― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 14 March 2004 02:18 (twenty years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 14 March 2004 02:25 (twenty years ago) link
― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 14 March 2004 03:32 (twenty years ago) link
- 'Acnalbasac Noom' are the demo versions of the songs, rocking, and preferable in almost all ways to the re-recorded album for Virgin, stiff arrangements with studio musicians. Though nothing can completely kill these songs, and there are some great surprises (the string section in 'A Little Something'). I need them both.
- My favorite is 'Desperate Straights', denser, more angular, more intense & mysterious. But I love the Art Bears above all. Art Bears live also contained Blegvad, and they'd sometimes encore with acoustic versions of Slapp Happy songs ('A Little Something', 'Strayed', 'Me and Paravati'.)
- 'Kew Rhone' is fantastic. Mantler-esque jazz arrangements, but it's close to 'Desperate Straights'.
- 'Ca Va' is wonderful and worth buying once you have 'Acnalbasac Noom' and 'Desperate Straights'. Some of the songs, as good as anything. When the drum loops bother you, you just listen to Dagmar singing.
- Don't like 'Camera'.
- Moore solo: 'Flying Doesn't Help' is raw garage pop. sloppy but often works!
- Blegvad solo: early records on Virgin were produced by Andy Partridge. I've heard but barely remember them. The solo records on ReR have great moments, especially 'Downtime', which has the song 'Not Weak Enough'. The album "Smell of a Friend" by his group the Lodge (with Greaves) has two Kew Rhone-worthy songs, and some scary stuff.
- Dagmar solo: deserves own thread
― (Jon L), Sunday, 14 March 2004 08:10 (twenty years ago) link
Dagmar's Brecht and Eisler albums are beautiful, essential stuff, particularly "Tank Battles". I wish she put out more music than she does!
― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 14 March 2004 10:01 (twenty years ago) link
Casablanca Moon is in EVERY WAY inferior, basically a MESS
Desperate Straights and In Praise Of Learning are both well worth checking - 2 of the best Henry Cows mostly cos of Slapp Happy (who I first heard on "War")
Sort Of is good too, you'll want it if you like Noom and "Blue Flower" is a classic.
I love Dagmar's voice so anything with her is great: Art Bears, Kurt Weill stuff etc. Anthony Moore/More is a good songwriter - "Flying Doesn't Help" and "World Service" are both good in a postpunk postCale sorta way. didn't like the Blegvad album I bought, but "Strayed" off Desperate Straights is a classic tune.
"there he goes, my hero in wonderful clothes / passin' me by, givin' me the eye" (The Secret)
― Paul (scifisoul), Sunday, 14 March 2004 10:22 (twenty years ago) link
― tod (tod), Sunday, 14 March 2004 10:48 (twenty years ago) link
"Kew. Rhone" is amazing, and the CD reissue from some years back has all sorts of extras/multimedia stuff.
Blegvad's best solo album is probably "King Strut," which also finally got reissued, I believe. Anthony Moore/More's solo album "Flying Doesn't Help" (it is available on CD) has some great songs, one of which is kind of a re-write of Slapp Happy's Blue Flower.
There's a live in Japan CD of the reformed Slapp Happy that some people may like. It features stripped down renditions of songs from all of their albums -- it's interesting to hear Ca Va songs performed with less production. Sound quality is good, but there's something a little precious about some of the performances.
I think my favorite 3 items related to the group are Sort Of, Kew. Rhone, and Blegvad's Leviathan book.
Finally, Bongwater do a really wonderful cover of Slapp Happy's "The Drum" on their "Too Much Sleep" album.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 14 March 2004 16:13 (twenty years ago) link
― phil turnbull (philT), Sunday, 14 March 2004 20:50 (twenty years ago) link
hey whoops. just consulted the liners and her name's not listed in the chorus. publically self-reprimanding now, even if it's hard to believe while listening.
