Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus - We All Stand Together

I love this song and I love the short film it's from (the film being slightly longer and different to the music video). If you are one of those people who deride this track and believe that this was the nadir of McCartney's career or that this song is silly or unworthy for an ex-Beatle then you are a scurrilous blackguard and a rascal, standing against all that is boundlessly creative, imaginative, childlike and innocent, beautiful and magical and deserve to be cursed, mocked, ostracised, cast down into the depths of Hell, stripped naked, oiled and thrown into the flames to languish in the eternal moans of your wicked Rupert-hating brethren and have your bottom troubled by the hot trident of Satan himself. You're also very clearly just plain wrong. 'We All Stand Together' is brilliant.



My favourite bit is when those three big bullfrogs go "Bom buh buh buh buh buh buh bom." I like that operatic fish as well. There are so many different segments to this song with some astounding arrangements and singing it's almost symphonic. This is epic McCartney. Seriously, I do not understand why this song isn't universally praised. It's a really good song with a beautiful sentiment, interesting and creative and hugely commercially successful. I guess the fact that it doesn't feature guitars and can be enjoyed by children is too much for some people to get over.



The back cover has some nice pictures of the various players, including the bullfrogs and the fish. It is unknown just exactly what happened to The Frog Chorus after they scored this hit, but it seems apparent that the rigours of the music industry where too much for the poor souls to take. Management were quick to arrange licensing deals for posters, towels and pencils etc. and the Frog Chorus were chewed up and spat out, too burnt out even to release a follow-up. Shame, as a collaboration with Alfredo Frog surely beckoned.

It was produced by George Martin and the pair of them must have been glad of the time in the studio to get down to some proper work without that clown Lennon philandering and womanising and shoving acid down his throat and banging on about attention-seekling, self-referential Eggmen guff.

The B-side is 'We All Stand Together (Humming Version)' by Paul McCartney and the Finchley Frogettes, so in the tradition of many great hardcore punk bands I guess we could call this a split? Maybe not. It's a gentler arrangement with an even dreamier hummed vocal melody than on the A-side; a nice way to kick back and relax after the crashing and splashing of the Frog Chorus version.

The single was released in November 1984 for the Christmas market, reached #3 and spent 13 weeks on the chart before dropping off, only to have a Lazarus-like return in December 1985, re-entering the charts for 5 weeks and peaking at #32.

In 2004 the song had a re-release of sorts as a double A-side 7" with 'Tropic Island Hum'; a song from McCartney's more recent foray into children's film. Someone has put a nice video online of the record being played:

Pavement - Carrot Rope

I'm not sure what informed my decision to buy this record as at the time I wasn't really familiar with Pavement. I think that somewhere in the back of my head I had a vague concept that Pavement were a 'good' band and that to purchase a single of theirs on vinyl was a 'good' thing to do - I was, after all, supporting an obscure and independent and alternative band on a marginal format (as opposed to buying the CDs) and therefore some greater god of indie-rock would see to it that my 99p investment would be rewarded with at least 3 minutes of musical pleasure.* Of course, I had no idea of quite how big the band really were or anything of their previous output, so I think it was a pretty good punt.

*Actually, thinking about it, I already knew and quite liked the song 'Shady Lane' as I think I had seen it on The O-zone (remember that show?) or something and that guided me in 1999 to buy 'Carrot Rope' on one of my trawls through the new release singles box in my local independent record shop.

I love the song 'Carrot Rope'; breezy, poppy, just odd enough to be interesting and it has that rose-tinted sound that makes you believe it could have been the soundtrack to your parents' old super-8 summer home movies. It's in contrast to most of the darker material on the Terror Twilight album.

Ten years on, I'm just watching the video for the first time and it's actually pretty annoying. Here it is anyway:

The song reminds me a lot less of earlier Fall-influenced indie-rock Pavement and far more of the sort of stuff on Stephen Malkmus' eponymous debut album, so at the time this would have been a pointer as to the direction he was going in, with Pavement playing their final show later that year (Brixton Academy, London Nov 20th 1999).

