Melody Maker, October 15, 1977: Difference between revisions
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The very lunacy of their pose made clear, from even the most cursory glance at that cover, that this group of nutters could only have been gathered together under the renegade wing of Stiff Records; and, indeed, this striking photographic study had been devised to announce to the nation an ambitious adventure conceived by that maverick genius, Jake Riviera, and his henchpeople at Stiff. | The very lunacy of their pose made clear, from even the most cursory glance at that cover, that this group of nutters could only have been gathered together under the renegade wing of Stiff Records; and, indeed, this striking photographic study had been devised to announce to the nation an ambitious adventure conceived by that maverick genius, Jake Riviera, and his henchpeople at Stiff. | ||
The news story that accompanied the cover pic elucidated the basic premise of Riviera s whacky scheme: on [[Concert 1977-10-03 High Wycombe| | The news story that accompanied the cover pic elucidated the basic premise of Riviera's whacky scheme: on October [[Concert 1977-10-03 High Wycombe|3]], at High Wycombe Town Hall, we were breathlessly informed, Stiffs Greatest Stiffs — a travelling rock circus featuring the five principal Stiff artistes pictured here — would be unleashed in one neat package upon the unsuspecting population of these islands... | ||
My God, I thought, snatching another look at that cover, will the nation ever survive such an assault? | My God, I thought, snatching another look at that cover, will the nation ever survive such an assault? | ||
Take another look at that photograph and the quintet of crazed individuals staring out of the frame with all the glamour of a Borstal line-up. | Take another [[:image:1977-09-03 Melody Maker cover.jpg|look]] at that photograph and the quintet of crazed individuals staring out of the frame with all the glamour of a Borstal line-up. | ||
Elvis Costello props up the left-hand side, looking like the kind of depraved bank clerk whose life is superficially coloured with innocence but who returns home one evening with homicide in his back pocket and nails his wife's head to the mantlepiece (he will later confess to the police that he was commanded in a vision from heaven to commit the heinous crime). | Elvis Costello props up the left-hand side, looking like the kind of depraved bank clerk whose life is superficially coloured with innocence but who returns home one evening with homicide in his back pocket and nails his wife's head to the mantlepiece (he will later confess to the police that he was commanded in a vision from heaven to commit the heinous crime). | ||
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"It really is all quite unbelievable," Nick Lowe will tell me over a month later in the unlikely surroundings of a room in Bristol's Holiday Inn at the similarly unlikely hour of 3 a.m (the time is approximate: my body was still demanding yesterday's sleep and my brain was two days ahead of itself). | "It really is all quite unbelievable," Nick Lowe will tell me over a month later in the unlikely surroundings of a room in Bristol's Holiday Inn at the similarly unlikely hour of 3 a.m. (the time is approximate: my body was still demanding yesterday's sleep and my brain was two days ahead of itself). | ||
"But then," he continued, "Stiff ''specialises'' in the unbelievable. So here we all are. Five marvy talents out and about and ready to ''burnnnnn''." | "But then," he continued, "Stiff ''specialises'' in the unbelievable. So here we all are. Five marvy talents out and about and ready to ''burnnnnn''." | ||
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Des Brown has the role of tour manager for this madcap Stiff escapade. Were hanging loose like dangling light-fittings in his room at Bristol's Holiday Inn, four nights into the tour. | Des Brown has the role of tour manager for this madcap Stiff escapade. Were hanging loose like dangling light-fittings in his room at Bristol's Holiday Inn, four nights into the tour. | ||
Nick Lowe is in the bathroom rinsing his teeth with vodka, having just completed a 35-minute anecdote of hilarious proportions concerning a P. J. Proby recording session that had involved Brinsley Schwarz as his backing band and their manager Dave Robinson as producer. Des is talking about the tour: "Some people said we'd never get past the first chord. They said it would never come off. Gave us no chance. They said it'd be impossible. Four bands. Thirty-three people on the road... they said we'd never pull it off. So far, we are pulling it off. In style. Thing is, | Nick Lowe is in the bathroom rinsing his teeth with vodka, having just completed a 35-minute anecdote of hilarious proportions concerning a P. J. Proby recording session that had involved Brinsley Schwarz as his backing band and their manager Dave Robinson as producer. Des is talking about the tour: "Some people said we'd never get past the first chord. They said it would never come off. Gave us no chance. They said it'd be impossible. Four bands. Thirty-three people on the road... they said we'd never pull it off. So far, we are pulling it off. In style. Thing is, we're all ''men'' on this tour," he laughs. | ||
