The Counterforce No. 29
RIP Shane MacGowan, Peter Hook, New Order, Adrian Borland, Kevin Maloney, and more
Too many times this year I have sat down to write one of these things only to learn that someone whose music has had a deep impact on my life has died. Today it’s Shane MacGowan. Oh man. He gave us two of my favourite songs of all-time - ‘Haunted’ and ‘Rainy Night In Soho’. And wrote many more that are perfect. The title track from If I Should Fall From Grace With God has been getting a lot of play on Instagram today, and rightfully so. ‘Coming up threes, boys, coming up threes, boys’, that delivery gets me every time. I first came to The Pogues after that awesome Mary Chain cover of ‘Ghost Of A Smile’ in 94. Rushing right out to Tower Records in Boston and picking up Hell’s Ditch. I later found the cassette of Poguetry In Motion right when I needed ‘Rainy Night In Soho’ in my life. Shane had a way of getting straight to the pulsing heart of the matter. And he loved his literature. One of my favourite Shane stories is that, around 2006, Dickon Edwards had become his personal assistant and ended up accompanying him to Tangiers. For three days no one saw MacGowan at all, and folks were starting to worry. Turns out he was in his hotel bed re-reading Finnegans Wake the whole time.
And holy shit, just found Sinead doing ‘Rainy Night In Soho’!
I finished Peter Hook’s Substance: Inside New Order last week and freaking loved it. 724 pages and I still want more. Hooky tells you pretty much everything you could ever want to know about his time in the band and the incredible music they made together. And all about why some of the later stuff lacked the magic of their finest moments. He and Bernard Sumner’s animosity is well-known, but, Hooky sings his praises too, especially about what am innovative musician Barney is, a great guitarist and technology enthusiast who comes up with amazing stuff in the studio. And even with all that, there are more stories to tell. He even says so about Freebass, his supergroup with Mani and Andy Rourke. Would love to know what happened there. His Joy Division book is excellent too. Especially the audiobook with him reading it. I had put it off for a long time because I had read (what I thought was) everything about them as a teenager and foolishly thought I knew the whole story. But how wrong I was, and to hear Hooky tell it is so awesome. Stephen Morris’ two books about the bands are great as well. And again, especially the audiobooks. His voice is so mild-mannered, it reminded me of sitting in a rural pub, in a big comfy chair by the fire, listening to a country gent tell stories of his youth, albeit about taking lots of drugs, never finishing school, listening to loads of Van der Graaf Generator, and then going on to play in two of the most innovative bands of all-time.
To me, The Sound were the only true heirs to Joy Division, and after watching the 2007 JD doc, I decided to see if there was one about Adrian Borland. And there is. Wow. I knew he was troubled, but not to that extent. His dad comes across as really great in the film, even despite Adrian having once, in a psychotic state, made an attempt on his father’s life. I love the story about Borland Sr. buying studio equipment and rigging up their home so his son’s first band could record. All with no knowledge or experience of that stuff whatsoever. And I love Adrian’s line, in the clip above too, ‘The goal is make the best rock music around.’ Very admirable. Such a shame they and he never got the success that was due them. After the excellent post-punk of those early Sound albums, Adrian went on to make some wonderful pop music, with The Citizens and solo. ‘Night Cascade’ is glorious.
I was so impressed with Kevin Maloney’s The Red-Headed Pilgrim that after I finished it, I wrote to him offering to trade The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass for a copy of his first novel, Cult Of Loretta. And loved this one as well, flying through it whilst managing to savor all the absurdity. Quite dark stuff, handled with a touch that never negates the root causes, but overall it’s just freaking hilarious. His succinct style really gives power to the jokes, and there’s plenty of them. Very pleased to see there will be more from him next year.
SEVEN SONGS
The Pogues - ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’. 2 minutes 19 seconds is all you need. What a punch this packs
Led Zeppelin - ‘Wearing and Tearing’. I just finished the 21 hour audiobook of Bob Spitz’ Led Zeppelin: The Biography (and then dove straight into Chris Salewicz’17 hour Jimmy Page bio). I enjoyed the book, obviously. And always loved this song. They were going for a punk thing, and I totally get that. Its awesome energy and great riff. Though at five and a half minutes, it’s way too long for a punk song, and since my initial listen, much as I love it, I don’t think I’ve ever lasted all the way through
Smog - ‘I Am Star Wars!’. This lo-fi classic popped into my head the other day and I remembered how great it is
The Sound - ‘Total Recall’. Killer pop tune from later period The Sound. I love how the intro guitar is more minor and a bit out sounding, then the vocal takes it up making the part more major for the chorus.
New Order – ‘Procession’. An oft-overlooked early NO classic.
Bessie Banks – ‘Go Now’. I heard this for the first time a few weeks ago and was blown away by how gorgeous it is. A most excellent soul tune
The Wild Swans – ‘Young Manhood’. The second single from one of the best bands to ever come out of Liverpool. I am very much looking forward to Paul Simpson’s autobiography (out in December in the UK and January in the US.) If you’re in London, Paul is doing a talk with Bill Drummond on December 6th at Rock N Roll Book Club in Walthamstow. SO wish I could be there for it.
I’m also collecting all these Seven Songs lists here on a monster Apple playlist