So the Graham Parker has officially re-joined forces with The Rumour and they have an album and two films on the go for 2012. The first film is the oft-delayed documentary "Don't Ask Me Questions" by Michael Gramaglia and the second is a Judd Aptow comedy, "This is Forty" in which the GP and the band figure prominently in the story line. The whole story (well worth the read by the way) is here and for LOTS more Parker on MRML go HERE.
To celebrate what is a fantastic thing for music fans and everybody involved in the aforementioned projects here is a crisp-as-hell-sounding GP + R show from back in the day:
GRAHAM PARKER & THE RUMOUR
THE SAVOY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA
NOVEMBER 7, 1976
KSAN-FM PRE-FM PRODUCTION TAPE
01. white honey
02. that's what they all say
03. fool's gold
04. turned up too late
05. something you're goin' through
06. pour it all out
07. back to schooldays
08. hotel chambermaid
09. heat treatment
10. don't ask me questions
11. not if it pleases me
12. help me shake it
13. soul shoes
14. kansas city
15. hold back the night
Let us know what you think of the Graham Parker and the Rumour reunion in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the San Francisco, 1976 link).
(To see my list of Ten Amazing XTC Videos please visit the The Big Takeover.)
For a band who are notorious for being almost too English for their own good, XTC's early work has strong American influences. You can hear the art-funk sound of NYC's Talking Heads, the herky-jerky rock-deconstruction of Akron's Devo plus of the very few artists XTC ever covered one would be Californian Captain Beefheart (on the B-side of "The Mayor of Simpleton" single) and of course America's most towering song-writer, Bob Dylan*.
The band's version of the oft-butchered, "All Along the Watchtower" employs some of the electric fury of Hendrix's version and some the harmonica wail of Dylan's original acoustic one but to it all they bring an incredible nervous energy and a love of odd dynamics that makes it sound like no one else's version of the song.
The Kik are a retro-minded Dutch power pop band, albeit one who, befitting their name, bring the necessary kickage to make sure their songs don't float away on a cloud of jangle.
"Malking Plans for Nigel" from XTC's 1979 album "Drums and Wires" is one of the defining songs of the new wave era for me, alongside The Police's "Can't Stand Losing You", Split Enz's "I See Red", Squeeze's "Misadventure" and Joe Jackson's "I'm the Man". These relentlessly up-tempo songs with choppy guitar, catchy choruses, conspicuous keyboards and deliberate quirkiness did much to fuck up my taste in music forever.
Rainbow Drops & Finger Pops - Live at the Rainbow Theatre, London, UK, 1979-09-17 is another lavish XTC bootleg - worth getting just for the packaging alone never mind the kinetic live performance from the band near their peak:
01 Beatown
02 Real By Reel
03 The Rhythm
04 Roads Girdle The Globe
05 Science Friction
06 Life Begins At the Hop
07 Helicopter
08 Battery brides
09 Making Plans For Nigel
10 Scissor Man
11 Instant Tunes
12 Outside World
13 Life Is Good In The Greenhouse
14 Crowded Room
15 Radios In Motion
16 Are You Receiving Me?
17 Set Myself On Fire
18 Meccanik Dancing
19 This Is Pop
20 Dance Band
21 Statue Of Liberty
Love or hate the designation, what are your defining 'new wave' songs? Le us know in the COMMENTS section(which is where you'll find the link for Rainbow Drops and Finger Pops CD).
Your COMMENTS - have demanded more XTC and be ready for the deluge. This offering is one of the more loving bootlegs you'll ever see (check out the promo poster!) and consists of live material and demos from 1977 (and 1978). More to come...
I'm looking forward to this series but of course I'm pretty sure by XTC Fans standards (those who buy muti-volume of Partridge's home demos) I'm a real lightweight. I only own the first five albums on CD, my once substantial XTC vinyl collection got sold years ago and while I've owned Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch they too were purged plus I once tortured a guy I worked with when he wore his XTC shirt by saying, "Hey, I hear they're coming to town." (now that's just mean, I know). While I do believe that they are one of the very few graduates of the class of '77 who never had a dire period (some may beg to differ), my interest in their newer (i.e. pre-break-up) material has waned. Though, it should be noted, my favourite XTC fan did make me listen to Apple Venus Vol. 1, which I found pleasant if overly long and little too quiet for its own good.)
XTC
3D Compact Disc
Live in Birmingham & Liverpool 1977 + Early Demos, Helium Kidz and Go 2 out-takes
Live at Rebecca's, Birmingham 17/11/77:
01 Hang Onto the Night
02 Crosswires
03 Let's Have Fun
04 Radios in Motion
05 I'm Bugged
06 New Town Animal in a Furnished Cage
07 Into the Atom Age
08 All Along the Watchtower
09 She's So Square
10 Do What You Do Live at Eric's, Liverpool 26/11/77
11 Dance Band
12 Science Friction
13 Neon Shuffle
14 Traffic Light Rock
Helium Kidz Demos:
15 Yabber Yabber Yabber
16 Neon Shuffle XTC Demos:
17 Refridgeration Blues
18 Quicksilver
19 Saturn Boy Go 2 out-takes:
20 Cheap Perfume
(21 Things Fall to Bits) officially released on the Coat of many cupboards box set.
22 I Overheard
23 bonus interview: “What do you remember of 1977?”
So what XTC albums do you own? Are you gonna get more? Le us know in the COMMENTS section(which is where you'll find the link for 3D CD).
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
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Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
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