see the Bootleg Beatles (I didn't blog that one either!), which was officially Piley Jr's first ever gig. Basfest 2009 had the usual dire line up of tribute acts and talent show losers, but completely out of character with the rest of the acts was Mr Cornwell.

For all its faults, Basfest is very well run. Not interested in anything other than this one act we arrived around 5.15pm, drove straight on site and was directed by a helpful steward to a (free) parking space very close to the entrance. By the time we'd walked in a found a spot to sit it was about 5.40, and Hugh walked on 5 minutes later! Perfect!

What wasn't perfect though was the steady drift of people disappearing from the site from the moment he came on. Y'see 'ol Hugh has done it all wrong... He couldn't be bothered to apply for the X-Factor or some other reality TV show, and to me (and hundreds of other Basildon-ites by the looks of it) this shows his lack of ambition and lazy tendencies. Instead he took the easy route and cut corners via a 30+ year solid gold career consisting of no less that 26 album releases (incredibly 16 of those from his solo career). If you're not a singing dustman or a bunch of page 3 'stunnas' turned girlband, then frankly, Basildon is going to give you short thrift.



The exodus continued at an alarming rate, and after 3 songs I thought I'd try my luck at getting nearer to the stage to take some photos... and on doing so I walked straight to the barrier at the front of the stage! Scandalous! But those bare-chested red-faced locals heading for the kebab shop missed a real treat, as I have to say this performance was blinding. What a great performer Hugh Cornwell continues to be. His vocals and guitar playing were amazing and his between song banter was spot on. oh and the songs wern't bad either! Close your eyes and it could have been a 1977 Hugh up there... come to think of it, open your eyes (maybe squint just a little!) and it could have been a 1977 Hugh up there... The man can't have put an ounce on in the last 30 years. He's also been canny enough to build a rockin little outfit to support him. Caz Campbell (bass), and Chris Bell (drums) provide a powerful garage noise to complete the sound.

This was by no means a 'cashing in on the past' set either. Sure there were plenty of Stranglers classics on display, but there was just as much new material too. And I have to say the new songs were great. You could really see that Hugh believes in his latest work, as the intensity and passion of the performance of these tracks was very evident. He seemed genuinely excited about what he was doing.

I expected to come away from this gig pleased to have heard some classic Stranglers tunes... I did that, but my lasting memory was actually that I'd seen an artist with some bloody great new material. On returning home I fired up his official website and downloaded his new album (Hooverdam) for free, just as he had told us we could (and you can STILL get it for free there now). It may well have been free, but believe it or not this album is up there with some of the best of his career work.

So, not as good as Jedward or Olly Murs obviously, but if he sticks at it, I think Hugh Cornwell could make a go of this lark...
PS - since this gig took place I've read the excellent book "77 Sulphate Strip" by Barry Cain. The extensive 2007 interview with Hugh therein was a joy to read, and he comes over as a genuinely nice guy who remains every bit as passionate about his music as ever.


LINKS

If you fancy listening to Hoverdam for yourself, why not pop over to the Official Hugh Cornwell Website, where you can download it for free.

Piley

Get Out Of That!

Thanks to bloggin buddy Dan (from the excellent Blog of Eternal Disappointment) who tipped me off about this one. Due to the fact this happened in the early 1900's there is virtually no record of this event. However whilst researching the Southend Odeon and Laurel and Hardy in Southend posts a few months back, I did stumble across a couple of small pieces of information, so for what it's worth, here it is....

The legendary escapologist Harry Houdini was a regular visitor to these shores and appeared in theatres all over the UK almost yearly from 1900 to 1914, giving well over 600 performances in the process. His one and only visit to Essex was in 1911 where he appeared at the Hippodrome, Southend from Monday 27th March until Saturday 1st April. It was a routine performance all week, except for Friday 31st March, when Houdini accepted a challenge by 4 Southend carpenters, who had built their own wooden box for him to attempt to escape from! Alas there is no record of whether he was successful or not, although I'm guessing that as there was a performance the following day, he was!


