"Suddenly It's Tuesday" - Part 5 (161-180)

 

Part 4 didn't see the disagreement ramp up to any significant degree, although there was some spirited defence of 'Pinch, Twist, Pull, Release' - one commenter even arguing that it merits a place in the top ten. Over on Scopitones, criticism was aimed mainly at my culinary ignorance, pain perdu not being - as I had suggested - just a posh name for eggy bread. 

After further discussion regarding the frequency of the posts, I have elected to go with the sensible suggestion of Gav from Scopitones and continue to post every Tuesday, but to cover twenty songs each week rather than ten. I will split the top twenty into two, so the final post is now scheduled for 19 January. 

One more thing: when I was writing my Fall blogs, one invaluable resource was bzfgt and Dan's The Annotated Fall, which catalogues and analyses Mark E Smith's lyrics in an incredibly exhaustive (and occasionally exhausting) fashion. With this blog, I'd like to thank Leigh Hunt for putting together his very useful gedgesongs site, which I imagine I will refer to quite a few times hereafter. 

180 Kill Devil Hills

(Going, Going..., 2016)

Kill Devil Hills is the unlikely name of a town in Dare County, North Carolina. It earned its place in history on 17 December 1903 as the location of the Wright brothers' first powered flight. All of which is a little more interesting than this, one of the weaker tracks on Going, Going... Gedge can provoke a bit of discomfort when he heads into sensual or lustful territory, although to be fair, he's done far worse (especially in the Cinerama years) than 'her skirt brushed against her thighs / it swayed as she walked / and there was hunger in her eyes'. The scrabbly little guitar line that appears periodically is interestingly quirky, and in general the track is fairly focused and concise. Overall, however, it's a little forgettable and humdrum.

179 Hula Doll

(Saturnalia, 1996)

Although it has a certain laid-back charm, 'Hula Doll' is a bit half-arsed, frankly. The guitar arpeggios are pleasant enough, but as a whole it doesn't really hang together properly and there's a sense of 'will this do?' about it. 'I just kissed her / I couldn’t resist her' is not the most inspiring line around which to frame a song.

178 Northern Ireland

(Home Internationals EP, 2017)

The weakest of the four Home Internationals tracks. It's not without merit - the forceful riff that dominates the first half has an engaging energy - but the second half ebbs away rather half-heartedly. The spoken intro is provided, according to Discogs, by Colin Jennings and Evan Weatherup. The latter I know nothing about; the former only that he was part of novelty act Star Turn on 45 (Pints) who were responsible for 'Are You Affiliated?' Given the title, the dialogue ('best player the world's ever seen: ice in his veins; smile on his face; amazing balance on his feet. What a player!') may well be about George Best.

177 Sprague / 176 Marblehead

(Going, Going..., 2016)

When I discussed 'Greenland' in the previous post, I mentioned that it's tough to evaluate the four instrumentals that introduce Going, Going in isolation, even though they work well as an opening quartet (and also did so live). Both of these two are pretty: 'Sprague' is a gentle, melodic piece for strings and piano; 'Marblehead' features more traditional TWP instrumentation, but adds haunting harmonies from Melanie Howard and Paul Hiraga of Downpilot (for whom Terry De Castro played bass).

They're both lovely (the songs that is, although I'm sure Melanie and Paul are perfectly nice too!) but taken on their own they feel a little ephemeral.

(The Sprague referred to is, according to gedgesongs, a town in Connecticut and is pronounced to rhyme with 'vague' rather than with 'Prague'.)

(gedgesongs tells me that the Marblehead in question is in Massachusetts.)

175 Be Honest

(Bizarro, 1989)

To me, it always felt like a curious decision to follow the majestic trio that makes up the bulk of side two of Bizarro (I'm sure I'm not alone in still thinking of the early LPs in terms of side one/two) with this brief piece of semi-acoustic jangle. This is obviously an approach that Gedge values, however, as it happens again on a few other albums (see 'Hot Pants' at 208 and 'Swingers' below).