Like the music contained within, the record sleeve can't fail to raise a smile. Silly, yes, but also intriguing, the image of what we can safely assume to be a carrot rope makes me wonder whether it was commissioned for the single or if someone in the Domino art department opportunistically came across it and had a Eureka moment ("That's it! That, my friends, is a Carrot Rope!)

The B-side is 'And Then...’ which is an edited early version of 'The Hexx' from Terror Twilight. The song is dark and brooding Pavement at their best and makes a great counterpart to 'Carrot Rope'. It was recorded for 1997's Brighten the Corners, but left off that album for whatever reason. At a time when a lot of singles were released on two CDs and a 7", with the vinyl B-side being one of the CD bonus tracks, it was cool that the 'Carrot Rope' 7" got its own B-side, as 'And Then...' wasn't on either of the two CDs. Nice touch. The only other place you could hear it was on the B-side of the American 'Spit on a Stranger' 7". The track has since been compiled onto Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition with all the other contemporaneous demos, B-sides, and sessions etc. There was also a version included on Pavment's recent Record Store Day release: a live album of a concert in Germany from 1997. Good luck getting one of those outside of the USA!

Well, this is a great single, representing the two sides of the Pavement coin. It appears to still be in print, and you can get one here.

Mrs. Mills - Everybody's Welcome at Mrs. Mills' Party

Mrs. Mills' web presence is pitiful. It's a disgrace that a British recording artist who achieved so much commercial success both at home and internationally should have been so woefully neglected and seemingly thoroughly forgotten. I have never in my life seen her name in print or heard it uttered on TV or radio. I've heard more songs by The Jesus Lizard broadcast on radio than I have by Mrs. Mills! Everything I know of her has been gleaned from her record sleeves that I have purchased in charity shops and at boot sales. And this is a woman who was managed by the man who went on to manage The Rolling Stones; spent her entire recording career on Parlophone and EMI; shared recording space at Abbey Road with The Beatles and sold records by the bucket load. The sheer amount of Mrs. Mills records clogging up the charity shops racks is testament enough to that. So what's going on? It's as if she's been blackballed from the entertainment annals by some peevish God of taste. What terrible offense could she have committed? A jellied eel 'lost' maliciously behind a radiator?

Well, the answer of course is that this stuff hasn't any longevity. Her material was mostly covers of standards from the 20s - 40s designed for a good old knees-up and aimed at an ageing demographic. It was already old hat in the '60s when she was discovered and peaked, and it seems that after her death in 1978 her music didn't hang around long in the public consciousness. Which is a terrible shame, I feel. From the very few videos I have seen on YouTube (who is putting this stuff out there!?) she seems like quite a character and could certainly give the likes of Susan Boyle et al a run for their money in the 'rough diamond' charm stakes. Her record covers certainly give an impression of boisterous and fun-loving entertainer. Who wouldn't want to be invited to Mrs. Mills Party?

This is good-time music that brought pleasure to a great many people and that was reflected in Mrs. Mills' popularity and record sales. So, what started for me an an exercise in buying her records for their kitschy covers has developed into a deep-rooted respect for the lady.

As I said, her record covers are mostly fantastic, this being a particular favourite of mine. Another fave is Glad with Love, and not only because of the delicious pun (Mrs. Mills' christian name being Gladys). What better advert for multicultural diversity and tolerance than the cover of this album? Screw you, Benetton, Mrs. Mills has got it all wrapped up.



Everybody's Welcome at Mrs. Mills' Party is a fairly early release from 1963 (her recorded debut came in 1961) and was issued in both EP and LP format and I'm not sure which came first. I own both (nothing wrong with that. In fact, I own more Mrs. Mills records than I do of Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective and Bon Iver put together, so put that in yer pipe and smoke it!) and there are some large discrepancies in the track-listings. I like to think that this EP contains the very cream of the LP!

Both sides have two medleys featuring Mrs. Mills on piano with some accompaniment, which the LP sleeve attributes to being directed by one Geoff Love. But it really is all about Mills. Well, and the songs. As much as this is a showcase for Mills' potent piano skills, it's the song selection for the medleys and the creative, new and exciting ways in which they segue into each other that really counts. Clearly Mrs. Mills is the forerunner of 2 Many DJs and other mix artists of their ilk. Except, of course, that Mrs. Mills brings a level of flair and panache to the table (and the ability to play an instrument) that quite frankly leaves the knob-twiddlers choking in the dust!