"You know, usually, couple of nights before a tour I can't sleep. Things are going wrong. There's usually some panic. This time nothing's going wrong before the tour. And I ''still'' can't sleep. I'm laying awake all night looking at the phone and saying, 'RING! Tell me what's gone wrong. Put me out of my misery. Tell me it's off.' | "You know, usually, couple of nights before a tour I can't sleep. Things are going wrong. There's usually some panic. This time nothing's going wrong before the tour. And I ''still'' can't sleep. I'm laying awake all night looking at the phone and saying, 'RING! Tell me what's gone wrong. Put me out of my misery. Tell me it's off.' | ||
I'm waiting for the bad news. And nothing happens. Four days into the tour and nothing's gone wrong. | I'm waiting for the bad news. And nothing happens. Four days into the tour and nothing's gone wrong. We're doing it. I'm going to start having ''nightmares'' if there isn't a crisis soon. But nothing's going wrong. It's fucking unbelievable." | ||
That word, ''again''. | That word, ''again''. | ||
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Les Prior, the sabre-toothed maniac from the Albertos, is tonight's emcee, here in wonderful downtown High Wycombe. | Les Prior, the sabre-toothed maniac from the Albertos, is tonight's emcee, here in wonderful downtown High Wycombe. | ||
"You KNOW why | "You KNOW why we're here, don't you!" he screams at the audience in the Town Hall, bemusing them utterly with his high-speed patter. "That's RIIIIIGHT!!! Out of the goodness of our hearts we're here tonight to play a BENEFIT CONCERRRRRT!! A Benefit Concert for the SAVE THE WHALE FUND! That's riiiight!!! It's SAVE THE WHALE NIGHT IN HIGH WYCOMBE! | ||
"We were going to have a whale on stage here tonight, but unfortunately he's been held up at Dover. Immigration problems, ladies and gentlemen. And that's SAD. Because that whale was going to tell YOU about the hang-ups of being a whale. | "We were going to have a whale on stage here tonight, but unfortunately he's been held up at Dover. Immigration problems, ladies and gentlemen. And that's SAD. Because that whale was going to tell YOU about the hang-ups of being a whale. | ||
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"Personal Hygiene" follows: ostensibly a remarkably placid and attractive | "Personal Hygiene" follows: ostensibly a remarkably placid and attractive ballad with a touching refrain, the melody disguises lyrics as graphically gross as any toilet wall graffiti: ''"Garnish your bottom with powder and wipe it with paper... And girls don't forget there's a place where you sweat — use your feminine spray,"'' he sings in that chainsaw massacre whine. | ||
All this time Wreckless wanders about the stage, flaying his guitar, cranking out fractured spinechilling chords and yelping loudly at the most unexpected moments. | All this time Wreckless wanders about the stage, flaying his guitar, cranking out fractured spinechilling chords and yelping loudly at the most unexpected moments. | ||
During "Telephoning Home" he produces a solo — a two-chord job — over Payne's hysterical sax bleats that's simply astonishing in its unadulterated verve and cheek. "Piccadilly Menial" brings the set to a fierce and sensational climax: Ian and Denise bash out an impenetrable rhythm, Davey's sax squeals and shrieks like all the hounds of hell, and Wreckless thrashes out a spastic guitar riff over which he screams and stutters the most volatile lyric imaginable … "I saw it HAPPEN! Up THERE! I saw IT! … I saw IT | During "Telephoning Home" he produces a solo — a two-chord job — over Payne's hysterical sax bleats that's simply astonishing in its unadulterated verve and cheek. "Piccadilly Menial" brings the set to a fierce and sensational climax: Ian and Denise bash out an impenetrable rhythm, Davey's sax squeals and shrieks like all the hounds of hell, and Wreckless thrashes out a spastic guitar riff over which he screams and stutters the most volatile lyric imaginable … "I saw it HAPPEN! Up THERE! I saw IT! … I saw IT … LookattheCLOCK," he gibbers. "TICKTOCKTICKTOCK..." | ||
He bounces up and down, scraping the neck of the guitar against the mic stand. Lord, it IS amazing what some people will do in the pursuit of artistic truth. | He bounces up and down, scraping the neck of the guitar against the mic stand. Lord, it IS amazing what some people will do in the pursuit of artistic truth. | ||
"We | "We only played two gigs before this," Eric says later. "We did Birmingham and Essex University with the Damned. Birmingham was wet. So were the Damned. And in Essex the audience didn't know WHAT to make of us." | ||
Neither did High Wycombe, Bristol or Bath; but, God knows, they all seemed to groove on Eric's wayward, out-of-focus charisma. | Neither did High Wycombe, Bristol or Bath; but, God knows, they all seemed to groove on Eric's wayward, out-of-focus charisma. | ||
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"The guitar solos are too long!" shrieks some adolescent heckler at Ian Dury during his award-winning performance at High Wycombe. | "The guitar solos are too long!" shrieks some adolescent heckler at Ian Dury during his award-winning performance at High Wycombe. | ||
"An wot exactly do YOU know abaht it, sailor boy?" asks Ian. "Anyway, the gittarist gen'lman is now at the | "An wot exactly do YOU know abaht it, sailor boy?" asks Ian. "Anyway, the gittarist gen'lman is now at the Joanna…" | ||