The Edwardian Southend Hippodrome on Southchurch Road was built by Bertie Crew and opened on the 8th of November 1909. It was built on four levels and the capacity of the theatre at that time was 1750. For a number of years, The Hippodrome was thought of as the best theatre in town, and attracted some of the biggest variety stars of the time including Flanagan and Allen, George Robey and Gracie Fields. Performances were twice nightly (6.50pm and 9.00pm) and admission prices were 3d, 6d, 9d, 1' and 1'6. Boxes were 10'6 and 15'.

In 1928 the Theatre was bought by Gaumont Theatres who used it for both films and live theatre until 1933 when the building was closed and converted to a Cinema only auditorium. The changes made were vast, and as well as the building itself undergoing substantial alterations, the pavement outside the theatre was also relaid, and a huge canopy built. It re-opened on the 15th of January 1934 as The Gaumont Palace with a capacity of 1588. The entrance was manned by commissionaires with peak caps and braided coats... it really must have looked like something out of 1930's Hollywood! The opening film was 'Meet My Sister' starring Clifford Mollison. In 1937 it was renamed simply The Gaumont.

In 1948 the Gaumont achieved its biggest attendance record when 22,000 people watched the Norman Wisdom film 'Trouble in Store' in the space of 7 days! In February of 1954, now under the control of the Rank Organisation, a major fire destroyed the former stage of the building but remarkably the Cinema was back open again the following day... imagine how long it would be out of action for these days! The Cinema closed on 20th October 1956 when Rank modernised the Ritz Cinema in Southend which they also owned. The final film to be shown there was 'A Hill in Korea' staring Stanley Baker.

So what's the classy Gaumont in Southend looking like these days I hear you cry?! Well here it is in all its glory, snapped by me just the other day....

Yes, just like all the other 16 cinemas that used to be in Southend at one time or another, it is no more. The building was demolished in 1958 and a supermarket was built on the site. In the 80's (and possibly early 90's) I remember this building being a Halfords (a serial offender for taking over ex-cinemas in the area), more recently it has been the HFC Bank, Walmsleys Furniture Superstore and a tatty Christmas Shop. Currently an odd YMCA cafe and tat-shop all rolled in to one.

Interesting to see that the building to the left still remains - you can just catch it in the corner of the Gaumont picture above, then a restaurant, now a Slug and Lettuce pub.

Piley

The Essex Brothers.... At Last!

Well, finally, here is the last chapter of the saga about those 40+ year old 'reel-to-reel' tapes that were found in a family members loft. The tapes were marked 'Mick and Don' which implied they could contain recordings of my late uncles who were a singing duo in the late 50's and early 60's (the full post of the first part of the story here).

After much investigation I found a place in East Acton who would be able to restore the tapes and transfer any recordings to CD. After baking the tapes for several days, the company phoned me to say they had found approximately two and a half hours of recordings on the tapes and offered to convert some or all of it to CD. No knowing how much (if any) of it was relevant, I asked them to go ahead and do the lot (the full post of the second part of the story here).

At the back end of 2009 I picked up the completed CD's, and I must admit that I was a little nervous when I finally came to play them.... The results were not quite what we were expecting, and it turned out a little bit 'good news\bad news'.... but boy, was the 'good news' part a shock! (for me anyway).

When we were told that there were two and a half hours of recordings on the two tapes, we naturally assumed that it would be two and a half hours of my uncles... sadly, it wasn't. There were family recordings of children reciting nursery rhymes, another family member playing the electric organ, and lots of random shows recorded off the radio... comedy programmes, chart rundowns etc etc All very interesting in its own way, but not quite what I was expecting! After over an hour there was no "Mick and Don". It suddenly dawned on us that perhaps these tapes once had them on, but were subsequently recorded over, leaving only a sticker on the box as a reminder of what they once contained.

I have to say I was getting rather anxious when after and hour and a half, the CD lurched into yet another show recorded off the radio... this time a BBC music show called 'The Talent Spot'. By this time I was only half listening, already convinced that no recordings of my uncles remained on the tapes.... then just as that moment, the host of The Talent Spot says these words....

