The Nightingales/Prefects

Wish Cherry Red would just release the first two albums at least.

what about your bands? are you still playing? you know I was a fan!

would now be too late to apologize for missing your b-day party and wishing you a very very happy birthday?!?!

Sorry, all due respect and that, but I'm afraid it'll definitely be going under "P" in my collection.

Hello,

This is basically one of those pesky promotional emails, but perhaps it will spark an entertaining dialogue? Probably not, so I'll try to keep it short.

Acute Records recently was proud to release the Prefects CD, collecting all that seminal punk bands recordings from the late 70s. The Prefects later morphed into the better known act The Nightingales that, for lack of better adjectives, fit somewhere between the Fall and the Mekons. They put out several fantastic records during the 80s, appeared with John Peel more times then anyone else, and now have a series of new singles. In support of these releases, Robert Lloyd has once again brought the Nightingales back with a series of acclaimed live shows in England and now, their first ever shows in the US.

They will be playing SXSW at the Fanatic showcase w/ Daniel Johnston, Ariel Pink and the Castanets and they are playing in Chicago with old friend Jon Langford's Waco Bros.

Finally they are coming to NYC for a few shows and some radio fun, and I really hope you all can come check them out, and help spread the word.

The first show is Monday, March 21st at Rothko with 2 wonderful young up-and-coming rock bands, the Oxford Collapse, who pray at the alter of the Embarassment, REM, the Feelies and other staples of hip 80s american college rock, and the Victoria Lucas, who's shambolic big-band horns and punk take on Mekons-esque country-punk is refreshing in this age of ironic distance and boring new wave clones.

Then on tuesday, they will appear on the New Afternoon Show with Rob Hatch-Miller on WNYU, 89.1, 5:30-7:30. Later in the evening, I will be going out to Jersey City to appear on Micheal Goodstein's Choking on Cufflinks show on WFMU and will either bring The Nightingales, or will bring some Nightingales records, either way, it should be fun!

next, on thursday, the Nightingales are taking part in a killer big show deep in brooklyn. Note, this was originally supposed to be at ToddP's space, but that was hit by the cops, so it's been moved. Please spread the word. Anyway, the show is 2 shows combined, in 2 seperate rooms, with the acts staggered. Barr is a hip indie-rapper type, kind of post-hardcore emo-rap or something! Tracy + the Plastics is an electronic performance song, dance and act act. The Tallboys are one of my favorite local groups, who were absolutely awesome opening for the Homosexuals. They mix sincere classic punk and sincere classic skronk, like the Runaways meet the Fall? Everything get's compared to the Fall.... FINALLY, the other band playing in brooklyn is Notekillers.

I hadn't heard Notekillers when Daniel Blumin at WNYU suggested them as a band to play with the Nightingales, so I checked out the website and quickly picked up their recent CD collection as released on Ecstatic Peace by Thurston Moore. Notekillers were an instrumental gtr/bass/drms outfit founded in Philly in the late 70s, who came to NY on occassion and mingled with the likes of Ed Bahlman, Glenn Branca and the Feelies(there they are again!). They released one single, which is a shame since the CD is really great. On one hand, they sound like proto-math rock, 10 years ahead of their time, on another, they play minimalist, repetitious, killer guitar rock, sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful. Sometimes sounding like something the Sun City Girls would do, sometimes like The Ascension era Branca. In any case, they rock, and they've played one show recently, and Thurston said they were totally killer, so I'm very much looking forward to it.

Anyway, you knew I'd never be able to keep it short. Following is the summation with all the details, please spread the info and hopefully come check out a show!

(and come to my 30th birthday party at Capones in Williamsburg, n9th btw driggs and roebling this saturday, march 19th! free pizza and disco!)

