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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

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The Trieste Venture but with the MC added (Part One)

How the Trieste adventure should have gone in the game.

"They ...... they're coming!" Lu Mingfei said hoarsely.

You and Chu Zihang looked out from the observation window below. Scarlet water mist gushed out of the ruined ground. The dragon blood flowing from it rushed up, and from the cracks in the ground crawled slender living creatures, their bodies glowing with a metallic sheen, their pupils a hideous gold. Because they had slumbered so long, they couldn’t swim up yet. They creeped on the sea bed, crawling, wriggling their slender lower body. But after being nourished by the dragon's blood, their bodies immediately regained the strength of the ancient era. As they crawled they sprang up, swinging their long tails to float upwards rapidly. They passed by the side of the Trieste, but did not cast even a glance at the metal object with the lights on. Their eyes were on the endless darkness above. Hundreds and thousands of them finally broke free from the seal of bondage and were about to return to the human world.

"Snake tail people. Mermaids." Chu Zihang said softly, "This is not a pureblood dragon species. They were also human-dragon hybrids. This is not the city of the dragon race, it was built by the ancestors of the hybrids!"

"It's like a dragon ascending to heaven." Lu Mingfei murmured.

In the upper view, countless slender shadows were striving to swing their long tails, and the lava illuminated their bodies as they came together like golden whirlpools.

"When they rise all the way to the surface, this will get tricky. If even one of things were captured by the media, tomorrow every newspaper in the world will make it a headline." Caesar said, "But it's not our business anymore. Leave it to those Japanese. It's time for their support team to come into play. Our job is just to level the place. Whether it's the Lenin, the Embryo or Takamagahara. The very existence of such things is trouble."

"The deep-sea walking suits can only support five minutes at most." Chu Zihang said, "I'll have the Trieste lowered a bit."

"That's enough time." Caesar squeezed himself into the pressurized compartment on the side of the cockpit, swiveled around and snapped the 10 meter thick hatch shut.

Outside is an incredibly ultra-high pressure environment, and Caesar couldn’t use a diving suit without being crushed. So instead he was in another robotic submersible made of thick metal, spherical and pressurized. But even with this, his time is quite limited. Caesar gripped the operating handle of the metal arm firmly and blew into the microphone in the helmet: "Chu Zihang, try the communication device."

"I can hear you very clearly here, can you hear me?" Chu Zihang tapped the microphone in the cockpit.

"The call works well," Caesar paused, "Aren't you also a proud man?"

Chu Zihang froze.

"It's just that you're proud in a different way than I am." Caesar added, "Although you're uncomfortable when you're proud, if you weren't proud, you wouldn't deserve to be seen as an opponent by me at all. Those old guys in my family want to target you, but that matter has nothing to do with me. Don't think I would use those kinds of underhanded tactics against you. If it's my death and your life, just keep living so proudly … don't be defeated by the bastards I despise."

You’re not sure what they’re referring to exactly so you ask Zihang directly. “You were targeted by Caesar’s family?”

“It’s a long story.” Chu Zihang muttered, still focused on the device.

“MC! You’re not crying! That’s a good sign!” Caesar’s teasing voice came through in your ears.

You scowl at the monitor. “I never cry for any of my friends.”

“You do it when you sleep.”

Your jaw clenched and your hands balled into fists.

Lu Mingfei audibly gasped. If his head swiveled on his neck any faster, it might snap. “No way! You two… No way!”

“Nothing happened between us!” You growl at Lu Mingfei, before turning back to the image of Caesar in the monitor. “Why are you listening outside my bedroom, you creep? I’ll try not to cry for you then. I should be out there. You’re responsible for your own death.” You didn’t mean to speak so bitterly. But you never really had time to mourn, so your grief rapidly progressed from shock to denial to anger. But Caesar only chuckled, amused to get a rise out of you even at a time like this.

　　The moment the pressurized nozzle spewed out the zeppelin gear, Chu Zihang saw Caesar in the gear put his hand into the spherical helmet and gave him a thumbs up, not knowing it meant "victory".

Caesar slowly descended in the water, occasionally brushing by newborn mermaids. The ruin was like a gateway to Hell. Now that door to the underworld is open, the souls are desperate to escape. The mermaids are no longer in their right mind, but they still retain their beastly instincts, as if all of them have a premonition of destruction, and they are desperately fleeing from this desperate situation, not attacking anything along the way. Caesar couldn't figure out how the guardians could have sensed that Takamagahara would be destroyed by a nuclear explosion. That’s obviously not something they would be able to do.

Some of these long-dead hybrid species were intact, others were mutilated. Their preservation was similar to the mummification process but used more powerful alchemical techniques that sealed their vitality in immortal bodies. Some of them were missing half of their heads, others had pierced abdominal cavities, seemingly the remains left after a brutal battlefield, which the alchemists of the ancient world used as raw material. Caesar thought of the battlefield carvings he had seen on a birdhouse, as if that battle had really happened in history, and perhaps it was what finally destroyed the city.

In the light of gas mines and lava, the nuclear powerhouse that would be used to blow up the ruin and the Lenin were in clear view. The narrow nuclear powerhouse pitched in a pile of lung snails not far from the Lenin, millions of them writhing beside it. Caesar dropped into the pile of lung snails, and the tiny creatures were steadily dislodging themselves from the Lenin, hitting the zeppelin suit with a dull thud. Struggling to maneuver his awkward prosthetic limbs back to a standing position, Caesar trudged through the pile of lung snails, inching closer to the nuclear powerhouse. The currents were too chaotic for him to float forward, so he didn't dare release the lead weight on his zeppelin rig, and had to stick to the seabed like this, somewhere between walking and crawling. There was a constant stream of mermaids passing above his head. How many of them had been revived, a few thousand or tens of thousands? Caesar could not count them. In this underworld at the height of the day countless undead were buried underground. These mermaid hybrids seem to have directly inherited the civilization of the dragon, completely unlike humans.

The Zeppelin suit is already working over-capacity -- the pressure is overloaded, the output is overloaded, and the lighting inside the helmet keeps flashing out. If not protected by the ultra-high-pressure saline inside the suit, Caesar would have been bleeding internally, but the ultra-high-pressure saline also made his eyes bloodshot and made it difficult to breathe. He had eyes only for the nuclear powerhouse less than ten meters away, but to crawl through ten meters in the waist-deep pile of lung snails, he gradually wondered if he could do it.

His vision was getting blurry. The effects of high pressure are the most obvious on vision. The target in his sight began to appear ghostly. He started to feel a severe headache. His metal prosthetic limbs were slipping in the pile of lung snails, as if he was struggling in a mudslide and could be swallowed up at any moment.

Caesar closed his eyes and released the Scythe Itachi. Few people know that his hearing ability is not an aid. It’s a sixth sense even more effective than vision. The scythes hovered and danced in the sea, and Caesar was surprised to find the field expanded to an unprecedented extent. The sea was an excellent conductor of sound, and the loss of sonic transmission was less than in the air. Caesar could now see that the ancient buildings that had collapsed had thousands of black bells hanging from them. In the days when Takamagahara stood on the earth, the wind must have drowned the whole city in bells.

But in the sea, the bells emitted sound is beyond the range of normal human hearing ultra-low frequency. If he had not released the scythe then Caesar would not have been able to hear this magical music. Heavy ancient ultra-low frequency sound with the sea current through the ruins, Caesar immersed in the ancient music, imagining that the Takamagahara was on dry land. Thousands of bells were turning in the wind, and the tide of sound was ebbing and flowing in the city, tidal wave after tidal wave. He had never "heard" such a vast city.

"Come in, Caesar! Come in, Caesar! Answer! Answer!" Chu yelled.

Three minutes after ejecting from the deep submersible, Caesar lay in a pile of lung snails. His last action was to cling to a pile of lung snails, and from the camera inside his helmet, look at the pleasant smile remaining on his face.

No answer. Life monitoring equipment showed that he still has a heartbeat, but he had completely lost consciousness. You turn your eyes from the monitor. You can’t bear to look. Renata… Anton… Vera…

Did you have to watch Caesar die too?

Chu Zihang muted the microphone, took off the headset and handed it to you, staring into your eyes: "Remember, since the nuclear power module is detached, Sumeru can no longer monitor the data of its operation, underwater communication must rely on the cable."

You refuse to accept it. “What are you doing? You’re not going to go out there and die too, are you? Caesar said we all have to stay here!”

"What do you mean? I don't understand!" Lu Mingfei shook his head in bewilderment.

Chu Zihang doesn’t respond to you but presses the device into your hand. "It means that if you don't tell Gen-kun about what’s happening, he doesn't know if the nuclear power module has been ignited again. If I fail to bring Caesar back, you tell Gen-kun that the ignition has been successful, but not that you cannot recover me and Caesar, so that he can recover you immediately. Gen-kun cannot verify the result of the ignition, he can only choose to bring you back. If he knows you’re still here and the nuclear module is not ignited, he will ask one of you to stay in the deep submersible and the other to get out of the cabin."

“Zihang, let me go out there. H-hey!”

Chu Zihang put the headset on your head, "Don't say too much, and don't argue with me out of embarrassment. Just like Caesar does not want to sacrifice himself to save you and me out of the cabin, Chisei’s pride does not allow him to drive us out of the cabin."

You pull the headset off. “This is bullshit! Did you hear anything I said before to Caesar? Why aren’t you listening to me?”

"My pride also does not allow me to let a lower grade out of the cabin." Chu Zihang ignored the headset you held out, "If we don't make it back, you're the leader of the dive team."

“Isn’t Lu Mingfei my senior?” Your gaze shifts from Chu Zihang to Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei sat limp on the chair, eyes innocent like a small raccoon, and you realize that Chu Zihang was right. Never once had you ever seen Lu Mingfei ever fend for himself in a pinch. He always seemed lost with the eyes of a small raccoon. If anything happened to Chu Zihang and you, Lu Mingfei would be fish bait.

