Dear all,
first of all I have to apologise to the mighty JC from the Vinyl Villain - blog for stealing this idea. I know he, living in Glasgow, is a big fan of the local music scene and sees it as something to be culturally proud of: and rightly so, I might add. He frequently features bands from Scotland, particularly from Glasgow, in his fantastic blog, and I thought: why not do the same and give those bands some more attention?
I think that not only since the days of The Delgados music from Scotland was somewhat special. Bands from there always were a bit 'better' than others, a bit more 'touchy', if you know what I mean. My only source for music, not only from Scotland, always were John Peel's BFBS shows, which I constantly listened to from 1984 until BFBS sacked him. I never had the impression that Peel followed the hype for Scottish music that came along when The Delgados got so enormously well known all over Europe. Good music from Scotland had been there ever since, and this little series is about to prove exactly this.
On wikipedia there is a 'List Of Bands From Glasgow'. As you might imagine a great deal of important bands are missing and there are quite a few bands on it who don't exactly match my taste. Nevertheless I will try to use this list as a guideline, so let's start with:
The 1990's. My favourite track of theirs, from 1996: 'You Made Me Like It' (mp3). Notable: the singer and bassist founded The Yummy Fur: alas I don't have their 'Theme From Ultrabra' on vinyl or CD, but it's worth listening to. Believe me.
Altered Images. Favourite track, a 7" from 1981: 'Dead Popstars' (mp3). Notable: I never met Clare Grogan, but I'm deeply and profoundly in love with her, just because of her voice ....
Aztec Camera. Favourite track is, from their 1984 LP 'Knife', 'Still On Fire' (mp3). Notable: an obvious choice, I know, but what the heck: this is my blog and I rule: so there you are!
Belle & Sebastian. Favourite track, from a 7" titled "3 .. 6.. 9 Seconds Of Light", 'A Century Of Fakers' (mp3). Notable: literally all of what they did over the years. As you should know ....
Bis. Favourite track, from the 'The New Transistor Heroes' - LP from 1997: 'Starbright Boy' (mp3). Notable: just found out that my (perfectly mint) copy of the LP is a lobster red vinyl one, ltd. edition, 500 only... trade anyone?
Okay, that's it for today, pop-pickers: I'm gonna have dinner now. There's more to come, that's for sure. And always, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!
Take care,
Dirk