Thanks for your time,

Dan Selzer

Monday, March 21st
Acute Records and North Loop Sound System Present:
The Nightingales
Oxford Collapse
Victoria Lucas
DJ Kevin Pedersen
Doors 8:30 PM, $8

Rothko, 116 Suffolk Street, Corner of Rivington, Lower East Side, NYC

http://www.rothkonyc.com

***********

Thursday, March 24th
Acute Records, Brendan Fowler & ToddP Present:
The Nightingales
Tracy & The Plastics
Notekillers
Tallboys
Barr
DJ Dan Selzer and Friends

Asterisk Art Project, 258 Johnson Ave @ Bushwick East Williamsburg Industrial Park, Brooklyn. L to Montrose
Doors 8 PM $7, ALL AGES + booze | no phone number

http://www.toddpnyc.com

Tuesday March 22nd
5pm-7:30pm
The New Afternoon Show with Rob Hatch-Miller
WNYU 89.1, http://www.wnyu.org

Tuesday March 22nd
11:30
Choking on Cufflinks w/ Michael Goodstein
WFMU 91.1 http://www.wfmu.org

"Parrafin brain, Parrafin brain, Parrafin brain at the mention of yr name..."

Does anyone have the "What A Scream" compilation? I can't figure out what the source for each track is, are some of them Peel sessions?

Most of "What A Scream" is exclusive to the compilation - mainly live tracks and demos. None of them are from Peel sessions. A couple of things have cropped up since on CD reissues, but basically at least two-thirds of it is found only here, including some of my absolute favorite Nightingales tracks, like the astonishing "Return Journey" (!) - vaguely like "Elvis, The Last Ten Days" musically, but way catchier and somehow more "pop" without losing a thing. It also does a fine job of telling their story from the Nightingales version of the Prefects' then-unrecorded "The Bristol Road Leads To Dachau" to the final moments of the first era of the band. The live stuff sounds pretty fine, and the demos are great. I bought this when it came out, but remember seeing an entire bin of them for $2 once! Must not have sold well initially.

+ = available elsewhere

Bristol Road Leads To Dachau (demo) 3:00
Hark My Love (demo) 3:27
Nowhere To Run (demo) 2:56
Blisters (demo) 3:18
+ Idiot Strength 3:10 (from the Rough Trade 7") - this is also on the "Pissed And Potless" CD
Seconds 2:50 (from the Rough Trade 7")
Return Journey 2:54
The Crunch (demo) 5:01
The Hedonists Sigh (demo) 2:55
My Brilliant Career (live) 3:01
Use Your Loaf (live) 2:17
Which Hi-Fi? (live) 4:09
Paraffin Brain (live) 3:28
+ Only My Opinion 1:06 - also on the "Hysterics" CD
Urban Ospreys (alternate version) 3:56
+ This (version 2) 3:56 - also on the "Hysterics" CD
Surplus And Scarcity (live) 2:39
+ Crafty Fag (live) 3:34 - also on the "In The Good Old Country Way" CD
+ It's A Cracker 3:56 - this is also on "Pissed And Potless" and "In The Good Old Country Way"
+ Here We Go Now 3:08 - also on the "In The Good Old Country Way" CD
Heroin 4:57
+ What A Carry On 3:28 - this is also on "Pissed And Potless"
Faithful Lump (demo) 4:09
+ At The End Of The Day 3:30 (19 seconds shorter than the "In The Good Old Country Way" version, but otherwise the same)

That should be "then-unreleased" (re: the Prefects' "Bristol Road.)

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed! I've had "Pissed & Potless" for years but was curious about this one. The first 9 tracks are killer, not as keen on the Country Way stuff. I think I'll pick this up cheap on Amazon.

I didn't even know about this. First bunch of tracks include Joe Crow, and w/ Bristol Road must be the very first just post-Prefects Nightingales sessions.

I just prices, and it can be found pretty cheaply, which is odd because only a few years ago it was going for £30 or more, used. It was the only Nightingales on CD for many years.

The earliest tracks on it are a perfect bridge from the Prefects to the Nightingales - you'll notice that the "epic" ten minutes or so of "Bristol" is reduced here to just three - and I don't think it loses a thing. (Quite the opposite, in fact.)

Wish someone would do a Peel sessions thing! There was

1st session (released as a Strange Fruit 12" EP):
Start From Scratch
Butter Bricks
Torn
12 Years

2nd session:
Return Journey
(One) Mistake
Bush Beat
Inside Out

3rd session (released as a Cherry Red 12" EP):
Give 'Em Time
Which Hi-Fi
My Brilliant Career
The Son Of God's Mate

4th session:
Urban Ospreys
Yeah It's Okay
The Bending End
The Whys Of Acknowledgement
Only My Opinion

5th session:
Look Satisfied
All Talk
This
Not Man Enough

6th session:
How To Age
Heroin
First My Job
Part-Time Moral England

7th session:
Down In The Dumps
Coincidence
At The End Of The Day
Rockin' With Rita

unknown date:
Blood For Dirt
Joking Apart
OK Chorale /T he Crunch
It Lives Again!

