I had this arrive in the post this morning. It’s a piece of sobering beauty of the city’s recent past.
Virginia’s association with Glasgow goes far beyond her work of capturing Simple Minds in the early 80s. Her brother was a social worker in the city and so she would visit often. And her work wasn’t solely confined to rock photography, for she also did a lot of editorial work as well.
In visits to the city during 1978 and 1979, Virginia pictorially documented life in Glasgow. Selected photos now showcased in a photobook published by Cafe Royal Books.
These photobooks are available to purchase through the Cafe Royal Books website (link below) for £6.50 each (plus postage).
Another piece of memorabilia recently gained from eBay trawls was this. I’ve seen several photos from … I’m guessing the same photoshoot – before, but never this particular photo. And it’s a genuine vintage promotional photographic print. In stellar condition it was too!
I’m very happy with this. Yes I am!
The photographer is Paul Canty – hence the watermark.
I love it when Charlie tries to look all “mean ass” in promo photos. Lol
Jim’s trying out his prowling cat moves.
They are bunched up so close, you can see Charlie’s foot wedged under Jim’s thigh.
A couple of things to highlight from recent days. One is an interview (well, part one of an interview said Neil Saint in reply to a comment left on the FB post) with Kenny Hyslop about his days in Slik. You can listen to the interview by clicking HERE
UPDATE: There is a part two of Kenny’s interview with Neil Saint in which he talks about his time with SM. You can listen to that HERE
Kenny with Jim – the grapple is real, my friends! Oooh la la!
I’m still yet to listen to it myself, but will do imminently. And I will link to part two when it airs.
The other is this (linked below)! A rare 1979 bootleg of the Minds playing a gig at Orebro University in Sweden. It was on November 1st, 1979. I have just turned nine years old the day before and Real To Real Cacophony is about to be released.
I don’t think this is a full set on this bootleg, but it’s more extensive than what I’ve been exposed to from this gig previously. There’s a good blend of tracks from Life In A Day and Real To Real. Premonition is a bit of a cut up job and Jim fluffs on lyrics several times throughout. Nerves getting the better of him, I guess. Fluffing only in the sense that lyrics end up out of order – and I am far too much of a pedant not to notice. In amongst the album tracks there’s also Here Comes The Fool and their cover of White Light/White Heat getting an airing.
I started listening to it last night and had to stop before hearing WL/WH and Chelsea Girl.
Obviously it isn’t the best bootleg going as far as sound quality is concerned. It has its moments though, and I am always appreciative of there being bootlegs from so early on to listen to. Jim even has a go at engaging with the crowd! Which I find amazing for that period, because he rarely utters a word at this point in time. And when he does talk, he sounds as nervous as hell!
The poster arrived today. It looks REAL good! I want it on the wall already but the current frames I have, it won’t fit in properly. I’ll lose detail, I think. It seems wider than the frame so I’d lose detail on Jim and/or Brian if I framed it in one of my current frames. Damn it! I thought I’d be getting it up on the wall in a day or two!
I started listening to this gig last night. First thing that hits you is that Capital City is not quite Capital City. From what I can tell, this is its debut outing and the song at this point is just referred to as “Pulse”.
There are different words to it, there’s no “city that we live on” – it’s an island.
“The unspoken word
To an island we can live on
You take, you break to unsettle, take
To an island that we live on
To an island that we crawl on
….
Well you took its culture the tribal …” (can’t decipher the line properly)
I had a go at trying to work out the lyrics. I love hearing the germ of something new. I love being let into that. It feels like you’re being let in on a secret. Those were the days! We’re never privy to ANYTHING now until it’s fully formed. Jim keeps everything very close to his chest now and doesn’t really share anything beyond saying “I’m writing”.
