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After they appeared at Glastonbury a few years ago I bought all of their available cd’s. They played Rock City a while back but I was too old and lame to go.
“But I never tire of hearing Bus Stop. Mind you I’m pretty fond of Herman’s Hermits No Milk Today too.”
Both songs written by a young Graham Gouldman, before he found fame as a performer in 10cc.
Just beat me to it there CAS. Gouldman was on one of the TOTPs last week in a duo called Wax with Andrew Gold. 1987 I think.
This one, in fact. A sole UK top 40 hit from four frequently engaging albums, which seems a pity.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
“Unable to get to any of the remaining gigs on their farewell tour, so, in common with likely many present tonight, for me The Spook School’s Indietracks valedictory performance really was a goodbye.
A heartfelt thank you to one of the most important bands our little world has ever unearthed, tackling all matters transgender, gender binary, toxic masculinity, homophobia and so on unflinchingly, yet with a hugely relatable vulnerability”.
The words I shared on Facebook back on July 27th, 2019, for what to this day remains tied equal as one of my favourite four or five gigs of all time. An emotionally charged, hopeful, angry, defiant, poignant, funny, life-affirming, vital set from a band which lived and breathed all of those attributes every day of its existence.
A few further gigs followed up to the first week of September that year, and that – save for the briefest of returns in 2023 to mark the tenth anniversary of their Dress Up debut – appeared to be that.
Until, with little to no warning, a quick “We’re back” message appeared on their Facebook presence on Tuesday morning of last week.
It’s stating the obvious that all of the issues which most exercised the Glasgow four-piece first time around are very much still prominent in the public discourse seven and a bit years on, if not more so.
In particular, interviews for Clashmusic and God is in the TV since the announced return have devoted attention to the ever more depressing trend to talk about trans rights around rather than with transgender people, and usually in pejorative, ignorant and judgmental terms.
With the hopes that the content of their older material would have become quaint and outdated by now clearly dashed, but acknowledging that they didn’t especially want to play just the back catalogue if returning, the time was right for the band to take once more to the studio, and to come out swinging.
Hence Falling, the blast of energy also released into the wild last Tuesday. As a statement of intent musically and lyrically, it does its job with rare aplomb, and the January release date of the parent album Like A Heartbeat already feels like the first genuine highlight of 2027 to which to look forward.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
A most sad week for lovers of French pop, given the news of the passing of Catherine Ringer. Reports generally indicate that she was taken quickly by an aggressive cancer at 68, which is no age.
Tributes have been generous and in no short supply, not least from Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks, periodic collaborators with either Catherine solo (as recently as 2022) or with her and the late Fred Chichin’s pioneering duo Les Rita Mitsouko. “Artiste incomparable, amie incomparable. Catherine, tu nous manqueras. Bisous de tes amis Russell et Ron”, they write. Nous aussi.
In including Marcia Baïla in List #257 (q.v.), I wrote, “Because sometimes it’s possible to have a monster hit at home with a five and a half-minute long amalgam of squelchy electro-pop, chanson and bossa nova. As announcements of statements of intent go, this debut single from 1984 took some licking”.
Amid all of the musical inventiveness, that force of nature voice was always front and centre. Powerful, characterful, emotive. Perhaps the duo’s first producer Conny Plank saw something of the Dietrich about Catherine, harking back to his own formative years as the diva’s soundman.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Further catch-up required.
Edition #269 of That Music List includes music from The Spook School, Robyn Hitchcock, Queens of the Stone Age, The Burgers, Crush Fund, Coup Dur, Pan Amsterdam, Michael Cretu, Gavin Osborn, The Scaramanga Six, Bassomatic, The Roebucks, Psapp and more.
Edition #270 includes music from Haute & Freddy, Good News, Death Valley Girls, DIIV, Hunter As A Horse, Swansea Sound, Town Bike, The Softies, Her Name In Lights, Beth Gibbons, Pet Snake, Sparklehorse, Anne Clark, Wir and more.
Edition #271 includes music from Panixphere, Mariner 9, Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory, Kiwi Jr, SILVERWINGKILLER, Massive Attack & Tom Waits, Pop Will Eat Itself, Snuggle, Cud, Duck, Quarks, After The Fire, EMF and more.
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Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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