Plus five Robert Lloyd sessions for Peel (a few songs of which have been released and are superior to the "official" Virgin product - rawer and with more energy.)

It'd be a great triple CD

Didn't know they had that many Peel Sessions. Probably not the most by any one band, but up there. Gerald--Happy to send you the cd tracks and the Peel 12".

The old story was that Robert Lloyd in various outfits has the second most Peel Sessions after The Fall?

Cheers, Michael, I have a digital copy of "Scream" but I always buy what I like.

Dan - I think Ivor Cutler's second, David Gedge is way up there too.

The Fall had the most. Ivor Cutler had the second most, 21, but this was over nearly thirty years and some of those - though connected to Peel - may not be considered "Peel sessions" per se, though that's nitpicky. The Nightingales / Robert Lloyd had thirteen.

The Wedding Present had only nine - I'm not sure if they're the fourth most "Peeled" or not, because there were several bands close to that.

Of course, the Fall and the Wedding Present had some real commercial success, and Ivor Cutler was a well-known figure for decades and decades, with fans of all ages. So given Lloyd & the Nightingales perpetual low-profile, thirteen sessions is sorta freaky.

I think within the time period, the Nightingales win.

Since no official release is in the offing, this will have to do. And it does it very, very well:
http://maggotcaviar.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-nightingales-bbc-sessions-galore.html

Anyone have any opinions on the 21st century Nightingales output? Best album of the lot?

'The Jarvis Cocker that never happened': 40 years of Robert Lloyd's the Nightingales https://t.co/xGnjvyYXKs

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 3, 2021

This is very good indeed and at least half of it is about the film. Does really sound fascinating even though i'd never heard of him/them.

https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton/ep146-stewart-lee

i swear there was a month in 88 or 89 when john peel played this one night after night after night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuL4isLD7cc

Nightingales rule

Oh I really want to see this, hope they make it available somewhere for US fans!

yeah can't wait.

Bit too much of Lloyd and Lee laughing at each other's joke but pretty good. Didn't really convince me of Robert Lloyd's genius though.

i was too tired to stop up, assume it'll get repeated

i guess Lloyd would be an example of "who needs genius?" tbh

just realising on seeing this that I totally forgot about this last night., Can hope that it might be repeated but I haven't noticed the Slits bio doc that I wound up catching the 2nd half of awhile back reappearing, probably has happened when i wasn't looking. BUt not sure everything does get frequent repeats like some things do. Ho hum.

(xp) I suppose, let's say instead it didn't really make me want to listen to his music. I couldn't help thinking, I know lots of middle aged guys exactly like that - which is not a criticism of Robert Lloyd, just a fact!

i couldn't tell you the last time i listened to the Nightingales and it's not a frequent yen but they/Lloyd have this distinct authorial tone to them which hits me just right sometimes even tho they're hardly about having rapturous moments of musical joy or anything

I do love that Robert Lloyd solo album "Me and my mouth"

He'd clearly been told he had to include "Part of the anchor" mind you...

sadly couldn't see the doc as I'm not in the UK, but i have to say the current band is one of the best live acts i've seen in years. Saw them twice in the last 5 years and they're the perfect example of a band who are better, angrier and more intense in their later years than they ever were in the past....

I was going to see them last year, but obv the gig has now been rescheduled about 4 times.

Xp What makes you say that about "Part Of The Anchor"? (it's brilliant, mind you)

Because it was taken from a radio session, not recorded for the album.

(I knew the track from his appearance on Snub TV, same version but bleeped)

Picked up the Prefects set a couple of years ago. Not got any Nightingales vbut do remember Peel playing them heavily.

Speaking of other Peel favs there's a comprehensive Misunderstood set coming out at the end of this month through Cherry Red. Cool eh?

Oh yeah my brother's gf said she'd heard the doc was repeating late night next Saturday.