Stiff Records

Stiff Records Week – Nick Lowe – Halfway To Paradise

How cool was it that Motörhead and Nick Lowe were labelmates? That shows you the diverse talent in Stiff Records.

I’m going to wrap it up this week with some Nick Lowe. This was his second and last single for Stiff Records. You know what? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Nick Lowe song I didn’t like. I was going to include The Damned and Lene Lovich this week but they will be coming soon. A blogger named Warren asked about Lene Lovich and I will have a post on her in the coming weeks…thank you Warren for the suggestion. I already had today’s posts written.

Listening to this song and I’m struck by backup vocals going on. He paints a sound picture with layers of backups with a simple musical structure. Yes…I get really excited by power pop (hence the blog’s name) done right and Lowe does it right. When you listen to this song…it fits in so well with Lowes catalog that I would have thought he wrote it. But this is some Brill Building brilliance here made better by Lowe. Simple yet so likable.

Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote the song. Tony Orlando first recorded it in 1961, peaking at #39 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Billy Fury recorded it as well. This Lowe version was later included as a bonus track on re-releasing his 1978 album, “Jesus of Cool.”

I hope you enjoyed this week and these posts might have introduced you to a new song. I have a new appreciation for this record label…what they were able to do and the talent they found. In the middle of disco, Led Zeppelin, reggae, Pink Floyd, and other types of music…Stiff Records made a home for these different type of artists to flourish…thank you all for reading.

And remember Stiff Records… If it ain’t stiff it ain’t worth a f***

A short bio on Nick Lowe talking about his career I thought you might like. Have a great weekend!

Halfway To Paradise

I want to be your loverBut your friend is all I’ve stayedI’m only halfway to paradiseSo near, yet so far away

I long for your lips to kiss my lipsBut just when I think they mayYou lead me halfway to paradiseSo near, yet so far away, mmm

Bein’ close to you is almost heaven (heaven)But seein’ you can do just so muchIt hurts me so to know your heart’s a treasure (treasure)And that my heart is forbidden to touch, so

Put your sweet lips close to my lipsAnd tell me that’s where they’re gonna stayDon’t lead me halfway to paradiseMmm, so near, yet so far away

Oh, uh, oh so near, yet so far awayYeah, yeah so near, yet so far away

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Stiff Records Week – Motörhead – White Line Fever

I had no clue Motörhead was on Stiff Records but here they are! They did not mess around about turning it up either. It’s everything you would think Motörhead would be…bombastic and in your face. We are going to extend the Stiff Records Week to one more post after this coming in the next hour.

In 1976, Motörhead was struggling to gain traction in the music business. Their manager, Douglas Smith, helped secure a one-off deal with Stiff Records because they featured unconventional artists. The deal with Stiff Records aimed to produce a single, and the band recorded three tracks: White Line Fever, Leaving Here, and Instro.

The label didn’t release this single right away…they thought the band was too loud and abrasive. They didn’t release it until the end of 1977 on the album A Bunch of Stiff Records. Which was basically a compilation album with the label’s early signings. There was just a promo single of the song. Another label released it in 1993.

I’ve really started to appreciate Motörhead more and more…Lemmy was awesome. He is one of the best interviews you will see. He was who he was and he wasn’t changing for anyone. He reminds me a little of Keith Richards…but a rougher version.

He was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix, played with Hawkwind, and later formed his band…Motörhead. They took punk and heavy metal and cross-pollinated the two forms in some ways.

I recommend you see a documentary on Lemmy. Even if you are not a fan, you will like it.

White Line Fever

We can move around nowYou know it’s so goodBut I know you wouldn’t come clean now, babyEven if you couldwhite line fever

White line fever made me a believer nowWhite line fever, yeahTake me away from youJust come to me babeWe can stay right hereBut you don’t remember me, honey, ’cause of all you’ve done this yearWhite line fever

We’re gonna make you a dreamerWhite line fever, yeahIt’s a slow deathHey

Bye, bye, bye baby‘Cause there I comeWon’t go to sleep tonightBecause the white line turns me on

White line feverMade me a believerWhite line fever, yeahIt hasn’t killed me yetOh

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Stiff Records Week – He Said, She Said

I want to thank Dave from A Sound Day for contributing this post for this series. Dave was the first one to really open my eyes to this very different record label and the pop culture importance of it…as well as music.