"1961 was a great year in our business for brother singing teams. Of course the Everly Brothers were always near the top of the hit parade, and the Brook Brothers got into the hit parade. We on Talent Spot hope that 1962 will be a great year for two twin 19 year olds, who are about to make their very first broadcast right now. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Essex Brothers!"

It's them! It's really them!! singing a lively cover of 'Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen"! I never even knew that they had performed on the radio, and even if I had, I'd never of thought there would ever be a chance of hearing it, but here it was!! and considering it had been sitting hidden in a loft for over 40 years, the sound quality was great! But the best was still yet to come... All the acts on The Talent Spot performed two songs, and right at the end my uncles reappeared to play their second song....

"here now are The Essex Brothers with their own composition, and it's a very apt title for such a late stage in our show, Running Away!"

My dads face lights up, and a broad grin stretches from ear to ear.... "I wrote that for them" he calmly informs me!!! How come I never knew my dad wrote a song??!! One that was performed on national radio no less!!

After all these years of being told about my uncles being a singing duo, it was weird to finally hear what they sounded like. The name everyone used to say they sounded like was The Everly Brothers, and as it turned out that was pretty accurate, and the harmonies on these two performances were very 'Phil and Don'.

Since obtaining this recording, I've been busy creating CD's of the whole show for the family. This episode has also resulted in me hooking up with long lost cousin Mark (Don's son). Apparently we had met once before when we were nippers (and my father has the photographic evidence to prove it!), but neither of us remembers it. So it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet Mark and his family, and I look forward to keeping in good contact with them from now on.

In the downtime I've also registered my dad as a member of the Performing Rights Society (PRS), and formally logged him as the composer of 'Running Away'.

Well, there you have it! Not at all what we were expecting, but at the same time, far exceeding what we dared hope for. It was perhaps initially a little disappointing to only get two songs out of all that tape, but not in my wildest dreams did I expect to find a live broadcast of my uncles performing on national BBC radio!! Mondo summed it up brilliantly when I told him the news later that day... he said discovering an hour or two of home recordings would have been nice, but ultimately, may not have been something you would perhaps play over and over. However what we actually uncovered may well have been the highlight of their career, and it's now safely preserved in the family vaults at Piley Towers.

So, very nearly 50 years after it was first (and almost certainly last!) broadcast, here are The Essex Brothers!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen:

Running Away:

FURTHER FINDS

Whilst sorting out his old records, my uncle Tony found a 78RPM single recorded by my uncles, as well as a small 5" 78RPM that they made in a recording booth on Southend seafront in the 1950's as teenagers (he also found another that my father recorded in the very same booth!). He also discovered a mini album that Mick recorded sometime in the 1960's.

My Uncle Alan too managed to locate a 78RPM recording of The Essex Brothers, containing the songs 'Takes a Worried Man', 'That'll be the Day' and another recording of 'Running Away'.

Meanwhile my cousin Mark is convinced that a copy of the album they made still exists in an attic somewhere, and has upped his search for it...

Mick's partner Kath has unearthed a collection of 11 cassettes of Mick singing in the 80's and 90's. I'm currently in the process of transferring them all to CD for her, and there is some fabulous stuff on them. Mick really did have a beautifully rich singing voice, which matured as he got older. The sound quality on these tapes is really good too. Kath also found this letter that was sent to the boys in March 1962, thanking them for attending an audition:

My father also recalled that the boys were booked by (and performed for) the Kray twins when they had a nightclub in Soho in the early 60's.

BBC HISTORY

Since discovering these recordings I've done a little research into BBC radio at that time... It's hard to imagine now, but at the start of the sixties there was no commercial or local radio in England. All that existed were just 3 BBC national networks:

"Home" (a legacy that started with the Home Service, launched in 1939)

the "Light Programme" (launched in 1945) and

the "Third programme" (launched in 1946).

