Hey people, how you been? It’s just past young Comrade Magenta Lapin’s birthday and that seems like as good a time as any for this particular magnificent 7″, she loves Bjork. This, The Sugarcubes debut single, seemed at first to arrive here from another planet. Maybe it was The Clangers backing up the girl with the beautiful wayward voice? The music was filled with odd rhythms and curious sounds, maybe it was just that we first heard it in Icelandic but didn’t know that yet. It came with an odd video too, really shoddy, grainy quality black & white of her singing in what looked like a classroom. Looking back 20 odd years it’s hard to explain just how other and unfamiliar it seemed. People compared it to the Cocteau Twins, which now seems hilariously wide of the mark. English lyrics (Icelandic version on the B-side) and realising it was a trumpet did little to dim it’s beauty and while The Sugarcubes where a good band (especially live) they gradually lost their teeth and this very first impression of them stands head and shoulders above anything else they ever did. Bjork herself on the other hand…..
they don’t, as best we can tell have an official site so here’s a couple of fan efforts – myspace – blogspot (has pics and stuff about the one off reunion last year)- Amazon - Birthday is from their debut album Life’s Tooo Good – easily their best and fun throughout
It’s the perfect place to sit in a hot car and while away a monday isn’t it? Isn’t it though? The collective were at Glastonbury festival again this year, albeit in depleted numbers and a slightly less visible presence but there all the same, shouting in the mud and drinking in the sun.
looks like we weren't the only ones who missed him
Randy & Earl’s Old Record Club and Comrade Badly both did their bit rockin’ the crowds with some tunes in lunchtime slots at the Pussy Parlure and a fine time was pretty much had by all. It rained some, but then the sun beat down so weatherwise it was a definite win. Why is it that the weather at Glastonbury has become a subject of national interest in recent years? Don’t you find that weird? T.V. coverage, pah.
breakfast of champions
The Specials were great, Neil Young was great and I didn’t bother with Bruce. Comrade Stark saw it through and claimed he had a good time, largely ‘cos he found himself amid a crowd of young, female, fanatical Springsteen fans. Who knew there was such a thing? They may have been a result of his unquenchable cider intake, we’ll never know. We do know it was before he lost his glasses, mind, whereafter Comrade Anoianoid acted heroically as his ’seeing-eye bitch’ for the sunday, a term which seemed more than a little uncharitable in the circumstance. Elsewhere we discovered the wonder of the kidz field, Shangri-La had seriously upped it’s game from last year’s so-so start, Trash City and Arcadia were both packed with incredible stuff and, in the sunshine, the theatre field thronged with people in unlikely outfits and pensioners you could adopt. Not Tony Benn. He was there to speak, first time I’ve actually caught him at Glastonbury amazingly, so that was good too.
Nick Cave and Blur closed out the sunday, The Bad Seeds in fierce form, and Nick having shaved off that troublesome moustache of his. Just the dodgy mullet to sort out then, comrade. Not entirely sure how well their reading of ‘Stagger Lee’ went down with the awaiting Blur massive but having not seen them for a couple of years they were fantastic. So Blur, then. Most people already seem to know where they stand on the subject of Blur. They love them, hate them or just kind of think they’re alright. I’ll be in the third group then. The other two both puzzle me a bit. A good band, but not that good, I wasn’t about to get all overcome ‘cos Graham was back in the band or anything. Still, they rose to the occasion and, as reported just about everywhere, they are on something of a roll since they got back together. They played a great set packed with their suprisingly numerous hits and closed out finally with The Universal which was absolutely awesome. I always though it was just me that thought it their best song but it turned out I was far from alone. It was a great end to the weekend and we’ll choose to keep that as the closing memory of this year and not the A303. Hopefully we’ll see you back there for next year and comrade Dubversion will be back and all bionic and that.
So, bearing in mind the aforementioned belief about Blur here’s a tune, one you won’t know most likely but an early one I always rather liked