Thanks so much, Max, for inviting me to take part in this special event and for having the idea in the first place.

Stiff Records really were something special back in the day. A little indie label with memorable taglines (“if it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a ****”) that could be seen on buttons and t-shirts in all the cool, low-rent record shops in the ’80s, and a great but variable roster of talented artists that included (at times) Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Ian Gomm, Dave Stewart, Madness, Nick Lowe, the Damned, Tracey Ullman and so many more. It truly was a special part of the British music scene in the late-’70s and ’80s and the whole scene there was unusual. We have indie record labels over here too, but few ever send out a hit record or make much real impact. Over there, though… boy! Big name acts like New Order and the Smiths were on little indie labels and selling millions. It helped keep the creativity going in my opinion, as those little labels tended to offer a lot more freedom to their artists than some of the big, multi-national ones did or do to this day.

Anyway, I’m going to pull a wee bit of a trick on Max here and squeeze in two songs in the one post. You’ll see why. It’s kind of a “he said, she said” affair. I had a lot of fine songs that I thought about choosing, but I opted for one of my favorites of the ’80s. Or two of my favorites of the ’80s : “A New England”. By Billy Bragg, but also, and more relevantly for our purposes here, Kirsty MacColl.

The song is a song of a couple breaking up, wishing the other would just care a little more. Billy wrote it and performed it first, in 1979 on his debut album, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy (a great title I might add) . He said he was inspired by seeing two satellites in the night sky once when walking home from a pub… which led to one of my favorite lines in pop – “I saw two shooting stars last night, I wished on them, but they were only satellites! It’s wrong to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish you’d care.” Interestingly, he admits the first two lines of the song (“I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I’m 22 now but won’t be for long”) were taken directly from a Simon & Garfunkel song. He’s a fan of theirs as it turns out and he liked giving them a musical tip of the cap. Bragg did the song in a very sparse, stark manner and as you might guess, it was only him and his guitar on the record. That’s all.

Fast forward about four years and there’s Kirsty MacColl. She’d had the biggest hit record that wasn’t a hit with her debut single, “They Don’t Know”. The BBC loved it, and the public did too and it hit #2 on British charts based on airplay. But Stiff didn’t have good distribution AND there was a strike of some sort, so bottom line was, the single didn’t arrive in stores nor on the singles chart. Probably little surprise she moved on to Virgin Records instead by the time of her first album, which was in 1981.

In 1983-84, her friend, comedienne Tracey Ullman put out her debut album and her take on “They Don’t Know” (on which Kirsty sings the high-pitched “bab-yeee”) which became a hit over here. MacColl was seemingly biding her time between albums, doing some backing vocals for the Smiths and Simple Minds and helping her then- husband, Steve Lillywhite, do things in the studio including mixing a couple of songs on U2’s The Joshua Tree a little later on.

She somehow got back together with Stiff and decided to put out a couple of standalone singles… one of which was “A New England.”

She loved the song and said “I always thought it would be great with loads of harmonies.” She noted she liked Bragg’s version but “Billy does it … like a busker doing a really good Beatles song.” She also felt the song, 2:14” in Billy’s hands, was a wee bit short… so Bragg agreed to write more to it for her! That included a new verse at the end with the fine snipe “once upon a time at home, I sat beside the telephone waiting for someone to pull me through, when at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you”.

Unfortunately, as a single, no one seemed to note who performed on the song, but clearly it was much fleshed out from Bragg’s original. Given her connections and husband Lillywhite’s (who produced it), we might imagine there could be some real sta r power behind her on it.