The Dark-haired senior turned to Lu Mingfei. "Answer me sincerely, are you still unable to forget Nono?"

“Huh?” You asked.

Lu Mingfei lowered his head: "Yes, but I can't do anything about it, I just try not to think about it."

"If you're the only one of the three of us to escape, don't feel guilty about it. It's not your fault that Caesar and I had an accident. Try again to see if you can impress Nono. I always think she's actually a very weak girl inside. Losing Caesar will be very sad, right?" Chu Zihang walked towards the pressurized cabin, "You still have a goal to achieve, unlike me, I have nothing to aim for."

Your eyes returned to Lu Mingfei with a brand new sense of disgust. Was he seriously lusting after Caesar’s fiancée, planning to take his place at her side now that he’s going to die? If you knew that was the case, then you would have been happy to let Lu Mingfei out there to get eaten by lung snails!

"Brother, did you like the little dragon lady?" Lu Mingfei asked in a numb voice.

"So you call her the Little Dragon Lady?" He turned to you and said, “I know there’s a lot you don’t understand, but you will in time. Thank you for caring for him.” Chu Zihang snapped the door of the pressure chamber shut behind him.

When Lu Mingfei turns to look at you, he doesn’t even react to the deep despising look you’re giving him. He just sighs.

“You’re an asshole.” You snarl at him, biting the words out.

“I know…” He grumbles. “You don’t have to tell me.

#Dragon Raja

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purplerose244 · 5 years

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MY THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 98!!!

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

And adding this to the pilot episodes, which are four in two episodes, we finally reached 100 episodes of Ninjagooooo!!! 🎊🎊🎊 YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I can't believe we really achieved this, like, I remember getting interested because of that elevator gag with Jay in season 1, now look at this!!! 😍😍 I love this show, I love how much I have grown during it, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for it!

And after getting all hyped with this, let's get to the episode! 😎

I wanna start by saying that, back when I watched it, I really liked Day of the Departed, but I would've LOVED IT if it was a season. Like, it's clear that a lot could've been done, and it came out really freaking cool but not mindblowing (and I kinda expect that from my favorite show, not sorry 😙)

My opinion on March of the Oni is similar, I definitely enjoyed more than DotD because it was basically a season of four episodes, it's just that some parts went by a little fast.

But you're asking if I liked it, right?

OF COURSE I DID! ❤❤

And let me tell, with the amount of parts coming from pilots and first season, I can die happily 😆 That's what I love about Ninjago, even when I think it's not perfect, there are still moments that I fall in love with immediately!

LET'S GO THEN!

For the start, Faith's story. I'm so sorry for the poor dragon hunters, can't even have the time to fully redeem themselves that darkness arises 😅

To be honest, when the ninja arrived and Wu was smiling at them like waiting for good news, I was too worried for Cole and was grieving like all of the ninja 😢 Then it reminded me of that one scene in Kung fu Panda with Shifu being all "ah yeah, I really need good news" with his messanger and it turns out it's fricking Tai Lung coming for him 😂😂

But yeah, that was heavy. And Garmy was still merciless with his brother, as much as with his wife (weird that I kinda enjoyed that part? He never went all bad against her, not even as Lord Garmadon. He is full beast now)

And oh man. WU'S REACTION.

One of his first pupil, the first leader of the team; not only that, Cole was always there when Wu turned into a baby and grew up, he basically became a second father for him in a weird but cute way. Can you imagine the grief? It would be really sad if he got to remember him being to affectionate with his infant version, singing for him 😭😭 (woa, fanfiction idea!)

Well played, I must say, Ninjago crew. I'm already on feels mode 👏 But don't think you can fool me again writers, I'm not that easy to impress for y-

*throw away the pizza she had for dinner* NO PRIMARY NEEDS WILL COME BEFORE THIS, KAI FREAKING SMITH IS BACK OMG YAS YAS YAAAAAASSSS!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥❤❤❤

... I screamed at that part. A LOT.

It's been AGES! He wore it two pilot episodes, period, he looks so young 😍 From this point of few I appreciate that he changed design, it's like he really grew up from before. And he looked so worried, or disappointed? Maybe because he gave up on being blacksmith a long time ago for doing something he's actually good at, and going back again it's like saying he didn't improve at all...

... or maybe I just overthink Kai all day all night

MY FLAME BABE 😍

Well, forge happens, no Ray and Maya but it was kinda hopeless anyway 😅 I really want them to come back, come on Tommy!

And bam, golden weapons. BAM 👊

They made me feel way more excited than I thought, I really squeaked all over while they were fighting! ☺ Back then there was nothing more important and powerful, and now they are back. But I think the golden power in them is weak? I guess they forged in a different way the first time, or maybe they need to be charged by golden power user. I don't know but good job anyway, my hot blacksmith 😚

Meanwhile, in another dark place...

I screamed again 😅

I was just super happy to see Cole fully alive and not frozen and stuff. I thought it had a deeper meaning him moving, but then I guess he woke up in time? And wasn't in the middle of the toxic darkness, thank lord 😵😵

Or maybe they'll explain it better next season and it's important? You never know

Kirby did his best at talking to himself 😂 Rocky you gotta stop loving your best bud that much, you were panicking just like him 💙 Also the part when he was so close to despair, man if I wanted nothing more but broke my phone screen and give him a hug 😢

Luckily, cuteness came to my rescue

"WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU, YOU... YOU... YOU JERK!!"

My bruise heart is beating faster? My bruise heart is beating faster 🖤💙🖤💙 Sorry, can't help it, moving on!

I missed some full team fighting action! I wanted more, especially with the new golden weapons and how amazing the landscape look now near the monastery ☺ But it was cool, and I love Nya and Lloyd fighting back to back since they don't have golden weapons! Also Wu is getting so active in season 9 and 10 😊 And Faith is a queen 🖤

While we're at it, my idea is that Garmadon's doubts about his evilness are meaningful, but not for now. I like that they didn't push him into full redemption, it would've been too early. He clearly wants to know more about himself and his family. I think that the next adventure will be important for him, even if I still don't know how, maybe a full life-changing field trip (if so, my warlord, I have a half burnt prince from the Fire Nation to recommend 🔥)

... I did enough serious stuff for him, right? Well then...

... OKAY I CAN'T 😂😂😂😂

Like, I get the point and everything about him being almost full oni and stuff, but I can't look at his face 😂 I think it's the only part I really don't think it fits, the rest is pretty cool. I like the staff, looks all sorcery. They even used the design of the oni masks, nice touch.

... still, the face is weird, happy it didn't last 😙

Back to the monastery, everyone's scared, it might be the end, I actually liked the situation very much for the yang proposal. Jay stopped overthinking and went for it, it's hard for someone like him 😂

And of course Nya was ecstatic, and when our goddess is happy I am 💙💙💙

THEY HAVE THE MEDALIONS ON THEIR CHEST IT'S SUCH A CUTE AND ROMANTIC SYMBOL!!! 😍😍😍

I'm a sucker for romance, I'm sorry 😅

I'm also a sucker for references from past seasons, so...

*inhale*

THE FREAKING TORNADO OF CREATION!!!! FINALLY, AFTER THE FERRISWHEEL IN THE UNDERGROUND, THE ULTRA SONIC RAIDER AND ALL THE GAMES THAT HAD IT FEATURED, IT'S BAAAAACK!!!! THANK YOU NINJAGO FOR THIS GLORIOUS DAY!!! NINJAAAAAAAA-GOOOOOOOO!!!

*exhale*

They played it as they didn't use it again because it was kinda a miracle... I guess I can buy that, even if the Hagemans explained that they didn't expect Ninjago to continue and put the ultimate power immediately in the pilots... regretting it 😅 So I'm not hard on the writers in general, I'm happy to see this old friend back 💛

They all used spinjitzu, and the new design is so good, I was so happy!!! 🤩🤩🤩 Well I was, but then... boy... 😳

Now... let me tell you... how FREAKING nervewrecking... the last minutes of the episode... have been for me

First of all, the transition in black and soundless was so sudden that it got me thinking "okay this is new, got a weird feeling about it". Lloyd wakes up into such a heavenly beautiful place with a paradisiac great view. And I was already on what the frisk mode, because the others are gone and there's a beautiful golden dragon right there. And I freaking love those (I WANT ONE), so I got distracted.

Then a voice. Good Garmadon? I guess it could be, but why now and here? The heck?

Then of course I recognized him...

Because he still gives his back to the camera 😂 Also he freaking called him Lloyd MONTGOMERY Garmadon, I can't even 👏👏 This compensate the fact that I kinda wanted green bean to just go and call him granpa 😘

And while I thought it was super cool and over the top and reminded me again of Kung fu Panda, the third movie this time, I was still thinking from time to time:

"This looks like afterlife."

"The first Spinjitzu Master is gone."

"This can't be happening."

"This can't... can't..."

And after making sure to remind us that yes, first Spinjitzu Master-san is indeed Wu's dad, with his wise words because...

... he said that. THAT. Come back to your friends, or come with me. Go back being the green ninja, or reach the light once and for all. And darn it. I could feel my heart pulsing in my head. It ached when Lloyd extended his hand, and suddenly everything went white.

Back to the monastery. Guys are fine, Jaya is still beatiful and my poor sweetie flame got under a colomn thanks Cole I bet lavashippers appreciated

Then the worry. All of then running to him, checking, my flame so scared, "come on buddy, wake up". Wu following, he's the only hope, he can manage...

He can... can...

"There is nothing to be done."

I sobbed. Like, I didn't even dare to look at the time, I was too scared. I just didn't want it to be real.

