SECRET SAUCES RADIO #014

Here are some notes on the fourteenth Secret Sauces Radio show, which can be listened to on Mixcloud here...

SECRET SAUCES RADIO INTRO IDENT

Pete Townshend angry onstage at the Long Beach Arena 1971

To open up their four-CD thirty year retrospective box set, 'Thirty Years of Maximum R&B', The Who chose a snippet of Pete Townshend angry on stage at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, CA on the 10th December 19871. Here 'Tis.

1) CHRIS BELL - I Got Kinda Lost

Chris Bell co-founded Big Star with Alex Chilton, and wrote and sang many songs on their 1972 debut album '#1 Record'. He left the band after that record, and began a solo career, releasing the 7" single 'I Am The Cosmos' b/w 'You And Your Sister' in 1978. Later that same year, Bell died aged 27 in a car accident. With the interest in Big Star growing year by year (when they were an active band, no one seemed to care about them), fans wondered if there was any more Chris Bell solo material. In 1992, Rykodisc began a series of Big Star reissues and assembled a Chris Bell solo album entitled 'I Am The Cosmos', where this track is taken from. The best version to get is the 2CD version released by Omnivore, with lots of bonus material.

2) THE ACTION - Never Ever

British mod '60s favourites The Action never released a studio album, just a handful of singles on Parlaphone between 1965 and 1967. This song was an a-side released in 1967. All of their recorded material has been collected on various compilations, the earliest of which was 'The Ultimate Action' released by Edsel in 1980.

3) THE 101ERS - Steamgauge 99

The 101ers were of course Joe Strummer's band before he joined The Clash. There was only the 'Keys To Your Heart' single released during the band's lifetime, on Chiswick Records in 1976. In 1981, Strummer and Richard 'Snakehips' Dudanski formed Andalucia Records to release a full-length 101ers LP 'Elgin Avenue Breakdown', comprised of various studio and live recordings, both to combat bootlegging and to honour the band and its history.

In 1993, a compilation with further studio material was released entitled 'Five Star Rock'N'Roll', but was quickly withdrawn as it was released without the band's permission - this track appeared on that compilation for the first time. In 2005, three years after Strummer died, 'Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited' was released, expanding the original 1981 tracklist to include even more studio and live cuts, and thus 'Steamgauge 99' finally received an official release. It was recorded at Jackson's Studio on the 28th November 1975.

5) ALTER-NATIVES - Pit Rye Thumb

Richmond, VA instrumental band 'Alter-Natives' released a handful of records on SST in the mid-to-late '80s. This track appears on their 1986 debut LP 'Hold Your Tongue', which was released on vinyl and cassette only - no CD release.

6) SPRING - Had To Phone Ya

This 1970s pop duo comprised of Diane and Marilyn Rovell, previously of the trio The Honeys. Marilyn was married to Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys (and Diane is alleged to have a long-standing affair with him too!). Brian produced Spring's eponymous 1972 album (their only LP) and co-wrote many of its songs. Outside of the US, the duo were known as 'American Spring', and had their record released with various different sleeves.

Some of its songs had been previously recorded by The Beach Boys ('This Whole World' and 'Forever'), and 'Good Time' would be recorded by The Beach Boys in the coming years. In 1989, the album was re-issued with bonus tracks as 'Spring... Plus' and included this track, which would later be recorded by The Beach Boys and appear on their 1976 LP '15 Big Ones'.

Pete Townshend angry onstage at Woodstock 1969

Abbie Hoffman crashed The Who's set at Woodstock to speak out against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. Townshend wasn't happy, and kicked him offstage, before announcing "the next fuckin' person that walks across this stage is gonna get fuckin' killed!". Watch it here.

7) THE CHARLATANS - Up To Our Hips

The title track of The Charlatans' third album, my personal favourite of theirs. It was recently reissued by the Beggars Arkive with a bonus disc of outtakes, b-sides and radio sessions, and with new artwork. It's said that the band were unhappy with the artwork at the time, as they had attempted to re-create a photo by Lewis Morley of topless hairdresser Dizzy and model Yvonne. In their re-creation, the hairdresser refused to take his top off!

8) TOBIN SPROUT - Sadder Than You

During his tenure in Guided By Voices in the 90s, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Tobin Sprout released a 7" EP, 'Popstram' on Recordhead in 1996 - this song appears on there. It was later issued on CD as a bonus track to the reissue of fig. 4's eponymous 1987 album in 1997

9) VIC CHESNUTT - Threads

The penultimate track on Vic's 1996 LP 'About To Choke', his major label debut for Capitol Records. Bob Mould mixed all but 3 tracks on the album. This song was mixed by John Keane.