That was it!!! The British youth were not catered for at all by these stations, but the boom in 'pop' music forced the BBC to review their strict playlist policy. At the beginning of the 60's, the BBC started to experiment with 'specialist' pop programmes featuring rock n roll music with titles such as The Beat Show, Easy Beat, From Us To You, Here We Go, The Ken Dodd Show, On The Scene, Parade Of The Pops, Side By Side, Steppin' Out, Let's Go, Swinging Sound '63, Teenagers Turn and The Talent Spot. These programmes often featured live music from a selection of acts as opposed to playing records. As most of these shows were broadcast live, a large number were never actually recorded by the BBC.

History remembers The Talent Spot (which was broadcast on the Light Programme) more fondly than some of the others, mainly because The Beatles performed on it three separate times. In fact, the earliest known performance of the Beatles performing Twist and Shout was on The Talent Spot in November 1962... a recording of which alas does not exist.

The Talent Spot was recorded at the Paris Theatre (also known as The Paris), 4 - 12 Lower Regent Street, London SW1. The BBC took over this former cinema during the war and converted it to a theatre. They were particularly keen on it as the auditorium was underground, thus broadcasting could continue when London was bombed. The Paris was the very first BBC performance studio to be equipped with stereo. The Beeb continued to use The Paris right up until 1995, when they finally replaced it with the purposed built Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House.

So what happened to those three BBC radio stations? Well, in 1967 "Home" was renamed Radio 4 and The "Third Programme" became Radio 3. All the 'pop' shows were taken away from the "Light Programme" for broadcasting by a brand new BBC station called Radio 1, after which The Light Programme was renamed Radio 2.

Here's the Beatles outside the Paris Theatre:

This photo was subsequently 'tweaked' to make the cover of the 'Beatles Live at the BBC' album:

And finally..... here's a picture that's been discovered of my dad (obviously on 'shore leave' from the Merchant Navy!) with the young twins.

Piley

SOS (P) ..... Send-Out-Service (Provider..)

Piley Towers is currently back in the dark ages with effectively no internet connection for the last 5 days... From Saturday until Tuesday the connection was dropping every one to 2 minutes, but as of last night it now drops every 1 to 2 seconds!!

This is the joy of TalkTalk I'm afraid. You know that old adage about "you get what you pay for"? Well never was that more appropriate.

This continual dropping of service is something I've had to accept (at least until my 18 months is up and I can escape), and often an evening is rendered a 'no net' night. But this is by far the worst bout, and incredibly frustrating. I've had a post pretty much ready to go since Saturday, but can't stay connected long enough to upload the pics etc.

Watch this space....

Bedding Plants For Sale - Slight Sawdust Damage...

Southend Council no doubt have a similar outlook to yours... their rule of thumb seems to be ignore what the local residents want (you know, us plebs that pay the Council Tax), and do the things that they don't want.

The latest tragic example of this is the commencement of 15 months of work converting the main roundabout into town (Victoria Circus) into yet more concrete and a traffic light system (at a cost of a mere £25 million!!!!). The current roundabout is nothing special, but it's been there for almost 50 years and does the job - allowing traffic to flow reasonably well in and out of town. But what IS special (erm, make that 'WAS' special) were the 100 year old trees that this huge traffic island was originally constructed around back in the early 1960's.

As luck would have it, I took this photo of the roundabout on Thursday 7th January. Obviously I took the picture just to capture the snowfall, I had no idea of what was about to happen...

Coming in to work on Monday 11th January I was shocked to see the decimated roundabout. All but one of the trees had been cut down, and all the plant beds dug up... the aftermath looked like a World War I battlefield. The council had made no notification that this work was to commence (no doubt intentionally), and a local group of protesters even had a meeting booked with the council on Tuesday 12th to discuss if there was any way the trees could be incorporated into the new development. The council agreed to meet the protesters... then cut the lot down on Sunday 10th.

Here's the same view less than a week after my first photo...

