Praise for the wardens ready to fine
Anyone caught saying “graphic design”

Yes, we have a new design on the site. Well, we’ve had the same one since we launched in 2007, and interweb things have moved on quite a bit in that time. Most notably, sites nowadays need to reformat themselves for screens from tiny smartphones to huge TV-size displays, so that’s been the aim of this new design. It’s all very 2013. Generally though, it shouldn’t look too alien to regular visitors, although I think it’s a bit odd in Internet Explorer Version 8, which puts everything in one column. If you find anything else obviously wrong, especially on mobile screens, please let me know and I’ll investigate. Much appreciated – chris@chrisrand.com

East Anglian Gigs Announced

Two gigs have been added to the early summer lineup: Stowmarket (The John Peel Centre for Creative Arts) on 3 July and Cambridge Junction on 4 July. The John Peel Centre for Creative Arts is just reopening in this guise and it’s significant that Half Man Half Biscuit will be one of the first major bands to play there. Tickets were sold out, the last time we looked, but try the venue (it’s very small). And the following night will be the band’s first visit to Cambridge since 2010; tickets are on sale here now. There are a few people celebrating big birthdays in the middle of this year who will want to make these a couple of nights to remember.

Full List of Upcoming Gigs

• Robin 2, Bilston – 23 May 2013 • Tickets
• O2 ABC, Glasgow – 7th June 2013 • Tickets
• ARC Stockton Arts Centre, Stockton-on-Tees – 8th June 2013 • Tickets
• The John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, Stowmarket – 3rd July 2013 • Tickets (sold out?)
• Cambridge Junction, Cambridge – 4th July 2013 • Tickets

(Thanks once again to Acidic Regulator for the research)

Support Bands

• Calvin Party: Come On In
  Sheffield 21/02/08. (03:06)
• Dean Friedman: Tale of a Baker’s Son
  Bilston, 15/09/10, first verse missing. (02:44)
  Also here – first verse missing (02:26) – and here – end only (01:53).
• Lovecraft: Elevenses
  Manchester 17/12/11. (04:08)
• Ragged Claws: A Cityscape Agape
  Oxford 31/05/12. (03:18)
  Also Tales Of The Riverbank – Oxford 31/05/12. (02:57).
• Shifty Chicken Shed: Come
  Bilston 26/01/12. (04:24)
  Also Keep Your Dirty Hands Off – Bilston 26/01/12. (04:50) – and again here – (04:50).

Other Bands

• Attempted Moustache: No Way Out
  No video. (02:31)
• Mental Eddy’s
  Leasowe Rock For Hillsborough May 1989. (8:32@0:00)

Banter

• Backstage
  Backstage before the Cambridge gig 24/03/10. (00:55)
• Seacombe
  Holmfirth 16/12/10. (01:14)
• Dirk Hofman Motorhomes
  Shepherd’s Bush 17/6/11. (00:27)

Documentaries And Interviews

• BBC North West Tonight
  1985, wrong aspect ratio, final part missing. (02:14)
• Klangfarbe – “Singles”
  Q&A 1994(?) (03:33)
• Klangfarbe – “Possessive gits”
  Q&A 1994(?) (04:37)
• Under The Moon
  with Danny Kelly (who thinks Hedley Verity was West Indian), February 1998, C4. (11:28)
• Andy Kershaw, Radio 3
  Brampton 22/07/06, broadcast 27/08/06, no video. (08:01)
• Marc Riley, 6Music
  Broadcast 08/01/08. (5:14@0:00)
• Liz Kershaw, 6Music
  Telephone interview, broadcast 15/04/12. (10:20)
• Documentary by Gareth Davies
  Uploaded 10/06/12. (06:13)
  Also Highlights of above, no video.

Miscellaneous Mentions

• The Chart Show
  ITV, indie chart 18/04/86 (02:04)
• The Chart Show
  ITV, indie chart No. 1s 1986, very poor sound in part. (02:41)
• 25 Greatest Albums Ever
  Personal selection by an American(?), CSI:Ambleside at #12. (07:15)
• 25 Greatest Bands/Artists Ever
  Personal selection by an American(?), HMHB at #3 (#4 actually, there are two #2s). (07:49)
• The Onset – Talkin’ Record Sales Blues
  Live performance (01:29)
• Paisley And Charlie – All I Want For Christmas (Is The Orchids on C86)
  Illustrative video, also mentions Camden. (03:44)
• EastEnders mention
  A namecheck on Britain’s favourite soap (00:20)
• Eggheads mention
  A team named after the band’s “difficult eighth album” (00:20)
• Mastermind mention
  Rachael Neiman knows the score. (00:33)

The Freak Zone

• Celtic v. Dukla Prague, 1967
  B&W TV coverage. (14:27)
• Der Untergang (Downfall) ‘parody’
  “Hitler’s reaction to the Save 6Music campaign”. (03:50)
• “Fortieth birthday party”
  Familiar-looking rhythm guitarist. (03:01)
  Also this (03:01)
• Karl Pilkington
  Hadn’t heard of the band. Gervais amused. XFM – No video (01:55)
  Also this (01:59)
• Brad Friedel on Football Focus
  Introduced to I Went To A Wedding, BBC1 28/11/08. (01:21)
• Another HMHB?
  Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, Green Day song, live, uploaded 17/05/10 – baffling. (04:18)
  Also this (01:59)