― (Jon L), Monday, 15 March 2004 00:55 (twenty years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 15 March 2004 05:15 (twenty years ago) link
― phil turnbull (philT), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:43 (twenty years ago) link
take careJaakko
― Jaakko Toijanniemi, Friday, 2 April 2004 14:06 (nineteen years ago) link
I guess that's Bob Drake, then - right man for the job. And Desperate Straights is my fave Slapp Happy by a mile.
― dleone (dleone), Friday, 2 April 2004 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link
I guess everyone knows that Mazzy Star covered Slappies' "BlueFlower" in their own peculiar style - well, I'm listening to itnow and it's pretty ok, I love Hope Sandoval's voice but I've neverheard this track before - it amazes me 'cause I do have someof their work... well, live & learn.
anyhow
Jaakko
― Jaakko Toijanniemi, Friday, 2 April 2004 18:31 (nineteen years ago) link
was going to wait until it was archived but the mp3 links are evidently temporary
― (Jon L), Thursday, 2 September 2004 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 2 September 2004 18:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― dlp9001, Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― dlp9001, Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 2 September 2004 19:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― zk, Monday, 27 September 2004 11:07 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.leviathan.co.uk/
just came out in book form as well.
― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Monday, 27 September 2004 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 27 September 2004 16:10 (nineteen years ago) link
Peter has started a new season on BBC Radio. Follow the links to listen to this weeks program. There will be new ones logged each week. Some have eartoons some do not. The program is very interesting on it's own.
1. Go to this link;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theverb/
2. Click "Listen Live"
3. Click "The Verb" on the white list
4. Give it a minute to load
5. Enjoy
The following is Peters Letter in full:
Greetings, friendsPleez forgive bulk mailing.Shld you be intrested, a new season of the Verb on radio 3 has begun. Youcan hear programmes for a week after broadcast by going to websitehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theverb/pip/t01qu/I have an eartoon on this week's (and will be doing the nxt 3 weeks too)All bests,P
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 4 October 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link
http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com/2007/12/more-anthony-moore-flying-doesnt-help.html
also, thread should not have been asleep for three years etc.
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah there was a lot of talk about SH on the Art Bears thread, I have never seen this one.
god damn "Scarred For Life" is such a great song. Hope they make another one-off reunion record someday.
― sleeve, Friday, 14 December 2007 01:23 (sixteen years ago) link
Anthony More on AMG:
Similar Artists * Uri Geller * Richard Youngs
― brains, hand-rolled (gnarly sceptre), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I have "Karen" stuck in my head now thx to thread title and that is a damn good thing.
― i'm shy (Abbott), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:48 (fifteen years ago) link
No mentions of "Everybody's Slimmin' (Even Men And Women)"?? Wish I still had my 7-inch of that.
― xhuxk, Thursday, 19 February 2009 05:04 (fifteen years ago) link
it's on the ReR CD of Acnalbasac Noom.
― dan selzer, Thursday, 19 February 2009 05:30 (fifteen years ago) link
What are the best Peter Blegvad vocal tracks with Slapp Happy?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 3 February 2010 23:24 (fourteen years ago) link
As the years go by, (some of) Moore's stuff seems more and more underrated. "Out" in particular.
But at the moment I'm writing because I just learned that his kind of Berlin-era Bowie-esque "World Service" CD isn't the same as the lp version. I guess I never looked into it very much, as I didn't like it much on first listen (have since changed my mind). You know, Mutant Sounds planned to post the lp, but I don't see that they ever did. I guess I have to actually like pay for an album for the first time in god knows how long...
The live version of "Lucia" on the CD -- at least I think it's live -- is just killer.
― dlp9001, Thursday, 19 May 2011 02:00 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, how nice! Someone has one of the best World Service tracks up on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tQHxnMCzzA0
Fuzzed out remake of Lucia from Flying Doesn't Help. This may be one of may favorite things that any of the Slapp Happys ever did...
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 01:47 (twelve years ago) link
Posting for myself and the like 1 other person who'll care, but just got ahold of the lp version of Anthony More's World Service, and it is indeed very different from the CD. Includes one very good song that isn't on the CD, and a couple that are *very* different versions, usually better than the CD. At the moment, this would be my pick for his best solo album.