I am however delighted to see the townsfolk rising up to display their disgust at this needless expenditure and destruction of such distinguished trees, as ever since, the railings at the side of the roundabout have turned into an 'RIP' shrine.... It's much like you see on the roads these days at the scene of a tragic accident, however a closer inspection of the cards, flowers and wreaths shows that the deceased they are paying their respects to are none other than the 22 culled trees! Also great to see that the art of sarcasm is alive and well in Southend... In amongst the tributes are 3 lovely bogus ads:

BIRD TABLES FOR SALE - ALL TREES SOURCED LOCALLY

FREE LOGS - PLEASE CALL XXXXXXXXX ASK FOR LESTER

and my personal favourite:

BEDDING PLANTS FOR SALE - SOME SLIGHT SAWDUST DAMAGE - VARIOUS COLOURS

I do hope that the phone numbers attached to these ads weren't all direct lines to the decision makers over at the Council...

I brought my camera in just too late... hours before I took these photos there were dozens of floral tributes, cards and messages on and around the railings. The council had removed the whole lot by the time I went out to lunch, and all that remained were these few messages. 30 minutes later as I returned from lunch, all of these had been removed too!!!! If only the council were this diligent and efficient during our month of scandalously icy roads and pavements... maybe my 78 year old dad wouldn't have fallen over in the treacherous conditions, and perhaps his Christmas wouldn't have been ruined.

The council of course will take no notice of the locals and their show of disgust... we only live here for goodness sake, why would we be interested in what happens to our town? But I'm pleased that people feel strongly enough to make their point.

And what IS the point of digging up the roundabout anyway?? John Lamb (our Tory councillor responsible for tourism and regeneration) said "the works will help boost trade and tourism in the town"... I can hear the tills ringing with anticipation already John, nothing like a new set of traffic lights to get peoples wallets out... Anna Waite (Southend Councils executive councillor for transport and planning) said "we are extremal proud of this scheme, which will transform the entrance to Southend Town Centre"... bloody hell Anna, I thought we were in a recession love?! You couldn't quite manage to scrape up a few quid to get some grit out on the roads (which in turn meant I risked my life every morning travelling to work and you didn't collect my rubbish for nearly THREE weeks), but you can find £25 million to "transform the entrance to Southend Town Centre"??! Great... at least people will now have to wait until they get through the "entrance" before they realise the town is a shit-hole these days.... The blame for which I also lay at the feet of this council after years of neglect. The once thriving 'office' area of Southend is now 90% vacant derelict buildings, the shopping centre is full of empty shops, and the whole place is grubby and depressing.

Yet the one asset that Southend has that might (just might) bring in a few tourists, we've been waiting THIRTY FOUR years for you to mend!!! Yes, the pier-head of the longest pier in the world (1.3 miles) was all but destroyed by fire in 1976, with further fires in 1995 and 2005... and we are STILL waiting for Southend council to repair it!

I don't know anyone who thinks that this £25 million pound development is wanted or needed.... and to my mind, the introduction of a weedy set of traffic lights at such an incredibly busy junction seems woefully naive.

Oh, and just one final thing.... either side of the roundabout the council have hastily erected two lovely hoardings showing an 'artists impression' of what this fabulous improvement will look like. I had to do a double take, as surely I'd made a mistake, but no, quite clearly there it was in the exact position where the roundabout currently sits.... guess what?? yup that's right, a dozen or so trees... Wankers.

Piley

The Best of 2009

The last couple of January's I've blogged my 'best albums' of the previous year. This year I'm doing it slightly different and it also ties in with the 'annual Christmas lads meet up' (oh ok, piss up!)... and what a great turn out this year I might add, as well as the regular 'locals' we managed to get Paul T down from London, John F down from Brighton and Terry H down from Leicester! Top work!

