It's That Man Again

This is by way of a follow-up to Wednesday's post in which I gave a detailed review of a gig by two Jon Langford related combos.

The day after the gig I wandered over to the very estimable Flashback Records on Bethnal Green Road who are currently having one of their rare 'ten CDs for £5' clearance sales. I picked up a bundle of goodies  which included albums by Orchestra Baobab, Eek-a-Mouse, The Weather Station and Anthony Braxton among others.

Top of the pile was a further fine slice of Langfordiana, 'I ♥ Mekons' by... well, you can work that out for yourselves. It came out in 1993 after a bit of a delay when Warner Bros rejected it for not being good enough. The foolishness of this assertion was clear to all when it eventually got released by Chicago's Quarterstick Records, the start of what proved to be a long and productive relationship.

At the time of its release some twerp in Melody Maker described the album as being "simultaneously a brilliant, exhilarating pop record and an exploration of the assumptions behind other people’s pop records." I'm not sure what the second part means but I would have to concede he is right about the first.

I had the pleasure of seeing The Mekons live last year with a line-up featuring most of the members involved in 'I ♥ Mekons'. It was a great night. They are coming back to the UK again later in the year. I may be on a secret mission when they play London but fingers crossed I will be able to get to the gig. If they come to your town you should definitely go along.

"Dear Sausage" - The Mekons

"Point Of No Return" - The Mekons

From Waco to Gwent

Another Thursday, another great gig.

Following on from King Ayisoba in Dalston, last week Mister F and I made our way to the Lexington in London's swinging Islington to see the Waco Brothers. It was an evening of delights both expected and unexpected.

The expected delight was the Brothers themselves. They were out in full force with their three front men - Jon Langford, Dean Schlabowske and Tracey Dear - and the rest of the gang all in fine raucous form. They bashed their way through hit after hit leaving no shit left unkicked and a great time was had by all (apart from one sour-faced old bastard but he doesn't count).

The unexpected delight was the support act, a Jon Langford project that had previously passed me by. Jon Langford's Men of Gwent is mainly him and a bunch of other blokes from his home town of Newport. Most of their set was performed without La Langford - we were encouraged to think of them as The Shadows without Cliff "but not the Glitter Band" - but the show did not suffer at all from his absence.

Musically they reminded me a bit of 1970s pub-rock (in a good way). Think Brinsley Schwarz or Ducks Deluxe if they only sang songs about Newport and other seaside towns in South Wales.

Today's selection features two of the 20+ highlights of the Brothers' set, plus a song about Tenby from the Men of Gwent. I chose it because back in the early 1970s my uncle managed a zoo on the St. Katherine's Island mentioned in the song.

"Do You Think About Me?" - Waco Brothers

"See Willy Fly By" - Waco Brothers

"Tenby Boatman" - Jon Langford's Men of Gwent

Finally in the videos we have the three songs that made up the Brothers' rabble rousing encore.

Pun Fun 7: The Contenders

Voting is now open for Pun Fun 7.

This time out you were challenged to insert a reference to a capital city into a popular song title. And between you you've come up with what can only be described as an interesting and varied selection. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry, and give yourselves a collective bonus point for resisting the temptation to suggest some Seoul music.

Voting is open to all readers not just those who entered. Let me know your top five in order of preference. I'll award 7 points for every first choice, 5 for second and then 3, 2 and 1 for the rest.

You can either submit your votes in the comments section below or by email to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk if you would rather preserve the sanctity of the ballot. 

The deadline for voting is Saturday (11 July) and the results will be announced first thing on Sunday. Normally voting closes on the Sunday and the results are announced on the Monday, but I am off on my travels again on Sunday morning so need to fit it in before then. We can't leave you all on tenterhooks until I get back. 

Here are capitals that made the cut:

1. Bern Baby Bern - Ash
2. Pyongyang-a-lang - Bay City Rollers
3. Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into Dakar- Billy Ocean
4. Its Oslo Quiet – Bjork
5. Nobody Does It Ulaanbaatar - Carly Simon
6. I'm Tallinn You Now - Freddie & The Dreamers
7. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Djibouti - KC & The Sunshine Band
8. Tashkent Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue
9. Mouldy Old Doha - Lieutenant Pigeon
10. Nuuk What They've Done To My Song Ma - Melanie
11. When Amman Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge
12. Pretty In Minsk – Psychedelic Furs
13. Beat On The Bratislava - Ramones
14. Hurry Up Harare - Sham 69
15. Pulling Brussels (From The Shell) – Squeeze
16. Making Plans For Taipei - XTC

Before we leave, here are the official sponsors of this edition of Pun Fun with an important message to you all.