LP Tracklist is: Side 1: Run Right Back/Pieces of the Puzzle/World Service/Fat Fly [not on the CD. It's pretty good...kinda Robyn Hitchcock doing vocals on a Bowie Lodger track.].
Side 2: Broke'n Idle [very different, probably better than CD version. Kinda post-punk meets Talking Heads]/Outta Angels [very different, spikier than CD version, probably better]/The Argument [more skeletal than the CD version, but generally similar]/Nowhere to Run.
― dlp9001, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
Heresy, I know, but Ça Va is by far my favourite Slapp Happy album. DK's voice has lost that screechy quality and sounds wonderfully rich and strange. The songwriting seems less self-consciously witty/wacky and is all the better for it. "Scarred for Life" is on every mix CD I've ever made.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
It shouldn't be heresy -- Ça Va is an incredible album
you heard the live in tokyo version of 'Scarred for Life'?
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
no! where can I find it?
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:00 (twelve years ago) link
this is the official single disc release: http://www.amazon.com/Live-Japan-2000-Slapp-Happy/dp/B002MT3DEM/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1308161023&sr=8-3-fkmr0
which contains slightly different performances than this bootleg
single disc probably more listenable all the way through but I remember the bootleg has magic if you're patient
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:08 (twelve years ago) link
the crickets on the live version of 'Scarred for Life' really work
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
the best
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 24 July 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
Don't ask me why I've waited this long to REALLy spend time with Ca Va, the Slapp Happy reunion album from the late 90s. But man, it's totally GREAT.
― dan selzer, Friday, 25 January 2013 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
i like the world service album a lot and i had it in my store for cheap forever and nobody would buy it so i finally just took it home so that it could get some love. maybe if i had written SLAPP HAPPY! in big letters on the front of the plastic sleeve or something? i dunno. damn heathens around here.
― scott seward, Friday, 25 January 2013 19:20 (eleven years ago) link
You should have written "Pink Floyd" on it. Anyway, great album in both its incarnations...
― dlp9001, Saturday, 26 January 2013 01:56 (eleven years ago) link
what do we think of this metal cover?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzVxmlyqpY
― dan selzer, Thursday, 7 March 2013 07:03 (eleven years ago) link
kew. rhone. the book
― no lime tangier, Tuesday, 17 February 2015 15:29 (nine years ago) link
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/slapp-happy-faust-two-day-residency/
― Darcy Sarto (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 11:58 (seven years ago) link
wait, which faust?
― xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 12:29 (seven years ago) link
Cool news, would go if I lived close
― calstars, Wednesday, 30 November 2016 13:34 (seven years ago) link
Really like that Love and Hates version, thanks morrisp!
― emil.y, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 13:07 (six years ago) link
Sure! Yeah, I'm like obsessed with it... that beat!
The Bandcamp page seems to be dormant (for other than streaming), but I found the track/album can be purchased on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H2VHA2/
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 17:59 (six years ago) link
I have a theory that Charlie and Charlie is the plot of me, myself and Irene. Lots of similar references
World as it is today has the best screaming ever
― kolakube (Ross), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:33 (six years ago) link
Acnalbasac preference may also come down to which one you heard first
― kolakube (Ross), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:34 (six years ago) link
I think it must, because I cannot imagine anyone preferring the overbaked orchestral version
― sleeve, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:36 (six years ago) link
lyrics changes are a big dud there as well, not as good
What lyric changes?
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:41 (six years ago) link
major changes to Me & Paravati, at the least, pretty sure there are others but I'm not gonna listen to the vastly inferior version to find out
― sleeve, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:43 (six years ago) link
There's also some Zappa esque added backing vocals on one song that cheapens the material. With sleeve here
― kolakube (Ross), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:49 (six years ago) link
But in most other regards it's miles better.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:11 (six years ago) link
Also the lyrics to "Me and Parvati" are better on "Casablanca Moon"!