Gotta say, when it comes to grieving, Ninjago makes me feel the most. Jay stuttering, asking Wu to help him. Nya sobbing calling his name. Kai slowly shaking his head, so desperate, like it wasn't enough they lost Cole even if not for long, and then going to comfort Wu because Garmy is not his brother right now and he's not showing emotion at all (although he was backing off, I wonder if he was trying to keep the distance from such a strong scene)

... and then Lloyd came back

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚

I CRIED FOR HAPPINESS, THE TOUGHEST SECONDS OF MY LIFE!!! MY GREEN BEAN, MY SUNSHINE BOY, MY SWEET ANGEL IS HERE AND HERE TO STAY!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Also Kai and Cole hugging, it was really sweet 🖤❤🖤❤

Oh man, OH MAN 😵

They put everything into that last fragment, now did they? Very nice, loved every part of it and it's really cool how we now kinda know what could be waiting on the afterlife 🤩 I wonder if there is more of that world...

This is why I said I wanted a longer special/season, we had two beautiful moments of pure sadness, really impactful and intense, that could've been even stronger if we had more time to struggle. But you know what? I died inside twice, came back to life twice as well, and nobody died!! 😊 ... except the oni I guess. I think... they died, didn't they?

Well whatever, going for the end!

Okay can I call upon myself the frame meme of Gravity Falls without actually showing it? I can't put more pictures 😅

"Oh, this."

"This is beautiful."

It's both extremely funny for the claw lego thingy, and meaningful. Only they could do that. Only those that really follow Ninjago could recognize this. I just like it a lot, the Tornado of Creation in its on way ❤💚💙🖤💦💎

(give me white and gray hearts emoji you COWARDS)

And of course, reunion for the finale

Sky you have no idea how happy I am to see you, girl I missed you a lot 😘 Also dat wink, Kai you might be the next to the yang proposal 😙 Cyrus is okay, I'm happy, and random Ronin because why not? He has better things to do than being caught up with all this drama 🤣

AND THE POSTMAN IS THERE 😎 Of course, our greatest ruler appear! 💪💪💪

While at the end that little moment between Wu and Garmy, I wonder what's waiting for the two sons of mister too shy for facing the camera 😜

And of course our Ninjago alphabet, THE END, with mama dragon who seems to be okay, good 😊 Pretty cool

Well guys, this is it. I enjoyed, no matter how it could've gone as a full season or other formats, it's refreshing knowing that they still remember stuff from the very beginning (MONTGOMERY 🤣🤣🤣). I think we had a good ending for a good beginning to a new fragment of Ninjago, involving what, I have no idea 😅 Also I really appreciate what they did with my Kai, the hotheaded, cocky but selfless warrior that I love so much. Thanks a lot ❤❤

Guess we'll find out sooner or later what's in store for this show, for now I'm done! Thank you guys a lot for all the notes in the last post, you guys are amazing! 😁

Nothing else to say, see ya around! 💜

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tinymixtapes · 7 years

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Feature: 2017: Third Quarter Favorites

As we stumble into the final quarter of the year, TMT would like to temper the political incoherence and informational carelessness of the last few months with another transmission from our trusty quarter-list propaganda machine. And you, dear reader, are invited! Whether it was transcendental smackdowns (Young Thug) or moonlit ruminations (The National), unlistenable prayers (Lingua Ignota) or symbol play (Giant Claw), 2017’s summer sounds found our bodies trembling (Pan Diajing), swiped like a shoe along concrete ($3.33), and glowing with deceitful charm (White Poppy). It didn’t matter if it was coming from the Dar Es Salaam underground (Nyege Nyege Tapes), a modded 70s Speak & Spell (White Suns), or Jack Rabbit’s Palace (Twin Peaks); it didn’t matter if it was evinced by lurker auteurs (Nmesh), sonic ecologists (Avey Tare), or one Pretty Bitch (Lil B). In the face of an ever-increasing shitshow, the last three months of music carried on like if often does: with a mix of hope, absurdity, and some exquisite world-building, with hearts both heavy (death’s dynamic shroud) and gentle (Mark Templeton). The full list can be found below, but first check out our ridiculously long list of releases that didn’t make the feature proper. And thanks, as always, for reading! Shortlist: Yves Tumor’s Experiencing The Deposit Of Faith, Nate Scheible’s Fairfax, Tzusing’s 東方不敗, Jay Glass Dubs’s Glacial Dancehall, Shabazz Palaces’s Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines, HKE’s HEEL AESTHETIC, Windy & Carl’s Blues For A UFO, Shabazz Palaces’s Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines, woopheadclrms’s Meeting Room + Rare Plants (Ukiuki Atama), Youngboy Never Broke Again’s AI YoungBoy, Costanza’s George, Mount Kimbie’s Love What Survives, Femminielli Noir’s Echec & Mat, I am just a Pupil’s CRYSTAL PAIN, Léo Hoffsaes & Loto Retina’s Early Contact, Arve Henrikson’s Towards Language, Schneider Kacirek’s Radius Walk, S.W.’s The Album, Damien Dubrovnik’s Great Many Arrows, Alan Vega’s IT, chris†††’s social justice whatever, and Ariel Pink’s Dedicated to Bobby Jameson. --- Nmesh Pharma [Orange Milk] [WATCH · LISTEN · REVIEW] With Pharma, lurker auteur Nmesh has both legitimized and destroyed the vapor-non-genre, virus-like, from within. Now entombed in some lo-poly pyramid, we can see the ‘wave for what it was: a dig through the garbage-dump archives of the 1990s to recover, warp, and recontextualize whatever memories got lost beneath the pile. The samples and annotations would be nothing, though, without the music, and lucky for you Pharma delivered well on this front. Not only is this Nmesh’s best album to date, but these 26 tracks (plus many remixes) ran rings around an entire micro-era of electronic music, wearing it out until the soul within was revealed. Plus, how brazen is that Ferris Bueller sample? –Dylan Pasture --- Pan Daijing Lack [PAN] [LISTEN · REVIEW] Abstract music, even “noise” if you want, is too often discussed in relation to absence. Absence of harmony, of “form,” of the philosophy of separation underpinning musical tradition per se. I imagine that, in witnessing a performance by Pan Daijing, who discusses her music along the lines of embodiment and the “acting out” of sound, it becomes difficult to persist in this manner of speaking. With Lack, a document of that performance practice, she rattles the consciousness of the home listener from its critical distance back to where it belongs: the wanting, lurid presence of the body. “Practice of Hygiene” breaks words — “above, below,” “excuse me,” “why do I have to” — into moaning, groaning, and almost-human creaking, cradled in the bleed of a low, repeating piano note. A dissonant arpeggio dances for five minutes across “The Nerve Meter,” a synthesized pattern that seems to shake the receiver as if having passed through air from a nearby amplifier. At the climactic moment of “Lucid Morto,” the final track, delayed vocals combine with the unsure, three-note melody of a meaty trance lead. In different and captivating ways, this album takes advantage of the notion that sound is a physical encounter; its Lack is not of form or substance, but the one that lives in all of our hungering, trembling bodies. –Will Neibergall --- Milo who told you to think??!!?!?!?! [Ruby Yacht/Alpha Pup] [LISTEN · REVIEW] “Ghiath Matar is dead, roses are not armor,” goes the first rapped line, and if you’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that Milo’s strictly a “college rapper,” you might also be assuming that Ghiath Matar is the name of some ancient Eastern deity or the protag of a Russian fantasy novel. But it’s not. He was, I know now, a Syrian activist who gave flowers to soldiers, then was arrested, tortured and killed. The next line goes, “In my neighborhood, it was become a poet or a farmer.” Writing amazing, beautiful, weighty verse is part of Milo’s job, as is performing. But geeky flights of fancy aren’t gone, they’re just getting pointier. Also in the first song, he says, “Hold the self like J’Zargo in Winterhold,” referring, of course, to the fictional cat wizard and mage college in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Did I mention this is the album’s first verse? It goes deeper still, metaphors atop one another like racks. I haven’t cracked the seal on my vinyl copy yet, because it looks so snug sitting in its shrinkwrap beside Down With People’s self-titled album. One more unsolicited thought: if Nostrum Grocers ever drops, there are going to be a lot of professional poets out there burning their own chapbooks. –Samuel Diamond --- Avey Tare Eucalyptus [Domino] [LISTEN · REVIEW] Ever since Campfire Songs, we’ve known that Avey Tare is a sonic ecologist, attuned to the environments and relationalities that bloom and burble through his terraformed recordings. Lately, though, his work has dripped somewhere Down There, somewhere murky and suffocating, goopy and fecund. But, aerated and sun-drenched afresh in the Eucalyptus, Avey Tare sounds like he can breathe again. Awash but not overwhelmed, the atmospheres that populate Eucalyptus oxygenate the expansive melodies Portner has always nursed — from “Chocolate Girl” to “Amanita” — only this time, they can photosynthesize something delectable out of the coral, salt, soil, air that have always permeated, always tickled, always snickered. There’s a spaciousness in the hebetic sonic environments here, room to snuggle and inhale. Like the calyx that protects the budding eucalyptus flower, Eucalyptus chaperones us into a nourishing amnion. We can’t help but curl up and sink in. –Benjamin Eckman Bieser --- Various Artists Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series) / Twin Peaks (Limited Even Series Soundtrack) [Rhino] [WATCH · WATCH · WATCH] IRRATIONALLY ESSENTIAL. There’s no other way to put it. For Twin Peaks fans, this was the Summer of Frost/Lynch. We watched, listened, pondered, argued; we breathed it, ate it, shit it, and then sniffed the shit for more clues. By the time the 18-part series that first infected us back in May fully metastasized at the beginning of September, we were zombies. Our gray matter was hollowed into cheese by Dougie-Cooper’s Disease, characterized by the frenetic drive to bathe ourselves in anything connected with the story in any way — e.g., these two albums, featuring Angelo Badalamenti’s iconically eerie scores, plot-pregnant songs from each of the show’s Roadhouse bands, and a few of Lynch’s maniacal manipulations. Even now with the series in the spooky, Lynchian rear-view, the obsession lingers. The past dictates the future. There’s no going back. –Dan Smart [pagebreak] SADAF SHELL [Outside Insight] [LISTEN · REVIEW] An album gets called cinematic when the music elicits the feeling of a wide shot, of a soundtracked scene, of prestigious drama. SHELL is cinematic because it’s a movie. Vestigial, footgazing, inflammable, SHELL is a movie with no stars, a movie with no film, that unfolds in unfolding, getting ahead of itself. Even the pronoun is in the can before she means to. So you hear SADAF: just trust your eyes. Audition requires participation, and here, off the top of her head, participation means filmmaking. The unmaking of, in stereo. Although there are no bangers, there’s still the magic of SADAF’s multiplying VOICE, playing over scripts. (Little fires, drowning onscreen, disowned from the spark that lit the faucet. Its instructions crossing themselves out, the skipping noise and scraping strings roll like credits, hand in hand, like the tide, a substitute for reaching through to the other side.) “Though there is stillness, I can feel your heartbeat. Though I can’t see you, I can hear a sound.” Fear that you hear yourself, but you don’t listen. –Pat Beane --- Various Artists Sounds of Sisso [Nyege Nyege Tapes] [LISTEN] It’s fair to say that Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Tapes has left a rather sizeable imprint on the TMT hivemind this year (see: Otim Alpha, Mysterians, and first-quarter fave Riddlore http://j.mp/2g2GAt3