Each year this event has some sort of theme (don't ask me why, I can't actually remember anymore!! It just does OK!), we've had top ten films, desert island discs, top 10 debut albums etc etc. This year, E. F Rice hit on the genius idea that we all create a CD made up of your favourite tunes from the last 12 months, burn enough copies for everyone and then dish em out. The rules were simple, all of the tracks had to either:

a) be taken from an album released in 2009; or

b) from an album you bought in 2009

Either way, the CD was to contain songs that had shaped 2009 for you. I was pleased with part 'b' of the rules, as at my age, I seem to be delving more and more into the back catalogue. It also meant I was able to bend the rules slightly and apply them to albums I already owned pre-2009, but for one reason or another, purchased again during the last year... thus every single Beatles album was in contention, as were the double CD re-releases of the Damned's late 1980's albums. Banned though was adding a track from an album purchased prior to 2009... no matter how much you may have listened to it recently!! The final part of the rules was a ban on track-listings... initially at least. The idea was to avoid any preconceptions and fast forwarding of tracks you'd already made up your mind on before hearing! So here is the run-down of Pileys Spicy New Year Revolutions 2009!


1. Marc Almond - Day And Night
Taken from 'Orpheus In Exile - The Songs Of Vadim Kozin' (released September 2009)

Marc released his second album of Russian folk songs last year (the first being 2003's 'Heart On Snow'), and just like the first one it's a real treat. His intense style of performance suits these songs perfectly... they could almost have been written especially for him! The orchestration and production is just stunning. 'Day and Night' is set to a unwilting marching tempo, and captures the excruciating hell of being in the Russian army....

2. Lady GaGa - Again Again
Taken from 'The Fame' (released January 2009)

Yes really! I warmed to the bonkers one over the year and in particular found the coverage of her Glastonbury performance extremely entertaining. The biggest shock was discovering that this gal can actually sing too! 'The Fame' is a cracking little album with more of a nod to electro-glam and Bowie than you might initially expect. This little gem is tucked away right at the end of the album (if you're lucky... it doesn't even appear on some re-issues) but beats everything else on there for my money.

3 Martin Gordon - Interesting Times
Taken from 'Time Gentlemen Please!' (released July 2009)

I think my love of this album has been pretty well documented on the blog already (check out the Dec 09 archives if you missed it!). Insanely catchy, intelligent tunes, that deserve far more exposure than they probably get.

4 Jace Everett – Bad Things
Taken from 'Jace Everett' (released March 2006)

2009 was the year of the vampire series True Blood. I loved everything about it, and that included the gloriously trashy country\rockabilly twang of the theme tune. I googled it immediately, and by the 3rd episode I had this album! It's OK, although there's nothing else on there to match this. Just love the subtle organ sound that's in there too.

5 Seasick Steve - Never Go West
Taken from 'Man From Another Time' (released October 2009)

This guy has grown on me over the last 2 or 3 years. I always thought he sounded OK, but nothing particularly revolutionary or different. This new album has a polish to it that is not on any of the previous ones, and it benefits tremendously from it.

6 The Caper Story - I Wish I Did
Bit of a cheat this one, as The Caper Story don't actually have a record deal. However, based on the demo of theirs I was passed during the last year, it won't be too long before they have one! I Wish I Did is the band at their psychedelic, Mod-tastic best!

7 Martin Gordon - You Can't See Me
Taken from 'Time Gentlemen Please!' (released July 2009)

Martin Gordon in Pink Floyd shocker!! Amazing song! See number 3 above!

8 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Taken from 'It's Blitz' (released April 2009)

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs just get better and better. The first two albums are both belters, but this is their best yet. There is a maturity to the sound of this one, and Karen O's vocals are just incredible!

9 The Rolling Stones – Rough Justice
Taken from 'A Bigger Bang' (released September 2005)

I was on a right royal Stones buzz back in September and October of 2009. So much so that I finally caved in on my 20 year old policy to stop buying their albums after Steel Wheels in 1989. A trawl round Amazon 'new and used' enabled me to pick up the last 20 years worth of albums for literally pennies (I paid 10p for this their most recent album, A Bigger Bang!). The biggest shock was that they weren't all completely shit! This track is an absolute stormer, sneak it on the end of Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main St, and many wouldn't bat an eyelid. Best Stones track in a quarter of a century!