The song took off and made it to #7 over there and #8 in Ireland… by far her best showing not counting her counter-culture favorite Christmas song “A Fairytale Of New York” which she did with the Pogues. Over here, it didn’t break the charts but did make the year-end best-ofs on cool stations like CFNY Toronto and KROQ in L.A. Bragg was happy too, saying “I never thought Kirsty MacColl would put it in the top 10.”

MacColl would put out a couple of albums later on and have some more minor success but mostly from then on won her contemporaries over more than the public. Bono says of her she is “one of a long line of great English songwriters that includes Ray Davies, Paul Weller and Morrissey.” And speaking of the Smiths front man, he said Kirsty “has great songs and a crackin’ bust!” Who knew Morrissey noticed things like that? Not me!

Sadly, there was no happy ending to the Kirsty story. She was killed in Mexico in 2000 while snorkeling with her kids, run over by a speeding boat. It sounds like black humor but was true and she apparently died pushing one of her children out of harm’s way. It’s quite a scandal, as the boat was owned by a Mexican millionaire many think was responsible, but he deflected blame to one of his lackeys. There are several good, but sad, documentaries about it if you care to check that out, or check out the article below.

I can’t really decide if I like Billy’s “A New England” or Kirsty’s better. I love them both. And really love that there was so much good music coming out of Britain in the ’80s, often on tiny labels like Stiff.

Thanks again, Max… and Stiff!

https://www.alixkirsta.com/articles/kirstymaccoll/index.htm

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Stiff Records Week – Kirsty MacColl – They Don’t Know

I want to thank Randy from mostlymusiccovers for contributing this post!

When Max asked for a contribution to his Stiff Records week both his and mine default thought was to go with Nick Lowe, one of my most treasured artists. Nick was a big part of the success of that label as short-lived as it was. Stiff Records signed the 18-year-old Kirsty MacColl in 1979. Kirsty did not work with Lowe, and unfortunately, she was not treated well while there and left after just a year. But her story is one I think you should know. I want to thank Max for this opportunity to talk a little bit about her, even as I colour outside the lines from her brief brush with Stiff Records.

To demonstrate her experience while there I will say, she wrote this great song, recorded it and then the label messed around with the mixing of it. The release was delayed in part because Dave Robinson the label President, for whatever reason took a dislike to the otherwise very well-liked Kirsty. Stiff’s distribution centre went on strike at the time her record was to be shipped out and consequently, the radio stations had only the demo and no one could buy the record. Needless to say the song did not do well. Her next song was badly bungled as well and “You Caught Me Out” was shelved by the label. It was released in 2006 on The Stiff Singles Collection.

So age 19, she would move on to some success as a solo artist with five albums and charting a few songs. Like this one she wrote and released in 1981, “There’s a Guy Works down the Chip Shop, Swears He’s Elvis”. But otherwise she was in high demand as a session/background singer. Kirsty would also team up with The Pogues. They had been with Stiff for their first two albums in 1984 and 85. Coincidentally during that time they had a hit covering one of Kristy’s father’s songs, “Dirty Old Town”.

The Pogues had a messy departure from Stiff when it collapsed, and a year later Kirsty and was brought in as a feature vocalist on their enduring hit song “Fairytale of New York”, released in 1987. Although Kirsty’s voice was later over-dubbed in spots as the BBC and Top of the Pops forced the editing out of the word’s “slut” sung by Shane MacGowan and her saying “faggot” in response, words that reflected the time that the songs storyline takes place. Since then the original unedited version that is on the record is frequently heard. It is reportedly the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK.

Sometimes you just can’t keep a good song down and “They Don’t Know” was recorded by Tracey Ullman in 1983. Ullman was a fan of Kirsty and would record some of her other songs. None would have the same success as this new version that reached #2 in the UK and #8 in the US. It went to #1 in Ireland and Norway and charted well in several other countries, including a #5 ranking in Canada.

So some good came from her short stay with Stiff Records, and I think she did ok with the royalties from the song. Kirsty was the daughter of the well-known recording artist Ewan MacColl. He wrote among many songs, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as a love song to Peggy Seeger with whom he was busy having an affair and a child. Kirsty was raised by her mother.