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jeremystrele · 7 years

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Bertie Blackman · Crepuscule

Creative People

by Elle Murrell

Artist Bertie Blackman applies the final touches to her latest exhibition. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The Sydney-based artist pictured in front of her artwork ‘Searching For Crepuscule‘ oil on board, 90 x 90cm. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

‘Crepuscule’ is currently showing at Lindberg Gallery in Melbourne. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Along with oil-on-board artworks, Bertie has created a series of dolls for the show. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

The exhibition is dominated by the colour indigo and inspired by the story of the last-known living Tasmanian tiger, Benjamin. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Bertie and her sketchbook. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Today we learnt a fascinating new word, thanks to artist Bertie Blackman, whose latest solo art exhibition, ‘Crepuscule’ is currently on exhibit at Lindberg Galleries in Melbourne.

Referring to the meeting of the day and night – i.e. twilight, in Bertie’s context ‘Crepuscule’ is also the alternative-dimension hangout of Benjamin, the last ever Tasmania tiger, and his merry band of wide-eyed friends. ‘Clever, cunning and mischievous, he evades captivity by leaping through the veils of dreams and reality… through the Crepuscule… bending time and space,’ the artist narrates.

Extending this concept, all of Bertie’s oil paintings for the exhibition are dominated by the colour indigo, built up in darkening layers. The hue really reverberates the feeling of twilight for the artist, and she also loves the way the word sounds: ‘a bit like you’re already bending and squinting the light with the letters; it’s an unusual word, so people are very curious about it!’

It’s no surprise that Bertie would make an audible link, given that many people know the ARIA award-wining singer, songwriter and guitarist for her music. Though busy building her multifarious BB empire, the candid creative took some time out to delve deeper into her current paintings, AND dolls!

Many readers would know you first and foremost as Bertie Blackman the musician, but can you tell us a little bit about your background as a visual artist?

I come from a family of artists, writers and creatives alike… so for me, visual art has always been a strong way of communicating. I have always drawn and painted but, because my parents are both painters, I ended up steering away from it as I really wanted to create my own path. A musician is as rebellious as I could get in my family!!

Throughout my musical career I’ve art directed my shoots and videos, created stage designs, and painted costumes. In 2009, I had an auction of drawings at Moss Green Gallery, but it wasn’t until 2012 with my fourth record ‘Pope Innocent X’, that I really started concentrating on my drawing. For that album, I released a book of illustrations with each song; I realised that art, music and writing really just all came from the same place for me. And I didn’t need to be one or the other.

Growing up with both parents as visual painters, I witnessed extraordinary discipline and sacrifice from them when it came to their art. I learnt about the reality of what being a practising artist is really like – the blood sweat and tears that go into your work, and the extraordinary work ethic needed.

My art practice has really developed through just doing it, looking at books and persevering with the mediums. I have had no formal education, but I’ve got big dreams and big ideas! I’m forever shaking with adrenaline because I just find it all so exciting!

Your most recent album, ‘The Dash’, was released in late 2014, and since then you’ve also done some amazing collaborations. How do you balance your music with your art?

I do really struggle with balancing my music and art. I have learnt pretty quickly that I can only really do one thing at a time.

I tend to allocate big blocks of time for each. With my current art show, I put aside a solid block of three months. I’m finishing that body of work up, I’m already connecting the next thing. However, I’m also writing and illustrating my first children’s picture book, which will be published in 2018. I would say I spend about eight hours or so a day in my art studio five days a week and then I work nights on my writing.

In between all of this, I have been ducking into various studio sessions, though I’m looking forward to getting into the recording studio more later this year. I’m also an early morning riser. I wake up at about 5am and usually meditate or go for a run to prepare for the day.

Your solo show ‘Crepuscule’ is currently on exhibit in Melbourne. Can you tell us more about this exhibition?

I’m really excited about this body of work. I started working on it quite a few months ago – really working on my painting and developing my technique. For me, I have no lack of ideas or imagery, it’s just been ‘the technical doing’ that has been the challenge and also needing the time to make all the mistakes and learn what the paint can do.

I’ve only been working with oil paints for about nine months, so when I started, I thought it would be an interesting idea to just work with one colour, so I could concentrate on getting the texture and feeling in it without worrying about mixing paint. I love the indigo hue so much; it feels very otherworldly!

For this show, I’ve also made dolls, and bringing my imagery into a playful three-dimensional form has been exhilarating. They’ve become my little friends – I do take them out to dinner sometimes for a treat as well as long walks on the beach. I’m a big fan of Mirka Mora, she’s a great old friend of my father’s and I love her dolls, so this is a little nod to her wonderfulness!

Was there a particular story that inspired the concept for this body of work?

Benjamin the Tasmanian tiger has been a feature in my work for the last six months. He is inspired by the actual last living Tasmanian tiger who died in captivity in 1936. I love the constant conversation and debate as to whether this creature is actually extinct. Personally, I think he is still alive, and I’m hoping that through conjuring him in his ‘Crepuscule’ it might bring him back.

A lot of my work has been hinged in floating spaces or abstract dream worlds, this is the first series that I have brought the imagery into a landscape. I used to play in the rainforest a lot as a child, so I really think that Benjamin and his friends are totems of my childhood – me reliving those curious moments of abstract memory.

What’s it like being the daughter of a OBE bestowed, acclaimed painter, and creating your own art?

I think because my father is Charles Blackman, I definitely shied away from having a career in the visual arts as I really wanted to make my own way. I don’t want to live in his shadow, I mean, it’s a blessing and a curse. Because a lot of people know who my father is, doors have opened probably a little easier for me than others, but the criticism has been far greater because the expectations are much, much higher.

I have, however, worked really hard in the arts for over a decade and I think I’ve carved out a little space for myself to grow quite naturally. I’m incredibly passionate and dedicated to my art forms and people know this of me.

I most definitely get my singular thinking and focus from my Dad, as well as the wild untamed imagination and thirst for the abstract and curious. But I have also inherited other lovely things from my mother in terms of my art practise as well.

I think if the work’s good then it doesn’t matter how famous your parents are, it should be able to stand alone.

Who are some other Australian creative people that are you loving at the moment?

Luke Storrier and I have had a great time recently bonding over having a famous artist father and also being artists ourselves, in our own right. His work is brilliant and exciting and I’m looking forward to collaborating with him.

Ian Strange is just one of the most interesting artists I have met. I love his vision, he pushes all boundaries.

McLean Edwards is a wonderful painter, and such a wonderful eccentric man. One of the family!

What are some of the resources you turn to when you’re in a need of creative inspiration?

The library. Books are just necessary and essential in my life.

Outside. Going outside and sitting in the gutter and looking at peoples shuffling feet and framing birds and dogs and shadows.

My Mother. I call her daily for a chat about the work I’m making and she really helps make sense of my abstract thoughts sometimes.

Pinterest. I use it a lot to gather visual references.

What’s been your proudest creative achievement to date?

That is a very hard question! I think singing with Danny Elfman and a 100-piece orchestra at the Adelaide Festival, and also co-curating ‘Sonic Canvases’ at the Art Gallery of NSW have been a couple of major highlights and pleasures.

Also, just being able to exist as a practising artist my entire career without having to get a ‘proper’ job!

What would be your dream creative project?

I would love to create an underground lair in Antarctica… make dolls, paint, sing, write, and turn all my dreams into imagery… a language that can be understood by the moon and stars!

Amazing! What’s a little closer on the horizon for Bertie Blackman?

I’m excited to be painting my next bodies of work, to be writing and illustrating my first children picture book for release in 2018, recording a new record, and making a series of dolls. I’ve got big dreams. Gotta start laying the blocks for empire BB!

SYDNEY QUESTIONS

Your favourite Sydney neighbourhood?

Redfern… it’s my neighbourhood! I love it!

The best meal you recently had in Sydney?

Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point. It’s always amazing and it’s my favourite Italian food in Sydney.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?

At my local Redfern coffee shop getting a take away coffee and reading in the park – that’s if I’m not painting in my studio!

Sydney’s best kept secret?

The beaches are all amazing. But that’s no secret…

‘Crepuscule’ by Bertie Blackman September 7th to 23rd Lindberg Galleries 77 Cambridge Street, Collingwood

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aion-rsa · 7 years

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Rap’s Czarface Comes to Life Through Throwback Vinyl-Comic Combo

In “First Weapon Drawn,” debuting Saturday for Record Store Day, rap and comics fans finally learn the secret origin of the dastardly hip-hop heel Czarface in an immersive audio-visual experience that resurrects a nearly forgotten storytelling format, to impressive effect.

It’s a scheme as visionary as any a mad scientist might concoct. In the real world, Czarface is the name of the hip-hop supergroup comprised of legendary Wu-Tang Clan rapper Inspectah Deck and veteran underground DJ/MC duo 7L & Esoteric, whose music blends vivid lyrical sparring with equally lavish head-nodding beats. On the page, Czarface is a nefarious antihero akin to the colorful archenemies of comic book and wrestling good guys.