• alon Lân/Help Me Rhonda
  Trad. arr. tune/Beach Boys song, Cardiff 25/08/11. (03:46)
• Barbed Wire Love
  Stiff Little Fingers song, Ulverston 17/04/08. (6:53@0:00)
• Dreaming
  Blondie song. Leicester 28/04/11. (03:02)
• Electricity
  OMD song, Leicester 13/11/08. (02:55)
  Also: Leicester 13/11/08, poor sound. (02:55)
• Goodnight Irene
  Leadbelly song, Peel session 27/06/92, slideshow with the lyrics. (02:38)
• Help!
  Beatles song, Newcastle 15/11/12 (13:26@0:00)
• Help Me Rhonda
  Bilston(?) 05/03/09(?), no video. (03:05)
• Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau/Help Me Rhonda
  Trad. arr. tune/Beach Boys song, Cardiff 01/03/07. (03:31)
• Holiday In Cambodia
  Dead Kennedys song, Shepherd’s Bush 17/06/11. (04:41)
  Also: Shepherd’s Bush 17/06/11. (04:22)
• I Think We’re Alone Now
  Tiffany song, Sheffield 21/02/08. (02:50)
• I’m Throwing Rice (At The Girl That I Love)
  Eddy Arnold song, Andy Kershaw session 26/09/04. (3:08@0:00)
• King Of Rome
  Dave Sudbury song, Andy Kershaw session 26/09/04. (04:55)
  Also: Andy Kershaw session 26/09/04. (04:09)
• Kissin’ Cousins
  Elvis song, Bath 06/08/09. (02:00)
• New Dawn Fades
  Joy Division song, Manchester 30/11/01, professional video. (05:14)
• No Regrets
  Charles Dumont/Michel Vaucaire song, with Margi Clarke, promo video. (03:28)
  Also: With Margi Clarke, Manchester 1991, Granada TV. (8:59@5:05)
  Also: With Margi Clarke, promo video. (8:10@4:43)
  Also: With Margi Clarke, promo video, very poor sound. (03:23)
• Old Tige
  Jim Reeves song, Peel session 20/10/85. (12:32@10:05)
• Song To The Siren
  Tim Buckley song, Peel session 03/09/02. (3:06@0:00)
• Taste Of Cindy/We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune
  Jesus & Mary Chain song, Leeds 07/06/12, part of “Village” only. (02:10)
• There Stands The Glass
  Webb Pierce/Ted Hawkins song, Andy Kershaw session 02/08/02. (9:25@6:14)
• These Boots Are Made For Walkin’
  Nancy Sinatra song, Jody’s Liverpool 1985, no video. (05:55)
• Tragedy
  Bee Gees song, Manchester 17/12/11. (8:55@4:41)
  Also: Manchester 17/12/11 (03:11)
• Transmission
  Joy Division song, live at ?? ??/??/??, uploaded 15/03/09, no video. (03:00)

Pure Musical Sensations, 2 October 2011

The music has been removed to avoid any copyright, er, protests, but thanks to our YouTube maestro Acidic Regulator for this “set list” of the songs under discussion:

Lal & Mike Waterson – Never The Same

Woody Guthrie – Mean talking blues

Stiff Little Fingers – Suspect device

Billy Bennett – She was poor but she was honest

Neil Young – Southern Man

Lord Kitchener – My landlady

Randy Newman – Louisiana 1927

Pete Seeger – Waist-deep in the big muddy

Old Man Atom – The sons of the pioneers

Poison Girls – Take the toys from the boys

Anyway, over to Acidic Regulator, who writes:

“This is an attempt to catalogue all (ha!) HMHB-related videos available on YouTube, with links and brief comments. I haven’t included credits; if they exist, you’ll find them with the video. The music is the commercial recording except where noted. The comments are, I hope, objective: what I like, others may not, and so on, and I certainly don’t want to denigrate anyone who has taken the trouble to upload something – especially anyone who might have been disappointed with what they’d recorded at a gig but uploaded it anyway. Some of us weren’t there.

“The inevitable asterisk. I was very tempted to exclude videos which are nothing more than uploads of commercially-available tracks. Musicians deserve to get paid. But I felt it better to include everything, for the sake of completeness; and because in the case of this band, I think they’re more likely to attract new fans rather than to enable people to compile free collections. (On the other hand, I have flagged the full upload of This Leaden Pall as Inappropriate, and “Disliked” it. Join me if you agree.)

“There are no links to originals of cover versions. You should be able to find them yourself, and in some cases there is, or may be, doubt over the true original. If you think you’ve nailed down an original source, post it in the song’s Comments and Corrections thread.

“If a timing is a second or two out, don’t blame me, blame YouTube – it can change. A timing like 1:00@0:00 indicates that a video contains more than a single song, such as other song(s), clips, interviews, banter, etc., sometimes irrelevant. Only complete or near-complete songs have individual listings.

“Gig recordings are amateur videos except where noted. The distinction between amateur and professional videos isn’t meant to be personal. If a video has clear views from two or more steady cameras, it’s professional. If it has views of the back of someone’s neck or of the floor, it’s amateur. Anything between is a judgment call. “No video” means two pics or fewer, anything more attracts a comment. There are no comments on video quality, you’re here to listen, right? “Poor sound” = moderate distortion and/or some dropouts (making allowances for live recordings); “Very poor sound” = severe distortion and/or one channel silent.

“Dates have been completed or corrected, where necessary, by referring to this and to Gez’s websites. They are by no means guaranteed to be right; if you know better, say so. One or two remain untraceable, so if you know what they are … well you know what to do. BTW, to those people who identified their uploads with accurate place and date information, thank you, and to those who didn’t…”

Additions, corrections, and clarifications would be very welcome. Email me. And once again thanks to Acidic Regulator for hours retrieving the links from YouTube.

See also…

• Cover Versions on Video
• A Video Miscellany