British Comedy Guide

What are you listening to now? Page 1,189

The Longpigs - On and On

Quote: Ben @ 14th May 2015, 1:21 PM BST

The Longpigs - On and On

Yes. Richard Hawley. Did you see them? I think I did but my memory of it is hazy. That indie side of the 1990s was always one of my favourites. At the time, it sounded retro-classic and that was good enough. Now because the time has passed, it sounds proper classic. I do early nostalgia less now but feel more nostalgic about that era than most. In some ways, that surprises me. In others, it doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnKFBlkw8gU (BBC Radio 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P-oRJ-5M0A (USA Version)

I've listened to it three times in the last 15 minutes: it's real quality.

"Yours is no disgrace" from Yessongs which I got on CD for a fiver the other day. Still one of my favourite ever bands.

Strangelove - She's Everywhere (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmRqIGsYNKs

The Bluetones - The Fountainhead (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDaEITdHrjU

Hurricane No 1 - Step Into My World (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw-rGx0d82s

Teenage Fanclub - I Don't Care (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhGG6Mue9I0

Quote: A Horseradish @ 14th May 2015, 6:22 PM BST

Yes. Richard Hawley. Did you see them? I think I did but my memory of it is hazy. That indie side of the 1990s was always one of my favourites. At the time, it sounded retro-classic and that was good enough. Now because the time has passed, it sounds proper classic. I do early nostalgia less now but feel more nostalgic about that era than most. In some ways, that surprises me. In others, it doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnKFBlkw8gU (BBC Radio 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P-oRJ-5M0A (USA Version)

I've listened to it three times in the last 15 minutes: it's real quality.

It's the only song I really know by them. I first heard it on a film soundtrack a few years after it came out, but always thought it was a cracker.

It was the Face soundtrack.

Also featured 'London Can You Wait' by Gene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9enHWCo7l4

Another mini classic.

Quote: Ben @ 14th May 2015, 11:07 PM BST

It's the only song I really know by them. I first heard it on a film soundtrack a few years after it came out, but always thought it was a cracker.

It was the Face soundtrack.

Also featured 'London Can You Wait' by Gene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9enHWCo7l4

Another mini classic.

My angle on it was NME/radio/gigging rather than film so the film references are interesting to me.

That track by Gene is excellent and the album is quite good. My favourite is "Sleep Well Tonight":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjJvv7XfI8w

They were very Smiths with a bit of The Faces. But it's the melodies of all these bands that strike most. I'm not sure if people eat the right food today to be able to create even a half decent toon.

Yes, the whole melodic side of things does seem to have disappeared. Indie music seems a little ashamed of chasing a melody these days.

And those that do try it fail miserably.

Quote: Ben @ 14th May 2015, 11:29 PM BST

Yes, the whole melodic side of things does seem to have disappeared. Indie music seems a little ashamed of chasing a melody these days.

And those that do try it fail miserably.

You are right but I don't believe in giving up on music. I think you just have to take a genre or an era you don't know and go don't like this, don't like that, oh do like that one and travel down that sort of road. The stuff we have just posted. A lot of it was on album. The singles chart wasn't all that strong towards the end of the 1990s. That's worth remembering. I don't know if I ever mentioned that I had my own weekly chart running from 1975 to 1999? It was a Top 10 based on my favourite singles and to qualify they had to be in the charts. It got very difficult in the end so I sort of cheated and took in album tracks. Later I found that Morrissey had a very similar chart but it only lasted for a few weeks in his teenage years. I would have still been doing my Top 10 now if the music had been good enough.

Quote: DaButt @ 13th May 2015, 9:14 PM BST

I saw them 2 or 3 weeks ago in Houston and it was the best show I've seen out of the 30 or 40 times I've seen the band.

Wow! That's serious dedication. I keep meaning to check out some of Uncle Tupelo's stuff, but never get around to it.

Similarly, I want to check out Whiskeytown. I'm a big Ryan Adams fan.

Willard Grant Conspiracy are another favourite. I have their compilation album, There But for the Grace of God which is really good.

Also a fan of Lucinda Williams. Have seen her live, and Ryan Adams, but never Wilco, or WGC.

Quote: George Kaplan @ 14th May 2015, 11:41 PM BST

Wow! That's serious dedication. I keep meaning to check out some of Uncle Tupelo's stuff, but never get around to it.

Similarly, I want to check out Whiskeytown. I'm a big Ryan Adams fan.

Willard Grant Conspiracy are another favourite. I have their compilation album, There But for the Grace of God which is really good.

Also a fan of Lucinda Williams. Have seen her live, and Ryan Adams, but never Wilco, or WGC.

Hello GK. Aren't WGC a sort of group with different people at different times? They have an eerie roots quality. I like "Lady of the Snowline" best. It's from the "Let It Roll" album, their seventh!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZtdzzTJrs0

Quote: A Horseradish @ 14th May 2015, 11:49 PM BST

Hello GK. Aren't WGC a sort of group with different people at different times?

Dunno, tbh. I've never researched them. Does look like they draw on a huge pool of musicians though:

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/willard_grant_conspiracy

Quote: George Kaplan @ 14th May 2015, 11:54 PM BST

Dunno, tbh. I've never researched them. Does look like they draw on a huge pool of musicians though:

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/willard_grant_conspiracy

Yes. Robert Fisher, the bearded guy, is the main man in WGC. I like Whiskeytown which I discovered after Ryan Adams went solo. Those first two albums were strong rather than brilliant but there was so much promise in him we thought he would be a new Dylan or something. It really didn't happen. I still feel there is a work of brilliance in him in older age. He's just been on one of the last Lettermans:

http://pitchfork.com/news/59582-ryan-adams-calls-back-to-2002-with-starting-to-hurt-performance-on-letterman/

I often like the less obvious tracks by artists or ones that don't totally work - incomplete perhaps - and seem to have an impact because they aren't perfect. I reckon "Wildflowers" is in that category. You start by saying "no" and then it's suddenly one of the biggest/classic "yes" points on the CD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIlB9p9psEo

B.B. King - Summer in the City

Quote: George Kaplan @ 14th May 2015, 11:41 PM BST

Wow! That's serious dedication.

My friend plays in the band, so I'm a bit biased. I try to catch a show whenever they're nearby and I've done a few European runs where it gave me a chance/excuse to visit cities and countries for the first time.

Quote: George Kaplan @ 14th May 2015, 11:41 PM BST

Also a fan of Lucinda Williams. Have seen her live, and Ryan Adams, but never Wilco, or WGC.

I read that as Welwyn Garden City, which frankly is no-one's idea of a good night out.

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