DJ 7L compares the Czarface character to Eddy, Black Sabbath’s mascot, inspiration and avatar. Plainly inspired by classic Jack Kirby heavies like Doctor Doom and Darkseid, artist L’Amour Supreme’s depictions of Czarface have adorned the covers of all of the group’s albums and singles. Czarface’s metallic visage, signature red glove and cape primarily function as conceptual and thematic unifying elements to the music, but the character has been realized in action figures, tie-in comics and even a real-life armor set.

Until now, however, no one has truly known the character’s canonical beginning. And to tell that secret origin, the group wanted to find a way to not only share the tale but bask in its influences.

“Czarface: First Weapon Drawn,” written by Esoteric and drawn by Gilberto Aguirre Mata. Cover, Page 1.

Instead of Inspectah Deck and Esoteric trading barbs over 7L beats, their newest project sees Czarface taking a run at multimedia storytelling. Specially offered as part of the national vinyl-appreciation retail initiative Record Store Day, Czarface’s “First Weapon Drawn” is a throwback-style book and record set that packages a treasury comic detailing the character’s rise (or fall) from a career as a professional wrestler to an energy-crackling supervillain along with a vinyl album that dramatizes and scores the adventure.

CBR has an exclusive preview of the first six pages of the comic, written by Esoteric and illustrated by Gilberto Aguirre Mata, along with a preview of Side A of the Record Store Day release.

The project was modeled after the Power Records albums of the 1970s, which adapted Marvel and DC comics into bombastic read-along stories, with radio-style effects and voice actors. Long before fans could expect to regularly see their favorite super-powered titans in theaters, these albums were what brought characters to life in many readers’ imaginations. To achieve the intended effect, listen to the “First Weapon Drawn” audio while reading the pages, and feel the Czar-force wash over you.

Year One

Almost every supervillain’s origin begins with a slight — or at least a perceived one — and Czarface is no different. 7L & Esoteric had collaborated with Inspectah Deck in the past, but it was 7L who initially suggested they formalize the partnership. Esoteric was skeptical that he and his creative partner of 20 years would be able to land the famed Wu-Tang rapper for an album-length project, but given the chemistry they had all enjoyed on previous tracks, Deck agreed. Then, after Esoteric pitched the Shaolin rhymer on his idea for the group’s potential name and didn’t hear back, he got spooked.

Pages 2-3.

“I remember just talking to him about these different names. I had ‘Czarhead,’ I just wanted to go with something ‘Czar,'” Esoteric told CBR. He grew concerned that he might have offended the rapper he’d admired since hearing the iconic lyric “Swinging through your town like the neighborhood Spider-Man” on Wu-Tang’s “Protect Ya Neck” by suggesting a name too close to a contemporary.

Pages 4-5.

“[Czarface] was the one that we thought best fit, and I was like, ‘It kind of sounds like ‘Ghostface,'” Esoteric said, referring to Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah. “And I’m thinking, [if] it kind of sounds like Ghostface and he’s not hitting me back … Is he mad?”

But Deck loved it. “It never even crossed his mind,” Esoteric laughed. Ghostface would even go on to be featured on the group’s eponymous first album.

The Physical Challenge

Czarface’s 7L & Esoteric at Hub Comics in Somerville, Mass. (Photo by Sam Williams)

Now, three studio albums later, and Czarface is a phenomenon. After releasing the “A Fistful of Peril” LP in November, the group set sights on their creation’s next chapter. For guidance, 7L & Esoteric looked back to the roots of their friendship. “One of the first things that we connected on, when we first started making records in the early ’90s, was [7L’s] collection of Power Records,” Esoteric said.

They decided to recreate the Power Records sonics-meet-sequential-art experience that they had mutually dug in their youths. “We kind of always toyed with the idea that it would be a cool idea to do one of those,” 7L told CBR. When they began work on what would become “First Weapon Draw,” they had their model. “We tried to craft it, pattern it, model it after the things that inspired us back then.”

As with the action figures and limited-edition CDs they’ve made in the past, the project’s physical element held particular appeal. “We come from that,” 7L explained. “Collecting things and having things, you know — the latest issue comes out, the newest release, or just finding back issues or finding old records. That’s like in our fabric.”

While they understand the realities and conveniences of digital media and delivery, the Czarface guys are decidedly the types to appreciate a good dig in the crates, and the rare treasures that can turn up.

Page 6.

“Me, personally,” Esoteric said, “I don’t want to do anything if it doesn’t come with the physical copy.” Both his music and his comics have their places. “I want to have it and put it in the vault next to the other ones.”

A limited release aimed at drawing people’s focus off their digital devices and toward something decidedly more analogue held special appeal to the group, who had considered limiting their early music to underground, unofficial releases. 7L, the team’s resident vinyl-head, realized Record Store Day would present a unique opportunity to release something their diehards would truly appreciate.

Photo by Sam Williams.

“When we talked about the idea, [we realized] it’d be cool to do something that’s so limited that’s kind of different and specific that it’ll be this collector’s item,” he explained. To craft something worthy of the attention, they split the duties. Esoteric would pen the comic and radio script that told Czarface’s backstory (and lend his voice to the cast), 7L would compose the accompaniment, including a signature “Czarface Theme,” and all three would executive produce the effort.

If any musicians’ work lent itself to such play, it’s Czarface. Their songs are not only littered with shout-outs to the Spandex set, they’re punctuated with audio clips from old records and cartoons and otherwise. 7L cites De La Soul producer Prince Paul as an influence, noting an appreciation for his use of interesting vocal samples. “I think the humor of it with the seriousness of it is a little bit of, not a template, but an inspiration for me as far as approaching certain things,” he explained.

They committed to capturing an authentic feel for the story. “Musically, we really wanted to nail that element of it sounding like it was from back then,” 7L said. “And not being your typical rap beat — more like the source of what people would sample in hip-hop.”

Marvel honored the cover to Czarface’s “Every Hero Needs A Villain,” left, with a hip-hop variant to “Thanos” #1 by Mike Del Mundo

A Hero’s Return

Already at work on their next album, the members of Czarface were given reason to reflect recently when they were included among Marvel’s Black Panther Nation initiative, which saw them profiled in the pages of Ta-Nahesi Coates’ “Black Panther,” and released an accordingly themed song, “All In Together Now.” Not long after, Marvel paid homage to the cover to their second album, “Every Hero Needs A Villain,” with Mike Del Mundo’s hip-hop variant to “Thanos” #1. For a group who grew up loving Marvel comics, it was a significant recognition. Marvel Assistant Editor Chris Robinson even told Esoteric that with the exception of a possible Kid ‘n Play interview in the ’90s, theirs was the first hip-hop artist interview in a Marvel comic.

Appearing in a Marvel comic, and especially having the opportunity to see his son find his father among the the pages, struck a resonant chord with Esoteric. Long before his musical success, the lifelong comics fan had parted with portions of his prized collection to further his creative dreams. “I sold ‘X-Men’ #94, #95, #96 and #97 to pay for studio time,” he shared, referring to the first four issues of writer Chris Claremont’s seminal run on the title.

Then last week, following a European tour, Esoteric returned home to find a box from Marvel containing “X-Men: Blue” #1, “X-Men: Gold” #1 and “Weapon X” #1. The MC said it felt like his creative life had come full circle. Maybe the new issues weren’t worth quite as much as the ones the he sold all those years ago, but it’s difficult to imagine anything more mint and valuable than the way they got there. Better still, his super co-creation could take on those puny X-Men, any day.

Czarface’s “First Weapon Drawn” Book and Record Set can be found through participating Record Store Day retailers.

The post Rap’s Czarface Comes to Life Through Throwback Vinyl-Comic Combo appeared first on CBR.

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phclemenza-blog · 7 years

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Track 1: Any Trouble – Where Are All the Nice Girls? (1980)

A simple life is all I need

Two shots of fantasy and one of make-believe

I never tried too hard to make this succeed

You're the only one I need

— Second Choice written by Clive Gregson

This quote could be the unofficial motto of a diffident and rather understated 80s pub band called Any Trouble. They grew out of the “angry young man” singer-songwriter movement led by Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Graham Parker, but Any Trouble, led by singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Clive Gregson, always seemed to have some tenderness under that angry façade. Any Trouble is also a band that had such bad luck that I will be using Spinal Tap references to demarcate the sections.

Merely a two-word review, just said, “Sh*t Sandwich…”

I first ran across the band Any Trouble in my high school days in the early 80s, and thought they were slight but passably enjoyable but not much more. However, my esteem for them has grown to the point where I wanted to start this blog to sing, as it were, their praises. So why the sea change in opinion?

In the states in the early 80s, there were three ways to encounter aspiring British bands at least in the Northeast: the then still nascent MTV, 92.7 FM WLIR from Long Island (usually via tapes from friends), and underground radio shows like London Underground. At the time, Any Trouble had already been dropped by Stiff Records and had reinvented themselves as a keyboard-heavy, pastel-coloured 80s New Wave band in the A-ha and Spandau mold. I found this music on early MTV (even though to this day I do enjoy their 1983 eponymous album which I purchased on vinyl back in the day, featuring some fine pop songs buried under layers of keyboard, especially “I’ll Be Your Man” and “Touch and Go”). Gregson explained it in the liner notes from their Complete Stiff Recordings compilation, “The result was my least favorite AT album…featuring some of the best songs! For the first time we tried to chase fashion…and failed miserably. The keyboard and synth heavy sound was a million miles from the guitar jangle we’d previously made…and nobody seemed to much care for the new approach.”1

Years later when I rediscovered the band researching on the extremely helpful and useful AllMusic site, I was surprised that they were a pub band originally. Their driving, heartfelt, singer/songwriter style of pub fare was so much up my alley that I was shocked to find I was unfamiliar with it (although I did faintly remember the video for “Second Choice” on MTV’s very early days, probably before Stiff stiffed them).