I won't go into detail about the songs in the medleys as I quite frankly don't have a clue what any of them are, but here are a few choice titles to give you an impression and whet the appetite: 'In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town', 'Alexander's Ragtime Band', 'Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet', and so on. Mrs. Mills tinkers along in rude fashion and everybody has a thoroughly good time. I expect the same could be said about all of her records, but there's a mighty lot of them to get through before I can put my name to it!

Here's a poem by me about my love for Mrs. Mills records:

Mrs. Mills
Gives me thrills
When I spin
Her disc of vin
yl

Yeah. It still needs a bit of work, but it's getting there.

Big Black - The Model/He's a Whore

I bought a huge batch of Big Black vinyl a few months ago and I've been looking forward to writing about one of the 45s in there, and since I did Krafwerk's 'The Model' last week this seems as good a time as any...

I hate those people who dismiss a band by saying, "all their stuff sounds the same to me," so it's with some trepidation that I say of Big Black that a lot of their stuff sounds the same to me. Big Black for me are less about the songs and more about the sound; that pummelling, scratchy, aggressive, mean, cruel sound. In a lesser band's hands it could come across as a pantomime, but there's a sincerity to Big Black: Albini is really pissed off.

When twinned with a memorable song the Big Black experience really takes off, so it should come as no surprise that some of my favourite Big Black tracks are covers of songs that have more than a modicum of melody in them that the majority of Big Black originals eschew. So, this record sits pretty well with me, being as it is a tribute to both Cheap Trick and Kraftwerk.

'The Model' appears on Big Black's 1987 swansong Songs About Fucking and 'He's a Whore', although originally only intended for this release, was also included on the compact disc and cassette editions of the album. Although both tracks are freely available on the CD this record is a still a desirable item as it's such a cool, fun package, which is what this blog is all about really.

This is a double A-side and so you get two different covers! Awesome. Both covers playfully ape classic artwork by each band.



The Cheap Trick side, the first time I saw it, had me exclaiming "Holy shit! Is that Steve Albini?" When Albini is the looker in the band, well - you've got a band that could make onions cry. But that's what Big Black was about: brutal songs about ugly subjects. It's a great photo though, perfectly mimicking Cheap Trick's 1977 debut album cover.



Even the record label continues the theme with the Big Black logo, which is a really nice touch.



The song itself is a poppy new-wave number. This is about as poppy as Big Black get, with those drum machine beats sounding more danceable than punishing. It is surprisingly faithful to the original, except for the dead-panned vocals, and it seems like Big Black are having fun with it, even having stab at some - shock! - harmonies! Sounds to me like Santiago Durango on lead vocals growling, "Ahh'm a whwwooar."



The Kraftwerk side brilliantly replicates the artwork of their 1978 album The Man-Machine. That album's photography by Gunther Frohling has become quite iconic and whoever did this Big Black record has done an excellent job of recapturing it. I wonder who that mystery man was?



Again, this side gets its very own Big Black 'Kraftwerkesque' logo which repeats on the record label:



As for the song, it's an aggressive and heavier take on the original, with the drum machine and grimy bass very prominent. Steve Albini turns in some wonderfully noisy guitar squall in place of the synths. Overall the tone is nastier and this is a more menacing version than the original with Steve Albini sneering the vocals atonally. Lines like "I'd like to take her home with me that's understood" take on new meaning in this version: whereas in Kraftwerk's they sound sad and wistful, in Big Black's version it seems like a taunt; lurid and goading. Kraftwerk's 'Model' is unattainable; on a pedestal. Big Black's 'Model' is in the gutter getting spat on. You don't want to know what they have in mind for her if they get her home. It's a great cover as the band really find a different angle and feeling in it, while retaining most of the elements that make the original such a great song. Steve Albini must have had a soft spot for this as he continued to cover it with Rapeman and in his collaboration with Zeni Geva.

Absolutely classic 7" and well worth getting even if you own the CD. And remember, CDs make Mr. Albini sad.