It's an amiable enough little shuffle, but the opening misstep/studio chat moment sounds rather clunky and forced, and certainly doesn't work as well as the 'does that guitar sound nice?' introduction to 'Something and Nothing' (although even that isn't as good as Kari Paavola's 'cans' moment on Cinerama's 'Close Up'). It's also, apart from the title refrain, not Gedge's most memorable melody. A punchier electric version appeared on the 2007 Yé Yé compilation, as well as the expanded reissue of Bizarro).

In my first couple of years at university, my record player (it was of this type) and LP collection were too bulky to haul back and forth between Durham and York, so I recorded my favourite albums onto blank tapes. Bizarro is slightly too long for one side of a C90, so I still always half-expect 'Be Honest' to cut out at the word 'throat' (1:26). To be fair, this has probably reinforced the song's reputation as an insubstantial anticlimax in my mind.

174 Lead

(Going, Going..., 2016)

I like Going, Going a great deal, but there's a run of nine similar-ish songs between 'Secretary' and 'Wales' that tend to merge into each other. This effect is exacerbated by the fact that - with the exception of 'Broken Bow' - the titles are not prominent in the lyrics. Of course this isn't a criticism in itself; George Best, for example, is full of songs of which the same is true. However, it does lead to an air of 'which one was this again?'

'Lead' - which apparently rhymes with 'weed' rather than 'dead' - is by no means a bad song, but the melody is just a little trite and the words feel rather awkwardly shoehorned into it in places, for example 'I need you, it’s transpired; you’re an addiction that I’ve acquired'. The little string-bending motif is neat, but the different sections of the song (such as the crunchy staccato riff that comes in at 1:16 and the lilting, cello-led passage that follows) all seem a bit carelessly sewn together.

173 Drink You, Eat You

(How The West Was Won, 2008)

A rather run-of-the-mill verse and middle eight are recued by an urgent, emotive chorus: 'don’t move an inch / don’t break the spell'. Gedge and Terry's overlapping vocals in the closing passage are a reasonably strong feature.

172 Swingers

(El Rey, 2008)

Like 'Be Honest', 'Swingers' felt like a bit of an anticlimax - this time after the epic 'Boo Boo'. It also attracted quite a bit of derision from many on Scopitones upon El Rey's release. There's still plenty to like about it, however: it has a nicely understated smoky, jazzy feel and Terry's sultry vocal is a treat. The mid-twentieth century femme fatale is one of Gedge's pet topics (regularly visited on Cinerama songs) and it's Brigitte Bardot who gets a reference here, although ‘And God Created Woman’ is a prime example of his tendency to shoehorn lyrics into spaces where they don't really go. This trait, which can often lead to phrases taking on an odd emphasis, can also be heard in 'talking about' (0:34), 'all over your face' (0:50) and 'until the end' (2:16).

It's still rather lovely, although a little slight and flimsy. The grinding noise at either end (treated piano strings) doesn't really add much of value though. One of a very select band of TWP album tracks that's never been played live.

171 Jet Girl

(The Camden Crawl, 1995)

'Jet Girl' first appeared on The Camden Crawl, a compilation that also featured Kenickie and Gallon Drunk. Like 'Swingers', it's not exactly highly regarded by the TWP fanbase. It's a bit limp and uninspiring, but nice enough, and I'm never quite sure why it attracts quite so much vitriol. A busy, rather twee acoustic version appeared on an EP called Silence Is Golden.

170 Soup

(El Rey, 2008)

I'm not much of a TV viewer, so the 'no soup for you' reference was completely lost on me at the time (and I must confess that I'm still yet to watch any Seinfeld). 

Terry's fluid bass line provides an effective counterpoint to the angular guitar part, and the fuzzy lead guitar weaves its way in and out of the two nicely; the thrashy chorus, however, is incongruous and cumbersome. In the Cinerama years, Gedge developed a taste for extended codas and introductions which became highly prevalent in the Take Fountain / El Rey era, and 'Soup' is appended by a minute or so of mildly engaging slow-burn sludge.

Lyrically, we're in familiar DLG territory: boy meets girl; they drink and talk into the small hours; it all ends up a bit sordid and regretful ('still wearing make-up, she washes as he walks away'). 'She can’t believe that’s the fourth bottle he’s uncorking / he can’t believe that they’ve just wasted another hour talking' captures the ambivalent feelings of these sort of moments well, but 'he pours more wine into her cup' is a somewhat ungainly attempt to facilitate a rhyme for the two of them watching the 'sun come up'.