If it was in dubly…

The problems for Any Trouble started with the comparisons to the other angry young men, especially Elvis Costello. They had a bespectacled, unconventional-looking lead singer who also wrote the songs and played guitar, and they played jangly, R&B-based pop rock. Some even called their first hit, Second Choice, “stunningly derivative…a retread of ‘Less than Zero’” and Gregson’s voice a “nasal” version of Costello’s distinctive baritone full of “overall nice-guy swellness.”2Gregson even acknowledged the similarities: “Nobody could deny that our first album owed a sonic and arrangement debt to EC’s first LP. Both records are primarily guitar based and focused on mostly short-ish, uptempo, R’n’B based pop rock songs…It was all too easy a comparison to make because EC was there first and had already achieved a great deal of commercial success, we rather come off as a poor runner up.”1

Also reviews at the time were less than forgiving with Any Trouble’s pub band style, something that had, in the cognoscenti’s opinion, run its course 5 years prior with bands like Brinsley Schwartz and a hundred others who never cracked the billboards charts let alone the public’s perception but who inspired Rockpile, Elvis Costello, and a host of punk bands who were pub rocks followers. It is difficult to imagine a band being chastised today for their style being a few years out of date given all of the retro styles being plumbed for inspiration but the seventies were a decade that started with the end of the Beatles and witnessed pub rock, punk rock, disco, and the start of new wave to name a few. Times were a-changing quickly then.

Though Any Trouble espoused the angry young men’s attitude their soft hearts belied their message and in an age of punk, it was inexcusable. Any Trouble’s “nice girls” seemed like Graham Parker’s “local girls” but Clive Gregson still wanted to “kiss her feet and shake her hand”. The band’s name was derived from a misremembered line in the great film Blazing Saddles when Cleavon Little holds himself hostage oddly to save his own life. At least the Shoes correctly cited John Lennon in naming themselves. Talk about an unpretentious, even self-marginalized band.

Their self-effacing approach helps explain their rather diminished legacy, though luck and other factors played a role. This is a band that was happy just to be on the Stiff Records roster though that also ended being to their detriment. But for that we have to review their full history.

We traveled the world and elsewhere…

Any Trouble was formed in 1975 in Crewe, England while Gregson was attending teacher training college. They started as an acoustic trio covering artists like the Who, the Band, the Beatles, and Bruce Springsteen. Their name stuck quickly but “[i]t seemed to conjure up a vision of something approaching an Oi! Band to certain punters who were never slow to let us know they were very disappointed by our brand of melodic (albeit pretty rapid!) pop-rock.” They were even billed as “Andy Trouble” once.1

In a couple of years punk was sweeping the UK, but Any Trouble was more influenced by the singer-songwriter artists like Costello, Parker, and Rockpile, who had “a clearer connection to the American stuff [they] were already playing”. The band moved to Manchester in 1978 and set their lineup: Gregson (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), founding member & lead guitarist Chris Parks, drummer Mel Harley, and bassist and backing vocalist Phil Barnes. Gregson had started to write songs in his “hyperactive new wave style.” 1

By mid-1979, they were ready for a demo tape. The group borrowed money from Phil Barnes’s dad, and on August 17 recorded four songs in eleven hours at Pennine Studios. After 5 more hours of mixing, Any Trouble were ready to release an indie double-A-side single of “Yesterday’s Love” and “Nice Girls”. 500 copies were pressed, some of which the band sold at gigs, but Barnes and Parks, who worked at an HMV record store, would give a copy to each label sales rep. They eventually gave a copy to the legendary John Peel, who was on a road show at Manchester University but “he dropped it into a big black bin bag that was already full of records and demo tapes: every band in the north west had apparently had the same idea!” 1 A few weeks later Peel played “Yesterday’s Love”, and soon the song was making the rounds at the various BBC radio shows. “So in essence we had a single that nobody could really buy, recorded by a band with no professional management or structure, getting what amounted to A-list airplay at the BBC…Pretty amazing!” 1

The band found a professional manager and started fielding offers from major labels like EMI, WEA, Rak, Chrysalis, and Stiff. The studio reps visited their shows and tried the band out in the studio. Once the band heard that Stiff wanted them, the competition was over. “[W]e were already fans of the label, their artists, their style – so we duly signed to Stiff in early 1980.” 1 “We went with Stiff because they were our kind of people working with acts that we actually liked!”4

Any Trouble returned to Pennine Studios with former Squeeze producer John Wood, and made a record in a couple of weeks. “When we made our first album that was our live sound. Just like the Beatles - that first album was our stage show. We made the whole record in less than three weeks - and we should have done it in less than a day really (laughs).” 3

Expectations were high for the release. Gregson: “Half of me was absolutely thrilled that Allan [music journalist Allan Jones of “Melody Maker”] and various other media folk were waxing so lyrical about the album and the band…and half of me couldn’t really understand what they were getting so excited about! I liked the record but I mostly thought of it as a starting point and far from the finished article.” 1 “But Allan was really taken with it and stuck us on the front cover of Melody Maker saying this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and we patently weren't.”3 Talk about modest!

Artie Fufkin, Polymer Records…

The marriage to Stiff was clearly a huge mistake. “In terms of chart success, fame, and fortune, Stiff and Any Trouble patently didn’t work! We were spectacularly unsuccessful…we actually weren’t anything like a ‘typical’ Stiff band…We simply didn’t have the strong visual image that Ian Dury, Madness et al had in spades. Check out our Stiff videos…talk about a band in search of a look!” 1

The album also faltered overseas as the fledgling Stiff America label was out of its depth. “The label was becoming rather more mainstream in many ways... and I think they felt that what Any Trouble was all about was right for the new times. They were hopeful that we could also spearhead breaking the label in the USA.”4 “When we arrived in the States in December 1980 as part of the Son of Stiff tour, we had the most added airplay record nationwide but no albums in stores and no effective distribution or marketing programme…a glorious missed opportunity.” 1

Like Artie Fufkin, apparently, the Stiff America reps had no timing. A Stiff rep also reportedly encouraged Gregson to go solo (as “Buddy” Gregson to compound a bad idea). Stiff did think highly enough of Any Trouble as a live band to put out an “official bootleg” live album but the disc never did get a proper release outside of Germany (in 1989) and as a radio promotion until “The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-1981” compilation came out in 2013.

“But by the time we had improved and got better the fuss had all gone. You only really get one shot in the big nasty world of the music business and it went disastrously wrong because we weren't really ready for it.”3

Puppet Show and Spinal Tap…

The band followed up Where Are All the Nice Girls? with Wheels in Motion but with a new drummer, new producer, and a relocation to London. The record company started getting nervous about the lack of commercial success. Searching for scapegoats, Wood was removed as producer and replaced by Mike Howlett but the excecs had a falling out with him as well, over the mixes and tended to replace rougher but visceral mixes with the more polished final mixes. The band toured the US to support the album but after about a month were summarily dropped by Stiff. Their manager tried to keep the tour going by booking them to open for Molly Hatchett (Any Trouble Mach 2?). However, the band instead returned to The Stiff office in New York to get tickets back to England but instead had their van robbed. They did return home but did so with their tails between their legs. Of the relationship, Gregson said, “I’ve often thought that being able to say ‘I was in a band signed to Stiff Records’ is not a million miles away from being able to say ‘I was in a Merseybeat band in the 60s’”. 1

How much more black could this be? The answer is none, none more black…

The band then went their separate ways—“we had no manager, no label, no money, and no real prospects.” 1 But Gregson conjured up the version of Any Trouble that I originally encountered in 1983 and signed a deal with EMI America. However, the band never would tour the US to support the album even though they were signed to an American label. They did return to England and Europe.

Any Trouble was so surprised that EMI America picked up the option on a second album that they reunited with producer John Wood and produced a double album with each a different approach for each of the four album sides with guest musicians on side one, horns and string on side 2, moody ballads on side 3, and an odds’n’sods side 4. Gregson calls this the best album of their original run. EMI did not release the double album in the states, replacing it with a single disc version, again did not support a US tour, and finally dropped the band from the label.

Any Trouble played one last gig at Dingwalls in London and would not reunite for another 23 years. “I always say that getting away from EMI in 1985 was the end of my involvement in the music business and the start of my involvement in the Clive Gregson business!”4 The reunited band now has now produced 2 albums: Life in Reverse (2007 on Stiff Records and again produced by John Wood) and Present Tense (2015 on Cherry Red). Clive Gregson has put out 15 solo albums since 1985 when EMI liberated him, including five from his pairing as a folk duo with Christine Collister.5

The Tracks

A note on the track listings – They are listed by the original UK 1980 LP order by side and track for the original 10 songs (e.g., A1 means the song appeared on side A and was track 1 of that side). The original running time was 34:31. In the US three songs were added, two covers—Springsteen’s “Growing Up” and ABBA’s “Name Of The Game”—and the B-side “No Idea” and one song (“Honolulu”) was omitted.6 I, however, first become acquainted with the album via the 1997 Compass release, the first on CD, which included 3 extra tracks to the original ten (run time 43:07). When the band reorganized and resigned with Stiff in 2007, a reissue of the CD with the same track listing as the 1997 disc was released with one addition, the original 1979 single version of “New Girl”. The 2013 Complete Stiff Recordings CD1 of a 3-disc set covers the album and adds the original 1979 single version of “Nice Girls”, a remix of “Turning Up the Heat”, and a demo of “The Hurt” to the 1997 CD version.

As with a lot of forgotten discs, it has evolved over the years. I list all of the songs below.

A1 Second Choice

(Also released as a single with B-side of “The Name of the Game” & “Bible Belt” (live))

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sryujH_qX-4

I never felt the need to cry or rejoice.

I never felt the need to raise my voice.

I only wanted to be one of the boys.

Now, you’ve made me second choice.