I think this might just be my favourite version of Here Comes The Fool of the ones I’ve heard. Jim is so UP on this version. He sounds like he is well up for this gig! He even comes in too early for the final chorus of the song. Lol
It also included is a very early outing of Naked Eye, which seems a little different lyrically to what is on the Real To Real Cacophony album. Just subtle changes and differences – Jim sings “It’s so dark, I don’t understand it”, for example. And there’s no reference to cherries or spiders at the end of the song. It actually sounds like a Sparks song the way it sounds when Charlie’s guitar comes in at the beginning.
I was alert enough until Life In A Day, then sleep started to take over, but I was alert enough until that point to take it the different to the norm performance that Jim seemed to be giving off. Firstly, he seemed slightly more talkative and interactive with the crowd than usual – esp. of that period. Secondly, his vocal performance seemed different than usual of the period. Perhaps he was flying high? He sounded like he was enjoying the gig anyway. Just from the sound of things, he was sounding more confident, and not the reserved, stilted performer he tended to exude in the very early days – “he seemed like he should have been in special school” as Mick said recently. Lol
I am really excited to hear the rest of it. You can’t help but get swept up in it. I mean, yes, it’s early days, but they are already two albums in and just…LISTEN TO THEM! No wonder every person who went and saw them then raved about them and that their following just kept growing exponentially. They’re barely two years into being a band and they have two albums under their belt, an already – small but – dedicated fanbase that just grows and grows and their so AWESOME.
I may be back later when I’ve heard to rest of the gig to expand and update this post. But until then… enjoy!
It’s a daily ritual to check whether “new” content under the banner of “Simple Minds” has been uploaded to YouTube. And I try to remember to check every morning. Sometimes (not very often, granted!) it slips my mind but I usually check at least once every day.
This morning I was on top of it pretty early and went to YT for a quick gander and this immediately caught my eye. Initially because I love seeing those photos of Jim in that white jaiket. For a young man of 20, he just looks “the biz”, you know?! He’s just meant to be right where he is at that moment the photo was taken. Right place, right time, right look, right man.
Then I see that it’s Fforde Grene and I think “Oh, it’ll sound shit! A tape of a tape. Copy of a copy of a copy, handed down over the past 42 years. Hmmm – but we’ll see. Let’s give it a quick listen.”
First thing that hits me is…I can hear what Jim’s singing during the original version of Scar! “Why did you change the lyrics, Jim?” Questions I eternally…INTERNALLY ask. I wish I could go back and ask him 40 years ago, instead of wanting to ask him now and expecting or hoping he’ll remember something from that far back in time and give an erudite answer.
I arrive back from my dwam to see if the sound of the crowd could be detected. I’m listening through my iPad Mini, just out through its speaker but I can’t really detect any sound of the crowd.
Then Here Comes The Fool comes in and I can tell almost immediately that it isn’t a version I’ve heard before. If this IS genuinely a recording from Fforde Grene, then it’s the best damn version I’ve heard.
I go to Dream Giver to check the date the gig is said to have been recorded from and yep…they played Fforde Grene that night alright! And not only that but it is their debut gig on English soil and one of a few dates before they hit the road supporting Magazine on the Secondhand Daylight Tour.
I got half way through “Fool” before stopping to write this out and post the YT upload. I’ll get back to listening to the rest of the gig this afternoon.
I’m just so happy to hear what is sounding like from the few minutes I heard, a pretty great copy of a really fab gig.
I wish TARDIS’s were real! But seeing as they’re not, this is the next best thing. To all those who put their heads above the parapet and risked being banned from venues, etc, to record these gigs – THANK YOU!
Yesterday saw the anniversary of the release of Real To Real Cacophony. In celebration, here is my favourite video of them performing Factory on Belgian music show, Folllies (yes! It has three L’s – just like me!).
I love Jim in this performance sssooo much! I mean…yes…he’s obviously had a “helping hand” but hey, whatever. I don’t care. He’s beautiful and mesmerising. I bloody love him!
Belated happy anniversary Real To Real Cacophony. We love you! #teamveldt