169 Rotterdam

(Seamonsters, 1991)

The first appearance of a Seamonsters track (spoiler alert - it'll be a long while before we get to another one). By no means a bad song - 'I wanted you but not the way you think' is a concisely enigmatic line, and the choppy guitar towards the end is a fleeting highlight - it's just slightly dreary, especially in the context of the exhilarating run of 'Dalliance' / 'Dare' / 'Suck' / 'Blonde' that it follows. Above all else, it's where 'Crawl' should have been.

168 White Riot

(Limited edition single, 2018)

On paper, it sounds like it might be an embarrassing disaster, but there's an infectious, tongue-in-cheek gleeful exuberance about this cover that just about lets them get away with it. 

167 Panama

(B-side of Jump In, The Water's Fine, 2019)

Whilst 'Panama' is not exactly TWP's greatest moment, it's gratifying that, over thirty years into their career, they can still release a song as solid as this as a b-side. Framed around the famous palindrome, 'a man, a plan, a canal, Panama' (although that's not quite in the league of Demetri Martin's 224-word effort), it's brisk, urgent and melodic, and layers Gedge and Melanie Howard's vocals to good effect.

166 High

(Just Like Heaven (A Tribute To The Cure), 2008)

TWP's covers tend to work best when they take something mid-paced and melodic and fling their scratchy-guitared exuberance at it. Their version of The Cure's 'High' lacks Robert Smith's lazy, coquettish charm, but replaces it with irrepressible zeal.

165 Go Wild in the Country

(B-side of Sticky, 1992)

This Bow Wow Wow cover is a little awkward and ham-fisted in places, but it's one where the band's enthusiasm for the source material is clearly evident. Scuzzy and angular in an almost Beefheart-esque fashion, it's ludicrous but fun.

164 U.F.O.

(B-side of The Queen Of Outer Space, 1992)

A cover of the theme tune to Gerry Anderson's 70s sci-fi series, Just over a minute long, but there's a winningly spiky, psychedelic energy about it.

163 Rekindling

(B-side of I'm From Further North Than You, 2005)

Although perhaps a little slight (it barely makes it over the two minute mark), 'Rekindling' is one of those swooning pieces of romanticism that Gedge always does well. The lyric has its cloying moments ('we dangled feet into a stream / your smile was sweet, we ate ice-cream') but the song still whips up a bit of romantic fervour. Deserves to have been developed a little further.

162 Ten Sleep

(Going, Going..., 2016)

Ten Sleep is in Washakie County, Wyoming (the most solidly Republican state of all). It's also the last of the nine-song bloc from the LP's second half of that I described above. 

The narrator celebrates the rekindling of a old relationship that he's aiming to 'press rewind' on -  'everything makes total sense now that you are back with me'. This sense of optimism is supported by some lively, excitable instrumentation, in particular a busy bass line and a skittering guitar riff; it also has one of those heavy, staccato interludes that crop up on several Going, Going... songs. As far as Leigh of gedgesongs is concerned, if the riff 'doesn’t make you happy then you are already dead'. Whilst I do understand his enthusiasm, for me, said guitar part teeters a little uncomfortably on the verge of self-consciously zany.

161 Nickels And Dimes

(B-side of I'm From Further North Than You, 2005)

The b-side of the 7" version of 'Further North'. Like several songs from this era, it bears the hallmarks of the Cinerama-back to TWP transition, combining noisy clatter and delicate melodicism. The question of why nickels (worth 5 cents) are larger than dimes (worth 10 cents) weighs heavily on Gedge's mind. This is presumably in some way symbolic of the different values that people place on things, but it's not entirely clear how this links with an otherwise straightforward tale of the rejection of an ex-lover who stirs up memories 'of the life I’m trying to forget'. Not a Dolly Parton cover.

As ever, many thanks for reading; all shares, like, retweets, etc. are very gratefully received. The majority of my social media followers (especially on Twitter) originate from my writing about The Fall, so if you know anyone who isn't particularly into The Fall but might have an interest in this project then please point them in my direction. 

Take care, and I'll see you next week.

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