The first cut on the album was the single, as was typical in those days, and it also served as a good introduction to Any Trouble’s frenetic music style and its world view. The song opens with Parks and Gregson doubling each other with Byrds-like jangly guitar work and the rhythm section embracing a ska beat. After the opening lines from Gregson, the chorus settles into a more standard pop fare with more of a walking bass line (with two notes per beat) and fewer fills on the drums. The style is Any Trouble at its best: a simple pop song a bit sped up.

As to whether Any Trouble was power pop, it seemed Gregson himself was not sure though he leaned against it, “I was never that sure that we really were a ‘power pop’ band... I always felt that we were rather more of a simple pop/rock band with a bit of an r 'n' b sensibility. I also had roots in contemporary folk music and was never averse to bringing some of that influence to the table. Most acts who were tagged with the ‘power pop’ label had a much tougher, edgy guitar sound than us... we specialised in a particularly scratchy Fender jangle through tinny amps sound! Chris was also very country influenced as a guitarist... Our songs tended to be short-ish with a proper melody, hook lines and plenty of relationship angst themes! Nowadays it all seems to have a rather naïve charm and not much actual ‘power’ at all...”4

As regards Gregson’s message, it takes the rebuffed lover and delves into his psyche from “the nursery school floor” to what he wants today, which in Gregson’s world is merely the girl, the simple life, and the requisite imagination to think this is success.

A2 Playing Bogart

Written-By – Nick Simpson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB-N46M-CaM

Give me something for the man

Who doesn't have to try too hard

Spent a little time rehearsing my tom petty leer

Well I dressed up for my conquest

Come out fighting no holds barred

And I pray for courage and some halfway decent beer

“Playing Bogart” was the only cover on the original album. It was written by Nick Simpson, the lead singer of a band called 23 Jewels out of Manchester.7 The single came out a year earlier and the band would only generate two singles and an EP before fading into the ether in 1981.8 The 23 Jewsels version of the song can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1QqAARG8U.

The song fits into Any Trouble’s ethos of the nerdy everyman trying to live up to ideal male hero like Humphrey Bogart who always got the girl and looked cool smoking and drinking something neat. The hero waits for his chance at a party to meet a girl, tries to live up to his ideal, but is scared off by her other suiters and ends up sitting on his bed smoking a single cigarette in the dark (there might be a metaphor there). Even though he has that “7:30 Friday night feeling” in his bones, he is defeated before he even starts knowing that he cannot carry off the image he has set for himself with his weariness with the same conversations, his eyes red from smoke and his legs going lame—it’s no wonder with the pathos the hero feels: “all martyrs suffer as I walk back slowly through the bar.” He consoles himself that he is better off by himself if he loses “playing Bogart” unlike those “good-time people [making] excuses on their telephones.”

The hero girding himself for the conquest is also belied by the tense and nervous musical style of the song. If he presents himself as cool and calm like Bogart, that certainly isn’t how he is feeling under it all from the start of the song if one listens to its kinetic style. Any Trouble takes the already fast but sloppy 23 Jewels version and quickens the pace while making the song a tight, neurotic anthem in the Any Trouble vein.

A3 Foolish Pride

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmrIo5iL6vk

She’s so high class, you’re gonna have to let her pass and swallow your foolish pride.

“Foolish Pride” is the first ballad-y, slower song on the album, but as Gregson said, “[W]e played pretty much everything at a furious tempo. Even the ‘slow’ songs…”9 It might be the prettiest and most idealistic song on the album. The guitars soar—and is that a pedal guitar added in as well?—as he sees the girl with “angel eyes” and the song follows a typical boy-meets-girl love song until the hero realizes that she is not the one for him and the guitars crash back to earth. They scratch out a nervous tempo while the hero realizes that he has to swallow his foolish pride and let her go because he is not man enough.

A4 Nice Girls

(Also, 1979 original version released as a B-side to “Yesterday’s Love”; re-released 1980)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itYqWUSAqRQ&index=4&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

Oh, where are all the real girls?

They act the way they feel girls?

I may love Where Are All the Nice Girls? since it follows Rob Gordon’s compilation tape rules from the John Cusack film High Fidelity. It starts off “with a killer to grab attention” and then takes it up a notch. Then it “cools it off a notch” with “Foolish Pride”, but probably the best song on the album and the one that give it its title comes.

“Nice Girls” starts with a simple, plaintive guitar riff and then Gregson sings his most mournful. A second guitar followed by a Procol Harum organ, a “perfect drunkenly sad-organ” 10, then takes up the cause. Finally, drums and bass take it to the next level. A jumpy chorus breaks up the mournful strains, but the song continues to build until it finally fades away.

[Re. the 1979 B-side: The original “Nice Girls” B-side recording is a bit looser (9 seconds longer) than the 1980 LP version. The lonely organ is missing but the result might sound a bit closer to the Any Trouble live sound when they are playing a slow song towards the end of the night to the hoots of the crowd to keep their anticipation up for the kicker at the end. There is also no fadeout like on the album—maybe the old studio did not have that functionality yet.]

A5 Turning Up The Heat

(Also, a remix version was added to the 2013 Complete Stiff Recordings CD1)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgx4Y0j5SY&index=6&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

Look around you baby and you see them all havin’ fun.

Hey, now, why are you the lonely one?

Again Rob Gordon would be happy: “Heat” builds on the power of “Nice Girls”. A chorus with female backing singers is added for the first time on the album which creates a new wrinkle. Gregson actually sounds like early “I’m the Man”-era Joe Jackson. I am not sure what the lyrics are all about—landing at an airport and there are crowds and then there is a girl who’s lonely and that turns up the heat?—but it is a great pop song.

[Re. the Remix: The remix version has a bit more treble and sounds a bit faster clocking in at 2:54 as opposed to 3:00 for the original. Maybe it sounded a bit more New Wave in the high, fast version like a Vapers tune.]

B1 Romance

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEJ-SMjEvkg&index=10&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

They say love’s a mystery.

All seems so clear to me:

Love’s another promise I could never keep.

Side A set up the formula for Where Are All the Nice Girls?, but Side B blows the doors off. The album starts going in all sorts of directions and each is better than the last. “Romance” gets the heart pumping right away with a double beat followed by guitars, bass, and drums frantically racing each other up and down the melody. The last thing it seems is romantic—“sweating in the shade.” Quite the contrary, the words talk about love being a Kafkaesque mystery. Gregson starts out talking to “you”, his alter ego he is advising, then about “they”, i.e., society telling him how he should act and feel, and finally “I”, where he finally owns his failure in romance as “another promise I could never keep.” The song then rushes to an abrupt finish.

B2 The Hurt

(Also, a demo version appears on The Complete Stiff Recordings, CD1)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG5fuMfYmbs

Loving you is like playing with fire.

I tried it once and it burned my desire.

“The Hurt” barely misses a beat with Gregson again shout-singing his heart out in Joe Jackson style all the while being chased by racing guitars. At least he is actually trying love this time, but now he is afraid of “the hurt”. Neurotically, he is sure it is rushing towards him. At least he is now being honest with himself as the music echoes his inner turmoil unlike in “Romance”.

[Re. the Demo: It sounds a bit looser and slower (15 seconds longer than the LP version). It sounds a bit like a Greg Kihn cover of the song.]

B3 Girls Are Always Right

(Also released as a single with B-side “No Idea”)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cz7Tusig0

The way that girls act is a problem for me.

Everything they do is complete mystery.

They stand around being so outspoken.

They’re just waiting for their hearts to be broken.

“Girls Are Always Right” takes a moment to cool the heat from the first two songs on side B at least initially. Then Gregson sings his heart out in a song that seems to mirror Joe Jackson’s classic “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” As the lovelorn singer wallows in self-pity apparently finally having “the hurt” catch up with him and his only solace is the sarcasm in saying that the girls are always right. The song takes the intensity building in the last two songs and, though it is slower, keeps it building. The female backing singers return like a Greek chorus and with snarling guitars prod and harass the hero. The song is “four minutes of evocative yet tender, poppy angst.” 10 “Girls Are Always Right” is Any Trouble at their gut-wrenching best.

The song builds slowly and progressively. It starts with a shimmery guitar twang and then twinkling cymbals, laconic piano, an occasional bass beat, and a second complementary guitar join in. Then Gregson voice floats in. Finally, drums and a proper bass line join to a crescendo about a minute in. The guitars shimmer and entwine like cooing doves or a couple in love. Then the piano returns with the cymbals momentarily until a second crescendo about two minutes into the song with backing singers now joining in. The piano and guitar (no cymbals this time) return one last time as the song again builds to one last crescendo about 3.5 minutes in. The song soars and builds throughout.

B4 Honolulu

(Note: Dropped from 1980 US version of the LP)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE-1O2v_Sbc&index=12&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

I don’t care if I never say a word.

This kind of a love should be seen and not heard.

“Honolulu” feels like a fresh break from the romantic cycle of the previous three songs, both musically and lyrically. The song starts with Gregson soto voce and upbeat about meeting a girl while a guitar strums. He is just voicing his desires, living in the moment about love being “seen and not heard”.

The music amps up to Any Trouble’s typical frenetic pace but now it sounds like excitement, not neuroses, even if it is all just a dream. The female backup singers appear one last time, doubling Gregson’s wishes as if the girl is into it for once. But it is short-lived…

B5 (Get You Off) The Hook

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GWiYPryuG4&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA&index=13

Because you're closed in the pages of a hist'ry book And the last one says that you've run out of luck But you can't sew, and you can't cook So the time has come to GET YOU OFF THE HOOK...

The album ends with Gregson again heartbroken and in pain on “The hook”. However, this time he tells himself (addressed again as “you”) that it will be all right—he’ll save himself. The song starts in a mournful shuffle like a lonely man walking the streets and hesitates as he recounts all of the problems he now faces, but it races as he declares that he will get himself of the hook. Now, the song is upbeat with a playful organ riff—a la Steve Nieve on Elvis Costello’s “You Belong to Me” or “Senior Service”—rising over the guitars, and it ends the album in a series of false starts as the hero again has some trepidation but the happy organ keeps breaking through.

