world of twee

I notice that on its weekly new album reviews page, last Friday's Independent awarded a solid, if unspectacular, three stars out of five to the new offering by a band called Stornoway. Probably fair enough: from what I know they're solid, if unspectacular, purveyors of generally inoffensive tunes. Reviewer Andy Gill's parting shot though is that "they can't rock and roll for toffee". The general tone of what he says seems to suggest that he'd like to add "...and you kind of wish they did, frankly".

But Andy, there have been many, many bands who in their time have been totally unable to rock and roll. And as far as I'm concerned I'm not sure we would have wanted it any other way.

Besides all the glitzy New Romanticism and power pop around at the time, in the early 1980s a number of bands were quietly making names for themselves in a kind of off-shoot of the indie canon which was being established during these years. These were bands who had none of the testosterone-fuelled swagger and posturing of the leather clad metal rockers of the early seventies, none of the phlegmy vitriol of the punk rock explosion. Yes, they had guitars but none of the meaty riffs which had been rife in the previous decade. They played chords in the form of rhythmically percussive syncopations or delicately jangly arpeggios, sometimes in a gentle, almost Latin style.

These were bands usually made up of whey-faced (often Scottish) young men--occasionally women--wearing long tweedy coats with collars turned up against the wind and the rain. Regulation hairstyle (both sexes): long at the top--often quiffed--and short at the sides.

As if to celebrate the general wilful rejection of machismo, fans of this music, typically self-deprecating, proudly labelled it "twee".

And some of it was pretty good...

• Orange Juice - Falling and Laughing (1980)
• Everything But The Girl - Night and Day (1983)
• Aztec Camera - Walk Out to Winter (1983)
  
• Bluebells - I'm Falling (1984)
• Go-Betweens - Bachelor Kisses (1984)
• Lotus Eaters - First Picture of You (1984)
• Wedding Present - Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft (1987)
  
• My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine (1987)
  
• Bradford - Skin Storm (1988)
  
• Blue Nile - Headlights On The Parade (1989)
• Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)
  

More recent decades have continued to produce their share of "tweeness" and hoorah for that. Here are some of the bands who held out against the Mancy swagger of those brash Oasis louts during the Britpop era:

• Lush - Sweetness and Light (1990)
  
• Blueboy - Boys Don't Matter (1994)
• Bluetones - Slight Return (1995)
  
• Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)
• Trash Can Sinatras - How can I Apply? (1996)
• The Sundays - Summertime (1997)

...and here are some from the last ten years or so. These days they're sometimes Norwegian, like the Kings of Convenience. Occasionally, like the Postmarks, they're (whisper it) American.

• Spearmint - Scottish Pop (1999)
• Kings of Convenience - Toxic Girl (2001)
• Camera Obscura - Lloyd I'm Ready to be Heartbroken (2006)
• Postmarks - Goodbye (2009)

I've just finished reading "Falling and Laughing" (see also above) by Grace Maxwell. It's the fantastically uplifting account of her partner Edwyn Collins's recent return to music-making and a life of at least partial normality after suffering two massive strokes in 2005. It seems that in their early days Orange Juice used to revel in the Twee philosophy:

They used to say they were 'anti-rock'. In the early days, Glasgow audiences used to chant 'Poofs! Poofs! Poofs!' at them. They liked that just fine. There was a campness in their delivery, deliberately affected to annoy the manly men of rock.

Take it away Edwyn...



(Spotified--more or less--here, if you're wondering...)

more than the notes...

Imagined Village @ Royal Festival Hall / Edwyn Collins @ Arts Theatre, 27th and 25th Nov.

Billy Bragg's recent book, "The Progressive Patriot", discusses the idea of English identity in the multicultural 21st century and the Imagined Village are an attempt to draw on several elements to arrive at a shared expression of this identity, notably the "traditional" folk background of Martin and Eliza Carthy, Bragg's own Clash sensibilities and the non-western origins of various "world music" musicians (Sheila Chandra, Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation, Sheema Mukherjee of Transglobal Underground). In recent press interviews and in the pre-concert talk tonight, Bragg and group leader Simon Emmerson (late of Afro-Celt Sound System) are at pains to deny that they are out to trample over long-established folk traditions with a more electro/beat-based style. The presence of the Carthys--two members of "folk royalty"--as well as young members of the Copper Family offer some reassurance in this regard. Plenty of ideas to take on board, but the music was good too. Highlight for me was Benjamin Zephaniah's video'd take on "Tam Lin".

A couple of nights earlier, Edwyn Collins gave us an impressive run through a mix of Orange Juice classics and numbers from his solo career, impressive particularly since this was about much more than hearing the music. What an achievement for him to have got this far only a couple of years after two brain haemorrhages left him almost completely paralysed. It's difficult for those of us watching and listening to appreciate what it means to him to be back performing again. This Times Review of the gig says it quite eloquently.

I.V. Lynx:
Review of I.V.s in Liverpool earlier in the tour
Guardian review of "The Progressive Patriot"
Wikipedia on "Tam Lin"
Back in the day: Simon Emmerson when he had hair, and a different surname

E.C. Lynx:
allmusic.com waxes lyrical about the OJ's
Edwyn is back / "I was dead -- and I was resurrected"
"The Orange Juice and Postcard Records Website". Yay.
Back in the day: YouTube video vaults

september of their years

Looking at the latest postings on respective websites the other day, it seems that two of my musical heroes are hanging up their boots as far as live performances are concerned.

For Paddy McAloon and his Prefab Sprout cohorts it's no great surprise. McAloon's poor health in recent years has been reasonably well documented but a quite lengthy messageboard posting by a fan apparently "in the know" suggests also a lack of motivation on Paddy's part to carry on with songwriting and recording and gives brother Martin much of the credit for Sprout activities in recent years (most notably the recent "Steve McQueen" reworkings). It's been a Life Of Frustration for Sprout fans ever since Paddy admitted years ago that he'd got a huge number of songs stashed away. Looks like the chances of them ever seeing the light of day now are remoter than ever.

Also deserting the live arena, it seems, are the High Llamas. Main man Sean O'Hagan is something of a workaholic and is constantly involved in musical projects with a wide range of collaborators so it's surely not through lack of energy that they're giving up playing live. Nor is there a lack of material: this year's "Can Cladders" album was their eighth and has only been given a sole UK airing so far. Posting on the Llamas messageboard (as, creditably, he is wont to do from time to time), Sean admits that it's increasingly difficult to get promoters interested in putting the band on and that together with family commitments has pretty much put live performances to bed for the foreseeable future. Not something which can be helped but a shame nonetheless.

On a brighter note, big respect to Edwyn Collins, who steps up to the mic at the Arts Theatre in Soho in a couple of weeks' time to perform the second of three gigs, the first since suffering a massive, life-threatening brain haemorrhage a couple of years ago. Slowly recovering the power of speech and still without the use of his right arm, rumours abound that ex-Postcard stablemate Roddy Frame (back in the early 80s) is standing by for strumming duty. There must be doubts about his future as a songwriter--his recently released album was all in the can before his illness--but it'll be great to see him out and about and making music again.