Thursday, 11 April 2024
'Too Much Too Young - The 2 Tone Records Story' coming out in paperback on 18th April
Ocean Colour Scene - 'On Top Of Everything - More B sides' 4 x LP set released on 19th April
Track Listings
Disc: 1
1 Another Girl's Name
2 Fly Me
3 No One Says
4 Mona Lisa Eyes
5 My Brother Sarah
6 Flowers
7 The Seventh Floor
8 Men of Such Opinion
9 So Sad
10 I Need a Love Song
11 Justine
12 Falling to the Floor
Disc: 2
1 Hello Monday
2 The Face Smiles Back Easily
3 All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes
4 On the Way Home
5 Song for the Front Row
6 On and On
7 The Best Bet On Chinaski
8 Expensive Chair
9 Going Nowhere for a While
10 Mariners Way
11 Flood Tide Rising
12 If You Get Your Way
13 Hoping You're Making It Too
14 The Inheritors
Disc: 3
1 Take You Back
2 These Are the Ones
3 Free On the Wind
4 I Was
5 Best Friends and Lovers
6 Come Home
7 I Wanna See the Bright Lights Tonight
8 Me, I'm Left Unsure
9 Questions
10 Will You Take Her Love
11 I Never Believed It Too
12 Perfect Stranger
13 St. Cecilia
14 We Rise
Disc: 4
1 Better Than Before
2 Jimmy Wonder
3 Right On Time
4 Little Boy Could Be a Rolling Stone
5 William Bailey
6 Dawn Cried the Day
7 Come Up and See Me
8 Old, Old Song
9 Shooting the Bridge
10 Another Bard May Chant
11 Be With You
12 Because You're Mine
13 Standing in the Place That You Used to Do
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
‘Back to Black’ Star Jack O’Connell to Make Directorial Debut With Paul Weller Music Video
Jack O’Connell may be about to be seen on screen in the Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black,” but the actor has also stepped behind the camera to shoot a video for another U.K. music icon, Paul Weller.
The Brit — who stars as Winehouse’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s feature alongside Marisa Abela as the late, legendary singer — has made his directorial debut with the music video for “Nothing,” a track set to be part of Weller’s new album “66,” releasing in May.
“It was a good stroke of fortune,” O’Connell tells Variety. “Paul’s been a mate for a while and he’s got a bunch of new music coming out. He asked me to be in [a video] and I said, ‘Can I direct it instead?’ He obliged. And now we’ve edited it and cut it together.”
The collaboration isn’t the first project linking O’Connell — best known for lead turns in films such as “’71’,” “Starred Up” and “Unbroken” and recently seen in “Ferrari” — and Weller, who rose to fame in the ’70s with the band the Jam and is often referred to as “The Modfather.” Early in his career, O’Connell starred in 2011 sports biopic “United,” for which Weller wrote the song “Devotion.”
“Nothing” isn’t the first the music video involving O’Connell, either, with the actor appearing in the video for “Blue Moon Rising,” the 2020 track from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
Following its world premiere in London’s Leicester Square on Monday night, “Back to Black” releases in the U.K. with StudioCanal on April 12 and in the U.S. on May 17 with Focus Features.
‘Beat Surrender’: the story of The Jam’s “final statement” by Ben Forrest of Far Out Magazine
If you have lived in the UK for an extended period of time or have ever met a middle-aged man, you have probably found that the influence of The Jam is largely unavoidable. The three-piece mod revivalists rose to prominence among the sticky floors of the punk rock scene. Yet, they never really fit in with the safety pins and bondage trousers, favouring old-school Italian suits and a healthy diet of soul and R&B. But alas, all things must come to an end, and in 1982, Paul Weller wanted The Jam to go out with a bang.
Although the group had first formed in Woking in 1972, it was not until the advent of punk rock that they began to make a name for themselves. Through the release of early singles like ‘In the City’ and ‘All Around the World’, the group soon found a dedicated following, even though their tracks tended to be much less abrasive and politically charged than their contemporaries at The Roxy Club.
Frontman Paul Weller didn’t appear to have much interest in punk, finding himself at odds with many of the prevailing attitudes of the time. While bands like The Clash and Buzzcocks sought to smash down the musical establishment and start again, Weller wanted to celebrate the groups that had first inspired him.