Yesterday's Love

(1979 single with B-side “Nice Girls”, re-released 1980 & Track 1 on the 1997 CD release)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYVm73yMAdg

I don’t want to be your lover

I just want to hold you for the rest of the night.

“Yesterday's Love” roars off at the start of Who Are All the Nice Girls? as it was first released on CD (in 1997). That was the version that I was first introduced to and fell in love with. However, I now acknowledge that the original LP version is the best one given the cogent, economic, and effective artistic message it presents. Being the completist that I am, I still prefer the more bloated 13-song CD version though a good compromise would just be to prepend “Yesterday's Love” at the beginning of the LP.

It is a shame that this emphatic song did not make the final album cut since it is Rob Gordon’s perfect kickoff to the album. Initially, it is just Gregson singing in your right ear (love the low tech mixing) like an angel (or devil) on your shoulder. The lines above burst through to open up “Yesterday's Love”, which is a strong Any Trouble version of power pop. The closest comparison in feel is Elvis Costello’s “The Beat” from This Year’s Model, which came out the year before the single was recorded. The song may have been cut just for its blasé approach to love not fitting the album ethic. “Yesterday's Love” is terrific, it must be said, and it is not a surprise it made them a mini-sensation prior to producing their first album.

No Idea

(Side A Track 3 on the 1980 US release & Track 6 on the 1997 CD release; Also released as the B-side to “Girls Are Always Right” single)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGn07K9VqcQ&index=7&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

And the only love I know is like a light out in the dark

Shining! Shining! Everywhere.

“No Idea” is maybe the most positive song on the extended album, which may have been why it ended up on the cutting room floor. It is another great power-pop tune about love, loneliness, and loss. The lines above just shimmer--great song but it would get lost in the mix. It does show why Where Are All the Nice Girls? is a lost classic: even a rejected track could have been a standout on an average album. Here it seems repetitive and almost forgettable.

Growing Up

(Side B Track 1 on the 1980 US release & Track 11 on the 1997 CD release)

Written-By – Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdeszR8o90g&index=9&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, and you know it's really hard to hold your breath

I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress

“Growing Up” was an addition to the US edition of the 1980 LP to appeal to the American crowd. Thematically, it fits in with the idea of emotional growth and Any Trouble rips through it joyfully earning their pub band stripes. It was also a great cover at a time when Springsteen had not yet broken as big as he soon would. However, the Springsteen anthem is at odds with the romantic hero Gregson espouses in detail in the rest of the album The Boss had other ambitions.

The music is typical Any Trouble at a hyperkinetic pace. Their version is about half a minute quicker than the Boss’s. They forego the piano intro for a nervous guitar but add a rousing organ solo by producer Bob Sargeant.

Also, one of the features of the original song is ending each chorus with a rhyming progression from “they said, ‘Sit down,” I stood up” to “they said, ‘Come down,’ I threw up” to “they said, ‘Pull down,’ I pulled up.” Gregson in his hurried style blows right by that progression repeating three times some garbled variation of the last line (“I stood in the mortar and up the driveway, when they said, ‘Pull down,’ I pulled up.” Maybe?). Apparently, the band did not find this out until they played in New York: “I vividly remember playing our version of Springsteen��s ‘Growing Up’ in the Boss’s own backyard only for some guy in the crowd to bellow, “You got the words wrong!’ at the end...and he was right!”1

That was not the only thing the band got wrong with the song. Springsteen’s title was “Growin’ Up”, not “Growing Up”.

Name Of The Game

(Side B Track 6 on the 1980 US release; Also released as the B-side to “Second Choice” single)

Written-By – Benny Goran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K. Ulvaeus, Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (ABBA cover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee4xHnWvvYk&list=PLZBgEVaTJlNOM5vwPuHU_XsCzKDDjqZwP&index=20

What's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you?

What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do?

Tell me please, 'cause I have to know

I'm a bashful child, beginning to grow

Another addition to the 1980 US LP was “Name of the Game”. I guess since Americans love ABBA (and yet “Honolulu”, which is in America after all, was taken off the album). It is a nice cover with a disco beat is a pub rock setting. Again it is a nice fir thematically for the band: uncertainty, love, etc.

But it is the least essential song on the list. It was left off the CD reissues of the album until the comprehensive three-disc Complete Stiff Recordings and then as part of the live set At the Venue (disc 3), not Where Are All the Nice Girls?

Ours go to eleven…

They had the dodgiest band name I can ever remember and their stage clothes were laughable, but the songs were world class and on-stage they played with the energy and enthusiasm of four escaped convicts let loose in a bar full or women.

I loved ’em but always stood back from the stage—Clive sang with such passion that he kept spitting over the front row and insisted on playing the ugliest Telecaster I’ve ever seen! Nearly twenty years later I can still sing the words to every song on this album and wish I could see them play the Venue just one more time before I die. (Nigel Dick, former Stiff Records press officer) 11

I loved the whole album…amazed at how much great lyric and melody Clive Gregson could squeeze into tracks that were moving at 90 m.p.h.!!! (Dennis Locorriere, Dr. Hook) 11

I was far away from Manchester, England when I first discovered an album with four curious looking guys staring up at me. It was as if they were they were saying, “Hey, aren’t you going to listen to us?” I was a DJ in Santa Barbara, California, at a little progressive radio station called KTYD. The DJ’s had a lot of freedom to pick their own music and often initialed the cuts they liked. I turned it over an d every song had someone’s initials on it. My curiosity heightened and I placed it on the turntable. Being female, I put the needle down on “Girls Are Always Right”. It was love at first listen. I decided to segue it into “It’s Different for Girls” by Joe Jackson. Beautiful. (Erin Riley) 11

Where Are All the Nice Girls? is an album that not only does not have a weak track, you could take any of these tracks and they would be a standout on another album. There is an urgency that is tangible.

The perfect storm of a finely honed pub band with many influences coming together at the right time musically created this lost classic: “I think you’d get four completely different answers if you asked the band what influenced our sound! I’ve always been obsessed with The Beatles, Chris’s guitar hero was Tim Renwick (Sutherland Brothers and Quiver), Phil wanted to be Kenny Gradney (Little Feat) and Mel was very into Genesis. And of course we didn’t sound remotely like any of those bands at all! We were essentially a fairly basic two guitar/bass/drums band who somehow got spannered into New Wave…”9

Reviewing the tracks on this album in its various incarnations helped me rediscover what it is that I truly enjoy about it. Of course, there is the nerdy romantic hero with whom identify, but there is also the nervous, energetic, driving music that may or may not be Power Pop.

The one thing that I came away with in re-reviewing the album was how good side B of the original album was. It may not be the side B of Abbey Road but the way the songs build and musically and lyrically is pretty impressive. It is also something that is lost when listening to the album in the CD version with bonus tracks added.

Unfortunately, Gregson does not seem to think much of his first record, “I listen back to that first record now and I don't much like it - I don't think we were very good at all. It's very derivative and we didn't play very well and it was just a good honest attempt at what we were doing at that time. A lot of smarter people saw through it and saw it for what it was - just a naive little pop record.”3 But I think there is a timelessness that is based more on feeling that may be lost even on the artist that recorded it. Maybe a naïve little pop record that is made extremely well can transcend such inherent limitations.

There definitely is a style that is embodied by Any Trouble. As Clive Gregson said of the 2007 reconstructed version of the band, “[S]o off we went, having not played together at all in the interim! We recorded the first song for that album…and it sounded exactly like Any Trouble! That either means that we’ve not learned a thing on the intervening 33 years…or that we’d got it dead right first time round...I’ll let the listener make their own mind up on that…”9

Credits 1

Clive Gregson : Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards

Phil Barnes: Bass & Vocals

Chris Parks: Guitars

Mel Harley: Drums

Alison Tulloch & Diane Robinson: Backing Vocals (“Turning Up the Heat”, “Girls Are Always Right”, “Honolulu”)

Bob Sargeant: Organ (“Growing Up”)

Engineer – Paul Adshead

Producer – John Wood (except “No Idea” & “Growing Up”: Bob Sargeant; “Yesterday’s Love”, “Nice Girls (single version), and “The Hurt” (demo): Any Trouble)

Recorded at Perrine Sound Studios, Oldham & Mixed at Sound Techniques, Chelsea (except “No Idea” & “Growing Up”: recorded & mixed at Roundhouse Studios, London; “Yesterday’s Love”, “Nice Girls (single version), and “The Hurt” (demo): recorded & mixed at Perrine Sound Studios)

References

1 Interview with Clive Gregson from Any Trouble: The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-1981 booklet

2 Trouser Press (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=any_trouble)

3 "Clive Gregson - The Triste Interview". Triste Magazine. October 1999. (http://www.triste.co.uk/gregson.htm)

4 Goggins, Patrick. "Interview with Clive Gregson (September 2014)". Dispatches from Coconut Grove blog (http://dispatchesfromcoconutgrove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/interview-with-clive-gregson.html).

5 AllMusic.com’s Clive Gregson page: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/clive-gregson-mn0000788222/discography

6 Discogs “Where Are All the Nice Girls?” page (https://www.discogs.com/master/view/39536)

7 Dicsogs Nick Simpson page (https://www.discogs.com/artist/676115-Nick-Simpson-2)

8 Discogs 23 Jewels page (https://www.discogs.com/artist/913634-23-Jewels)

9 "An Interview with Clive Gregson of Any Trouble (18th November 2014)". Band on the Wall. (https://bandonthewall.org/2014/11/an-interview-with-clive-gregson-of-any-trouble/)

10 “Underrated Classics: Any Trouble” (June 5th, 2012) on Heave Media (http://www.heavemedia.com/2012/06/05/underrated-classics-any-trouble/)

11 Any Trouble: Where Are the Nice Girls? 1997 Compass Records CD booklet