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:15 (six years ago) link
fuck em up buff jeckley
― mark s, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:16 (six years ago) link
xp OK now I'm convinced that these two albums exemplify the "liked the one you heard first" effect because Tom D is objectively wrong here ;)
― sleeve, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:22 (six years ago) link
Definitely seems dependent on which version of the album you heard first, for instance, I can't imagine why anyone would prefer the out of tune version of "The Drum" on AM to the one on CM.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:23 (six years ago) link
Though "Dawn" and "Half Way There" are better on AM and "Charlie and Charlie" is better than "Haiku".
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:25 (six years ago) link
Definitely with you that drum is better on CM. Generally I prefer AM but some arrangements on CM do work better for me
― kolakube (Ross), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:41 (six years ago) link
I think I generally prefer Krause's vocal performances on "CM", and the arrangements in most (tho not all) cases.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:47 (six years ago) link
I will also add that the chorus of "A Little Something" has intermittently popped in and out of my head for decades. (I prefer the "AN" take of that one, btw.)
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:00 (six years ago) link
(...although the outro of the "CM" version is very, very nice. Just listened to it.)
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:02 (six years ago) link
AM ALL THE WAY
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:16 (six years ago) link
I like the idea of ANvsCM preference being used as some sort of baroque but highly consequential litmus test -- like the final, decisive question on a job interview.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:22 (six years ago) link
"which version do you see yourself listening to in five years time?"
― mark s, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:23 (six years ago) link
Poll?
― kolakube (Ross), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 21:35 (six years ago) link
Have you noticed that The Impossibles version of The Drum is a cover of Bongwater's cover (they also sing "bong water.') It's amazing fact Tuesday.
― If I Could Only Rename My Member (Noel Emits), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 09:34 (five years ago) link
Wow, another version of the song I had never heard (and another great one!). Was this a “hit” in the UK? I don’t know the band...
I feel like the Love And Hates cover may have been most directly inspired by this version (the “One-two-three-four” count at the beginning...).
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:02 (five years ago) link
I don't think anything by bongwater could be called a hit, but they certainly have a cult following?
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:22 (five years ago) link
The Impossibles not Bongwater!
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:24 (five years ago) link
I remember it getting some media coverage but it wasn't a hit.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link
Kisses sweeter than wine was a minor hit
― Droni Mitchell (Ross), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link
Yeah sorry I was taking about The Impossibles. Were they a UK band? Not finding much on them...
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:13 (five years ago) link
Yes.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:15 (five years ago) link
Kevin Shields was involved in their first single (which featured a Dinosaur Jr.) cover. They probably would have had some indie chart hits execpt they were on a major.
― Gonk Steady Crew (Noel Emits), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
Hmm... they're not on Spotify, Wikipedia doesn't know them...
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:36 (five years ago) link
I think they only put out a few singles. Sort of a made up band, but aren't they all?
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:37 (five years ago) link
A YouTube upload of their song "Therapy?" -- which seems to be a b-side from "The Drum" single -- was apparently posted by someone in Japan; so maybe they had a minor following there, which could explain the Love And Hates connection.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link
I find it so cool that -- in addition to "The Drum" being one of the best songs ever -- it's a song by a UK-German group that was covered by an NYC duo, which cover was in turn covered by a UK duo, and that cover was covered by a Japanese duo...
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
Also, what a bizarre career Anthony Moore has had.
For instance there's a couple of dozen soundtracks for experimental film directors like David Larcher, Werner Nekes and Dore O. to stand alongside his work with, er, Paul Young. None of his soundtrack work has ever been released apart from his the one for Dieter Meier's 1981 film "Jetzt und alles" - anyone ever seen this movie?
https://img.discogs.com/PXQpV1_T236YcNYaTUqur5m5IIc=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-766311-1359250094-2269.jpeg.jpg
― Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Friday, 14 September 2018 09:54 (five years ago) link
The band Medicine's new album is a cover album called "Scarred for Life" - the Slapp Happy song...didn't expect that. (They also cover Zappa, Scritti Politti, Miles Davis...)
― ernestp, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 04:51 (four years ago) link
― ernestp
...the Monkees...
― tantric societal collapse (rushomancy), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 04:55 (four years ago) link