10) STATIONS - Against The Grain

Stations were a Chicago, IL new wave band that existed from 1979 to 1987, but only ever released one record, the 'Against The Grain/Calendar' 7" on DuVall Records in 1981. They also released a music video for a song called 'Fear And Fascination' in 1984 which was shown on MTV - watch it here. Strangely, no other recordings have come out other than the two 1981 songs, despite the band being active for a good while longer than that - even the song with a music video never came out! Apparently, Steve Albini was their bassist for a short while.

Pete Townshend angry onstage at Copps Coliseum 2013

During one of The Who's 2013 Quadrophenia performances at Copps Coliseum (now TD Coliseum) in Hamilton, Ontario, a seven year old girl held up a sign saying "smash up your guitar, Pete!". Townshend saw the sign and believed that the father of the girl was using her for attention, saying "Go away with that sign please, just go away with it... don’t bring your children [or] use them. I want to tell you two words but I can’t because you’ve got a child there” before mouthing "fuck off".

It turned out that the seven year old girl was a massive Who fan and wrote the sign herself. Townshend found out and issued an apology (read it here), and apparently planned to reconnect with the family in April the following year - I don't know if he did, or how it went. But re-live the on-stage moment here.

11) BAUHAUS - Antonin Artaud

Taken from Bauhaus' fourth album, 1983's 'Burning From The Inside'. The track was named after French avant-garde artist Antonin Artaud, who is known for conceptualising the 'Theatre of Cruelty'.

12) SECTION 25 - Haunted

Section 25 were formed in Poulton-le-Fyde near Blackpool, Lancashire. They signed to Manchester's Factory Records. This track is the b-side to their 1980 single 'Charnel Ground', produced by Martin Hannett. Both sides appear on CD reissues to their debut 1981 LP 'Always Now' - the best one being the 2024 5CD issue on Factory Benelux.

13) XMAL DEUTSCHLAND - Geheimnis

Taken from Xmal Deutschland's 1983 debut album 'Fetisch', released on 4AD records. The band recently came together for reissues and new merch, which can be bought here on their Bandcamp page.

14) PSYCHOTIC NORMAN - Davey Jones/Water Cooler

Philly band Psychotic Norman are best known for being one of the first bands drummer Jon Wurster was in. They released one 7" single, 'Man Meets Fish' (with 'Davey Jones/Water Cooler' and 'Cosmic Rap') and released three other tracks on DIY punk cassette comps in 1985-1986, 'Yuck Productions Presents Guano Tape Compilation', 'The Shot Heard Around The World' and 'Great Rock N Raoul Swindle'.

15) MEAT PUPPETS - Aurora Borealis

Taken from Meat Puppets' 1984 second album, 'Meat Puppets II'. The CD reissues also contain a demo of this instrumental song amongst the bonus tracks.

Pete Townshend angry in interview 2013

Promoting his 2013 autobiography 'Who I Am', Pete did a round of press. An uncomfortable moment can be heard here when the interviewer brings up Pete's 'research'. For more on that debacle, give 'Who I Am' a read.

16) BABY ELEPHANT FEAT. GEORGE CLINTON - Scratchinanitchouttareach

Baby Elephant is Prince Paul, Don Newkirk and Bernie Worrell. Their sole album, 2007's 'Turn My Teeth Up!' is a great funky listen, with the obligatory Paul and Newkirk skits featuring the 'master' Bernie Worrell teaching the two 'baby elephants' 'the way of the funk'.

The album has many guest appearances, including Shock G, Yellowman, Reggie Watts, Nona Hendryz, David Byrne, Gabby La La and Bernie Worrell's old Parliament-Funkadelic bandmate George Clinton!

Bernie Worrell passed away in 2016, and Don Newkirk passed away in 2022. Rest In Peace.

17) THE SURVIVORS - After The Game

Despite his immense talents as a songwriter, arranger and producer for his own band The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson struggled to find commercial success doing the same for other artists - his Phil Spector dream of being a popmaster were sadly confined to just his own band. In 2003, Ace Records released a 23 song compilation, 'Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions' featuring many of these rare and mostly unheard productions. This one appeared as the b-side to 'Pamela Jean' by The Survivors, which is also found on that compilation.

18) BRIAN WILSON - Rio Grande

Which leads us here, the final track on Brian's 1988 eponymous debut solo album. With Lenny Waronker and Seymour Stein talking Brian into writing a new song reminiscent of his 'modular' songs from the SMiLE sessions like 'Good Vibrations', the 8 minute Rio Grande was created with many different sections and similar imagery of the Old West. A definite highlight of a great comeback.

SECRET SAUCES RADIO OUTRO IDENT

Thanks for listening and reading. New 60 minute music mixes are uploaded to Mixcloud every Tuesday and I will post accompanying notes, with pointless trivia and endless links for you to enjoy.

See you next Tuesday!