 

250 Up

The United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday tomorrow. I don't work weekends so we're marking the occasion today.

This post is dedicated to all of our highly prized American readers - from California (the state from which we have had most visitors according to my flag counter) all the way to Alaska (no visitors for six years) and all points in between.

I imagine many of you will be celebrating in traditional style by hosting a wrestling contest on your front lawn and then vandalising your local swimming baths. But whatever you are doing, have fun.

The first track in today's selection was recorded when the US was only 151 years old and a veritable spring chicken. The second was released to coincide with its bicentenary. The rest are all dangerously modern.

"Fourth of July at the Country Fair" - Bill Chitwood & His Georgia Mountaineers

"4th Of July" - Sweet

"4th Of July" - S.C.A.B.

"July 4th" - The Dogs

"Chain Gang Fourth Of July" - Chris Pierce

When The King Came To Call

Last week the mighty King Ayisoba was in the UK for a short tour to promote his new Adrian Sherwood produced album "Pure Confusion".

On Thursday I went over to the air-conditioned Cafe Oto in London's fashionable Dalston together with some local hipsters and some ex-pat Ghanaians to take in the show. A great time was had by all.

The King barked and crooned to his heart's content while plucking away furiously at his kologo (a traditional Ghanaian two-stringed instrument that produces a sound reminiscent of a banjo), pausing regularly to ask us whether we were happy. We were.

The King was accompanied by three percussionistas bashing and shaking assorted drums and gourds. Together with the King and his kologo they rattled along in a manner that was hard to resist (not that I really tried to resist to be honest).

The band included Ayuune Sule who is a very talented singer and kologo player in his own right as he proved by doubling up as the support act. It would have been worth going for his set alone.

Our mini-set consists of the opening track from the King's new album, a track from "Work Hard" (2023) which features Ayuune Sule, then finally something from the latter's own "Putoo Katare Yire" album (2021) which was a real crowd pleaser last Thursday.

"Property" - King Ayisoba

"People Talk Too Much (feat. Ayuune Sule & Zea)" - King Ayisoba

"Don't Be Lazy" - Ayuune Sule

One of the King's guests on "Pure Confusion" is Ghanaian reggae titan and three time Grammy nominee Rocky Dawuni. After I posted a couple of photos from the gig up on Instagram last week whoever manages his social media put four flame emojis in the comments. Normally I would ignore such a flagrant attempt to ingratiate themselves but MAR rules apply. So here's Mr Dawuni for you.

Pun Fun 7: The Theme

Pun Fun returns for a quick outing before the summer holiday season starts (although the holiday weather has arrived early, at least for those of us in Europe).

I thought about picking the World Cup as a topical theme but I suspect there is too much of that happening already for some folks. So instead I have chosen a theme that is even more global:

CAPITAL CITIES

We will accept entries using the capital cities of any of the countries, territories, dependencies, non-sovereign states and even entities whose sovereignty is disputed that appear on this list. 

As it says in the introduction "the capitals included on this list are those associated with states or territories listed by the international standard ISO 3166-1", so if you have any quibbles please take them up directly with the International Organization for Standardization (contact details here).

To avoid upsetting our many Scottish readers we will follow the example of FIFA and treat the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom as separate countries. We also endorse FIFA's recommendation that you take regular hydration breaks while punning to reduce the risk of your brain cells overheating. Unlike FIFA we don't take bribes (although you are welcome to try).

Entries are to be sent to leggies27@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday 5 July. Voting opens next Monday.

Good luck everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with for Bandar Seri Begawan, Yamoussoukro, Ngerulmud or any one of the three Georgetowns (all named after the twice winner and patron saint of puns I believe).

Meltmusic

Some songs about melting. I can't think where I got the idea from. In fact I can't really think at all until it cools down a bit, hence this brief introduction.

"Melt Not My Igloo" - Larry Jon Wilson

"Your Ice Cream's Gonna Melt One Day" - Jeremy Scott

"Melt The Guns" - XTC

"Melt Me" - Lily & Maria

"Melt Your Heart" - Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins

"Bent And Melted Next To Paul Westerberg" - Steve Westfield & The Burnouts

 

In other news, RIP David Clayton-Thomas. This one chose itself.