10 Fleet Foxes – Sun It Rises
Taken from 'Fleet Foxes' (released June 2008)

Ok, Ok... so it came out in 2008!! But I didn't buy it until about March 2009. It's been a real grower too. Initially I just found the album quite pleasant, but the more I played it, the more I found their CSN\Beach Boys'y\Simon and Garfunkel'y sound strangely addictive. A truly beautiful album, and I can't wait for the follow up later this year.

11 The Bravery - Adored
Taken from 'Stir The Blood' (released December 2009)

I've loved this band right from the off, having seen their first UK show at the Metro Club in Oxford Street. I was blown away with their enthusiasm and sheer electric showmanship, and for a while they were the darlings of the music press, set to be the band that The Strokes never quite became. They disappeared from the radar of the music press pretty quickly, but I've always kept a keen eye on their career. Stir The Blood is the Bravery's third album, and much like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, there is a real maturity and sophistication to the sound on this outing. They are also experimenting a little more electronically, and the result is pure dynamite!

12. White Denim – Shake Shake Shake
Taken from 'Workout Holiday' (released June 2008)

A great little trio from Austin, Texas. This instrumental track has a real urgency about it, and quite a 60's garage feel. The album (again, I didn't get it until last year) is a cracker, fusing Blues, 60's garage and rock all in one go!

13 Marc Almond - My Fire
Taken from 'Orpheus In Exile - The Songs Of Vadim Kozin' (released September 2009)

See 1 above for full details!

14 The Baddies - Colin
Taken from 'Do The Job' (released September 2009)

Local boys done good, the Baddies produced one of the best debut albums of the year (not to mention one of my gigs of the year too). I honestly could have included just about any track of their high octane, new wavery... but 'Colin' is pretty much as good as it gets.

15 The Damned - Sanctum Sanctorum
Taken from 'Phantasmagoria' (originally released July 1985. Re-released Feb 2009)


Actually, the Damned album that I played the most last year was without a doubt 'So, Whos Paranoid?'. But as I did buy it in 2008 (and it made my 'best of 2008' post) I had to play by the rules. However, 2009 saw the re-release of my 2 least favourite Damned albums ('Phantasmagoria' and 'Anything'), so I was still able to shoehorn my favourite band in! The lure of an extra disc of bonus material on each of these albums was enough to tempt me to part with my hard earned on 'em once more, but giving them another spin after such a lengthy break, I was actually pleasantly surprised... I had certainly forgotten what a gothic gem Sanctum Sanctorum was, complete with it's delightfully OTT church organ fanfare and thunder-clap sound effects!

16 Adam Green - Morning After Midnight
Taken from 'Sixes and Sevens' (released March 2008)

Again, another pre-2009 release. I stumbled on it this year by picking up a pair of headphones on a listening booth in the Rough Trade shop in Green Street. It appealed to me instantly. Have now started to investigate his back catalogue and there is some amazing stuff there... this track is great fun though!

17 Red Light Company - With Lights Out
Taken from 'Fine Fascination' (released March 2009)

My good friend Keano tipped me off about these. There's nothing really original about them (I've been around indie-rock too long!!), but I love the mix they have here... it's a bit Suede, bit Radiohead, bit MGMT, bit Editors etc etc. It's even a bit Coldplay in places, but fortunately there's enough influence elsewhere for them to get away with that!!

18 Beatles - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Taken from 'Abbey Road' (originally released September 1969. Re-released September 2009)

I bought more albums by the Beatles in 2009 than any other artist, having taken advantage of the re-mastered re-releases. I've never owned any Beatles on CD (all LP up to now), so thought this promotion was a good excuse to finally do so. The trouble with the Beatles is that they are just too good... Everyone knows pretty much all of their songs regardless if they are a 'single' or album track, so it's impossible to find a hidden gem like you can with other artists. So I went for this track as it's perhaps a lesser played one - and also clocks in as the longest ever released Beatles song... and thinking about it, that's probably why it's a lesser played track! It certainly isn't anything to do with the quality, and it's actually one of my favourite fabs songs. It's got more balls than a lot of their 'popier' tunes, and I find that I can get completely lost inside its hypnotically repetitive bluesy haze.