Kirsty would marry and divorce but had two boys. While they and her boyfriend James Knight were on vacation in Mexico in December of 2000, at age 41 she was tragically killed. A speed boat violated warnings to avoid a clearly designated diving and swimming area. They were there with a local veteran divemaster. As they were all surfacing from a dive, Kirsty heroically saved the life of her 15-year-old son who she could see was in direct line of the oncoming boat. She pushed him out of the way, and he received a glancing blow, Kirsty was hit directly and died instantly.

The boat was piloted by a very wealthy Mexican businessman and initially, they ruled her death as accidental. Her family and friends put on enough pressure that a so-called ‘investigation’ was launched. An employee was paid to take the blame and was sentenced to prison but was able to avoid it with a small fine. Sorry to end on that heartbreak.

It’s a shame things didn’t work out with her time at Stiff. By all accounts, she was a beautiful person with a voice to match.

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Stiff Records Week – Elvis Costello – Watching The Detectives

I was around 11 walking through a drug store in the late seventies and I saw this album cover…I thought what? Another person named Elvis? Who is this skinny guy?

While at the drug store, the guy was playing this album for the entire store and I heard Alison… That was the first thing I ever heard from Elvis from his debut album My Aim Is True. Later on, I would get the album and I knew this guy was different. He would blend punk, reggae, pop, pub rock, and new wave.

This song was inspired by Costello’s experience of staying awake for 36 hours, during which he listened repeatedly to The Clash’s debut album. Initially unimpressed, he grew to appreciate it after many listens. He stayed up by consuming an entire jar of instant coffee and that led to the creation of Watching The Detectives.

Costello has said that Watching the Detectives was a favorite of his from the early years of his career. He also experimented with different arrangements of the song, including a big band version with Allen Toussaint to capture the film qualities and swing rhythms of 1950s detective shows.

Before recording the album, Costello worked as a computer operator while performing in pubs and writing songs. He sent demo tapes to different record labels but initially received little interest. Costello caught the attention of Jake Riviera, co-founder of Stiff Records known for his edgy approach. Riviera saw potential in Costello’s demos and signed him.

My Aim is True was released in 1977 and peaked at #14 in the UK, #32 on the Billboard Album Charts, #24 in Canada, and #32 in New Zealand. The song peaked at #15 in the UK and #60 in Canada.

Elvis Costello: “When we did ‘Watching the Detectives,’ it was the first record that Steve Nieve played on. He was 19, straight out of the Royal College, and we’d only just met. I said, ‘This is about detectives, I want a piano thing that sounds like Bernard Hermann,’ and, of course, he didn’t know what I’m talking about, so I go [makes staccato, sharp sound], and what you hear on the record is this galloping piano thing that rushes the beat and it sounds like one of those sudden jarring gestures that Hermann would use a lot. But we didn’t have 19 clarinets or whatever he used [in] Torn Curtain; we just had a battered upright in an eight-track studio. What you imagine you have to render whether you use a fuzz-tone guitar or a symphony orchestra and everything in between.”

Elvis Costello: “I spent a lot of time with just a big jar of instant coffee and the first Clash album, listening to it over and over. By the time I got down to the last few grains, I had written ‘Watching the Detectives.’”

Watching the Detectives

Nice girls, not one with a defectCellophane shrink-wrapped, so correctRed dogs under illegal legsShe looks so good that he gets down and begs

She is watching the detectives“Ooh, it’s so cute”She’s watching the detectivesWhen they shoot, shoot, shoot, shootThey beat him up until the teardrops startBut he can’t be wounded ’cause he’s got no heart

Long shot of that jumping signInvisible shivers running down my spineCut to baby taking off her clothesClose-up of the sign that says: “We never close”

You snatch a chill and you match a cigaretteShe pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnetI don’t know how much more of this I can takeShe’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake

She is watching the detectives“Oh, he’s so cute”She is watching the detectivesOh, and they shoot, shoot, shoot, shootThey beat him up until the teardrops startBut he can’t be wounded ’cause he’s got no heart

You think you’re alone until you realize you’re in itNow baby’s here to stay, love is here for a visitThey call it instant justice when it’s past the legal limitSomeone’s scratching at the window, I wonder, who is it?