Throughout their tenure, The Jam regularly paid tribute to the revolutionary sounds of the 1960s – groups like The Who, Small Faces and The Kinks. In fact, one of The Jam’s most popular tracks, ‘David Watts’ was a cover of an early Kinks classic. In addition to Weller’s love of obscure soul and dancefloor jazz, The Jam helped to inspire a renaissance of the mod subculture in direct opposition to the complacency of punk rock.
With legions of mod revivalists worshipping the three-piece and a seemingly endless ability to craft uncompromising, chart-pleasing hits, The Jam were among the coolest groups of the early 1980s. Such was the success of the group that Weller grew a reputation as ‘the voice of a generation’, though he didn’t find that title particularly comforting. As 1982 arrived and they geared up for the release of, arguably, their greatest record, The Gift, there seemed very little room for improvement when it came to The Jam. They had reached their peak.
Although many bands would be content to live off their early successes, recreating their usual sound for an endless deluge of forgettable records, that prospect did not fit with the artistic manifesto of Paul Weller. So, shortly after the release of The Gift, Weller’s mind was made up; the days of The Jam were numbered. Before finalising the divorce, the trio had one more trick up their sleeve, coming in the form of ‘Beat Surrender’. Topping the singles charts, the song provided The Jam with their second number one of 1982, following ‘Town Called Malice’.
‘Beat Surrender’ was heavily inspired by the worlds of soul and disco. According to the songwriter, the track’s title was based upon Anita Ward’s disco anthem ‘Sweet Surrender’. The euphoric, horn-filled sounds of the track predicted the vibrant musical direction Weller would adopt during his post-Jam work with The Style Council. Its euphoric atmosphere was deliberate, as Weller wanted the song to be a triumphant finale for the unforgettable reign of The Jam. “I wanted it to be a final statement on The Jam.” He told Mojo in 2015, “A sort of clarion call. It was like, ‘Right, we’re stopping it – you take it on now.’”
The track achieved what it set out to do, providing a fitting end for Weller’s groundbreaking band. However, the other two members of the group – Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler – were fairly confused about the idea of splitting up at the peak of their career. “We were thinking ‘Why are we going to split up?’” Foxton told MusicRadar, “We were Number One in the single and album chart at the time.” Admittedly, ‘Beat Surrender’ would be Weller’s last number one single – though he came close with ‘Long Hot Summer’ – but, alas, some things are more important than commercial success.
"I never intended the statement to mean 'Paul McCartney quits Beatles'... It was all a misunderstanding. I just thought 'Christ, what have I done? Now we’re in for it'": The day the world learned the Fab Four were over
https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-beatles-split-on-this-day
THE MEDIA - '(Just Like) Alfie' 7" EP released by Detour Records on Friday 19th April
The Media release their new EP, headed by the instantly
singalong rush of (Just Like)
Alfie, on Sunday 14th April 2024 with a show at Brighton’
prestigious Concord2.
The Media are a rejuvenated classic scooter … new engine,
shocks and forks (no brakes needed mind!), along with authentic paint job, new
mirrors for looking back while heading for the future!
We all love a bit of Alfie, don’t we! The Media have
nailed the trick of sounding exactly like they did in 1978/1979, while offering
up enough nods and winks, unmissable guitar riffs and quality, quality
saxophone to make you prick up your ears and put on your dancing shoes today!
The second side of the double A side single kicks off
with what is going to be one of their signature songs - Don't Go Away - this is a
huge rush of Marc Bolan’s Glam Rock Super Boogie! The rhythm section are to die
for … in no small way!
Closer, What
Doesn't Kill Ya has a total A-list grove ala All Mod Cons The Jam.
The four track EP includes the Morricone/Spaghetti
Western styled Hombre Sin
Nombre (you don't have to be American to guess the translation for
that one).
Grab yourself a copy before they all fly out the beat
club door.
The band are great live, with a devilish charismatic
singer. Do yourself a favour, become a butterfly collector hombres. SNAP! It
up!
FEATURES
(Just Like) Alfie
Hombre Sin Nombre
Don’t Go Away
What Doesn't Kill Ya
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The Mark Three release second LP, 'Happy Today', on coloured 12" vinyl
https://marklegallez.bandcamp.com/
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The Jam arrived like whippets out of the traps in 1977 with their emphatic debut single ‘In The City’, a song that remains one of the all-... -
In 1983, the venerable British pop magazine Smash Hits (sadly no longer with us) published a feature called “The Things People Said,” in w...