"The guitar solos are STILL too long," the hapless youth persists. | "The guitar solos are STILL too long," the hapless youth persists. | ||
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"You know, I've got Terry and Edmunds and Larry Wallis. Mates, really. But still some of the best rock 'n' rollers around. Like Edmundo … I love him. Rock 'n' roll pours out of his ears. | "You know, I've got Terry and Edmunds and Larry Wallis. Mates, really. But still some of the best rock 'n' rollers around. Like Edmundo … I love him. Rock 'n' roll pours out of his ears. | ||
"And I know the numbers we do are maybe a bit obvious. But it doesn't mean I don't care about what we're doing. I owe those people on stage with me a lot. I don't want to let them down. I don't want them to think I'm cruising. I don't want them to think I'm just a lazy | "And I know the numbers we do are maybe a bit obvious. But it doesn't mean I don't care about what we're doing. I owe those people on stage with me a lot. I don't want to let them down. I don't want them to think I'm cruising. I don't want them to think I'm just a lazy cunt. | ||
"It's for them as much as the audience that I want it to really work. I want it to work for Stiff too. Even though I've left. I want it to work for Jake. I want it to work for me. I'm fed up with what people write about me. I'm fed up with what people write about me, I want to work for myself. | "It's for them as much as the audience that I want it to really work. I want it to work for Stiff too. Even though I've left. I want it to work for Jake. I want it to work for me. I'm fed up with what people write about me. I'm fed up with what people write about me, I want to work for myself. | ||
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The final word is always, it sounds, spoken in capital letters. He verbals like someone taking an unnatural delight in banging nails into a post, there's a second spent relishing the thought of the hammer smacking the head of the nail. Then whack! That final word. Always in capital letters. | The final word is always, it sounds, spoken in capital letters. He verbals like someone taking an unnatural delight in banging nails into a post, there's a second spent relishing the thought of the hammer smacking the head of the nail. Then whack! That final word. Always in capital letters. | ||
He's discussing the High Wycombe gig: "I did it on... PURPOSE. I did it to get the audience AT IT. To get the band... AT IT. That was the whole... POINT. And if some people couldn't see it, well | He's discussing the High Wycombe gig: "I did it on... PURPOSE. I did it to get the audience AT IT. To get the band... AT IT. That was the whole... POINT. And if some people couldn't see it, well fuck THEM. | ||
"Jake thought we were made to do all new numbers on the opening NIGHT. So it was a way to get him AT IT. I knew we'd get some STICK. I don't CARE. I don't want it to get … BORING. You've got to keep everyone AT IT." | "Jake thought we were made to do all new numbers on the opening NIGHT. So it was a way to get him AT IT. I knew we'd get some STICK. I don't CARE. I don't want it to get … BORING. You've got to keep everyone AT IT." | ||
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[[Allan Jones]] reports on the [[:Category:Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live|Stiff's Greatest Stiffs]] tour. | [[Allan Jones]] reports on the [[:Category:Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live|Stiff's Greatest Stiffs]] tour. | ||
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Gig guide includes Stiff tour listings for [[Concert 1977-10-13 Glasgow|Glasgow Apollo]], [[Concert 1977-10-14 Sheffield|Sheffield Polytechnic]], [[Concert 1977-10-15 Leeds|Leeds University]], [[Concert 1977-10-16 Croydon|Croydon Fairfield Hall]], [[Concert 1977-10-18 Norwich|Norwich UEA]] and [[Concert 1977-10-19 Brighton|Brighton Top Rank]]. | |||
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Also includes an ad for the Stiff tour. | |||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
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<small>Clipping and advertisement.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page 61 clipping.jpg|x260px]] | |||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page 04 advertisement.jpg|x260px|page 4 advertisement]] | |||
<small>Photo by [[Barry Plummer]].</small><br> | |||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker photo 01 bp.jpg|280px|Photo by Barry Plummer]] | |||
<small> | <small>Cover and page scan.</small><br> | ||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page | [[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px]] | ||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page 04.jpg|x120px|page 4 - Stiff tour ad]] | |||
<small>Page scans.</small><br> | |||
<small> | [[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page 35.jpg|x120px|page 35 - Gig guide]] | ||
[[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker | [[image:1977-10-15 Melody Maker page 61.jpg|x120px|page 61 - Stiff tour, continued]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 19:32, 4 September 2023
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