The detectives come to check if you belong to the parentsWho are ready to hear the worst about their daughter’s disappearanceThough it nearly took a miracle to get you to stayIt only took my little fingers to blow you away

Just like watching the detectivesDon’t get cuteJust like watching the detectivesI get so angry when the teardrops startBut he can’t be wounded ’cause he’s got no heart

Watching the detectivesIt’s just like watching the detectivesWatching the detectivesWatching the detectivesWatching the detectivesWe’re watching the detectivesThey’re watching the detectivesWatching the detectivesWatching the detectives

This week I’m going to tip the proverbial cap to the pioneering Stiff Records which was an independent Record Company that helped a lot of artists in the UK. I’ll be posting a song each day off that label. This week I’ve written up 3 songs and Randy and Dave are going to contribute two songs. I really appreciate them for doing that.

Stiff Records gave you an alternative to the Top 40. They would take chances on performers than the established record companies wouldn’t take. Who would have taken a chance on a nerdy-looking fellow named Elvis Costello? Many of the artists didn’t fit in with the major labels’ idea of what an artist should sound or look like. They had their own unique roster of talent.

This could be a mile-long post but I’m going to keep it short. This record company was created in 1976 by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. The label was created to capitalize on the new punk and new wave scenes, providing an alternative to the major record companies. They used bold marketing tactics…their slogan was “If It Ain’t Stiff, It Ain’t Worth a F***. The company didn’t have a lot of money but they had plenty of ideas.

They signed a lot of talent and that talent is what we are going over this week. I wanted to do a week of Stiff Records and let’s see what we will find. The talent was Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, The Rumour, Madness, The Damned, Motorhead, Devo and even Tracey Ullman.

Jake Riviera left in 1978 to form Radar Records, taking Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe with him. Despite its success, the label faced financial difficulties in the early 1980s. Stiff was sold to Island Records in 1984, which marked the end of its independent era.

Stiff Records was revived in the 2000s by ZTT Records (Zang Tumb Tuum), releasing new music while managing its extensive back catalog.

Nike Lowe: The pop business was full of these dreadful groups, Genesis and Journey and REO Speedwagon and people like that. And it was all safe and run by these bean counters and know-nothings. That’s why, over here, the pub rock thing started up. When punk came along a few years later, that was the thing that it really needed, but I would say that pub rock was spawned for the same reasons — dissatisfaction that it was all rubbish and needed to be pulled down. Because it had gotten to a point where you just couldn’t have another concept album or triple bullshit thing.

Nick Lowe – So It Goes

I always liked Nick Lowe and his brand of power pop. I first heard of him with Cruel To Be Kind and then Rockpile who I wish would have made more albums as Rockpile. When I started to blog, Brinsley Schwarz came on my radar and I really then realized how talented this guy is.

This was Lowe’s first solo single following the split of the pub rock band, Brinsley Schwarz. It was also the first single released on Stiff Records, a label formed by the music managers, Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman. The single bore the catalog number BUY 1, establishing Stiff Records as a pioneering label in the UK punk and new wave scenes.

Although So It Goes failed to chart, it still earned a profit for the young Stiff Records. It was on the American album Pure Pop For Now People. The album in the UK was called Jesus of Cool. It peaked at #127 on the Billboard 100 in 1978.

Lowe got the title from a recurring line (So It Goes) in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel, The Slaughterhouse-Five. It is used every time a death occurs in the book. Steve Goulding (drums) and Nick Lowe were the only two musicians on this song. Lowe and Jake Riviera produced the album.

Nick Lowe: “It’s not my favorite, it’s a bit too much like Steely Dan. I think I must have got it from something they’d done.”