19 The Baddies - Pisces
Taken from 'Do The Job' (released September 2009)

Nope, I couldn't quite chose just one track from this album! See 14 above.

So there you go... 19 songs that helped to shape 2009 for me. My CD actually had 20 tracks on it, but the final song will be appearing in its own post in the next week or two.

Piley

S'no Contest!

Certain parts of the country got the snow rougher than others... Here in my part of deepest darkest Essex it was bad at times, but never particularly deep... I just got thoroughly bored of it being here for so long! Normally the white stuff has the good manners to turn up for a few days, ruin a few commuters journeys, trip up one or two old grannies, let the kids have some fun... and then pisses off sharpish again. But bar a little break around Christmas, I've not seen the pavements (or many of the roads come to think of it.... did Southend Council actually get ANY grit??! Grrr!) for a good month or so.

At the weekend Piley Junior had the time of his life running around the snow in the local park and golf course... With it hanging around so long it got me wondering if this is in fact the worst bout of snow in my lifetime, and assumed it probably must be....

Here's mini Piley getting to grips with the latest dollop of snow:

On Sunday evening I popped up in the loft to put all the Christmas decs back up, and whilst there couldn't resist a flick through some old photo albums - I've always been a bugger for taking photos, and what with inheriting my mums collection a few years back too, there unfortunately isn't any room downstairs to house them. The first album I pick up had pictures of the snow of 1987 and it all immediately came back to me!!

In my 43 years spent in the 'softy South', I'm pretty sure this was indeed our biggest snowfall... it all arrived in one lump over a very short space of time, and being old skool snow, did have the good grace to go again a few days later. Here are a few of the photos I found in the loft... worth a look if only to have a giggle at a Piley more than half a lifetime ago! (Eek! Where has it all gone??! I'm 20 in these photos, and I remember it as though it were about 7 or 8 years ago).

the trusty Leyland Mini that mum and I used to share:

I was a 10 hole Doc Martins kinda guy in them days, and the snow certainly looks to be higher than those! (apologies for those gloves... what was i thinking?!):

Am assuming that I'm crouching here, and the snow is not up to my waist! Up to the numberplate on that car behind me though:

For sheer awkwardness, skating rink pavements and general annoyance, 2010 wins hands down, but if it's a winter wonderland and sheer good old fashioned volume you're after, look no further than 1987!

Piley

My Dad's Bigger Than Your Dad...

I do so love the fact that even after 43 years, you still find out new stuff from your parents!

Over Christmas my dad was telling some stories from a life pretty much spent on or around the sea. My father was with the Merchant Navy for around 16 years (from the age of 16 until 32), starting off as a galley boy. The Merchant Navy consisted of various private shipping companies, but my father worked pretty much exclusively for the Cunard line.

He rose up the ranks whilst working at Cunard, and by his mid-twenties had become a second steward. He had a number of men working for him at this point, one of whom was a gentleman by the name of 'Ted'. Ted was in his 50's, and my dad took a real shine to him. He was always keen to help out, and from the conversations they used to have, seemed like a very proud family man. My dad clearly remembers him talking about his sons, and in particular his twin boys who had recently started their own business. Ted would often remark to dad that he was the same age as his boys (about 27 or 28 at that time).

Anyway, during his time with Cunard, Ted was caught carrying out some misdemeanour or other, and my father was tasked with the job of having to let him go. This upset my dad, as he was genuinely very fond of him (and he was a terrific worker too!). But 'orders is orders' as they say, so he carried out the job. Still, the gentleman that he was, Ted took the news with grace, shook my fathers hand and bid him farewell.

My dad always wondered about old Ted and what happened to him, and a few years later he found out..... It transpired that 'Ted' was in fact a World War II deserter, and as such, even in the late 50's was still technically a wanted man. His real name was Charles David Kray, his wife was Violet Kray, his eldest boy was also called Charles, and those entrepreneurial twins? Yes, you guessed it, Ronald and Reginald Kray!

Looking back, I think my father was very grateful that old Ted took his dismissal so well!

Happy New Year!

Piley