So It Goes

Remember on night the kid cut off his right arm
In a fit to save a bit of power
He got fifty thousand watts
In a big acoustic tower
Security’s so tight tonight
Oh they’re ready for a tussle
Gotta keep your backstage passes
‘Cause your promoter had the muscle

And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows
And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows

In the tall buildings
Sit the head of our nations
Worthy men from Spain and Siam
All day discussions with the Russians
But they still went ahead
And vetoed the plan
Now up jumped the U.S. representative
He’s the one with the tired eyes
747 for the midnight condition
Flyin’ back from a peace keepin’ mission

And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows
And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows

In the air there’s absolution
In the wake of a snaky Persian
On his arm there’s a skin tight vision
Wonder why she admires she is hissin’

And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows
And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s goin’ no one knows

But where it’s goin’ no one knows
But where it’s goin’ no one knows
But where it’s goin’ no one knows

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Ian Dury and The Blockheads – Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll

After hearing this song it’s hard to get it out of your head. I’ve heard of Ian Dury and the Blockheads for years but really didn’t know much about them. I was won over by this song by the melody and the small guitar riff and his overly British delivery. I never understood the term “too British” that was placed on bands like The Kinks, Slade, and others. It cannot get too British for me.

The groove in this song is infectious. It was released in 1977 as a non-album single but didn’t chart in the UK at the time. The song was written by Ian Dury and Chaz Jankel in Dury’s flat in Oval Mansions, London. Dury stole the riff from an Ornette Coleman album. He later met the bass player Charlie Haden who played that riff (on a song called Ramblin) and he said he stole it also from an old Cajun tune.

Some say the song didn’t chart because it was at the peak of Punk music and by the title it looked like a song about excess…something that was taboo in the Punk playbook. They were signed to Stiff Records and the record company organized a tour.

Per Wiki…Stiff Records organized a joint tour for Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric, Larry Wallis, and Elvis Costello, five of their biggest acts at the time, with the intention of having the bands alternating as the headlining act. Ian Dury and the newly formed Blockheads soon became the stars of the tour (it was surmised that Elvis Costello would be the main attraction, having had chart success) and the nightly encore became “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”.

That tells you how good these guys were live back then.

Ian Dury: Sex And Drugs’ started as a mild admonishment and ended as a lovely anthem. There was a time when I got fed up with it, but it got a new lease of life. When me and Jankel wrote this song we stole the riff from a Charlie Haden bass solo on a 1960 Ornette Coleman album called Change Of The Century. I met Charlie Haden later and he told me that he’d nicked the riff too, from a Cajun folk tune! It was banned by the BBC when we released it as a single but it sold about 18,000 copies. With this song I was trying to suggest there was more to life than either of those three – sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, or pulling a lever all day in a factory.

Of course when I go out and perform the song, everyone sings along, and you can’t stop ’em! People say to me: ‘Now there’s AIDS about, don’t you think that song was awful?’ I explain it was always a question mark about those activities. And I wrote it before all these dreadful sexual diseases like Herpes and AIDS appeared. I was saying, ‘If all you think about is sex and drugs and rock’n’roll, there is something wrong.’ The title was used in headlines all over the world. I wish I’d got a quid every time that title has been used.”

Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Is all my brain and body need
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Are very good indeed

Keep your silly ways or throw them out the window
The wisdom of your ways, I’ve been there and I know
Lots of other ways, what a jolly bad show
If all you ever do is business you don’t like

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Is very good indeed

Every bit of clothing ought to make you pretty
You can cut the clothing, gray is such a pity
I should wear the clothing of Mr. Walter Mitty
See my tailor, he’s called Simon, I know it’s going to fit

Here’s a little piece of advice
You’re quite welcome it is free
Don’t do nothing that is cut price
You know what that’ll make you be

They will try their tricky device
Trap you with the ordinary
Get your teeth into a small slice
The cake of liberty

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Sex, drugs, rock, roll, sex, drugs, rock, roll