You and your angelic shout, loud enough for two

Thursday music corner: Jellyfish were a San Francisco-formed power-pop group active from 1989 to 1994. Emerging from the Paisley Underground scene, they released two albums of XTC-echoing rock - Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993) - that cut against the grain of the early-1990s music scene's infatuation with hair metal and grunge rock. Their sound was bright, harmonious and strongly British-influenced: one June 1993 New York Times live review noted 'Its songs cheerfully invite listeners to spot the derivations: the bouncy chords from Squeeze, the falsetto voice over rumbling drums from the Beach Boys, the vocal-harmony glissandos from Queen, the arrangements from the Beatles's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. They attracted growing attention by supporting World Party, the Black Crowes and Tears For Fears on tour, and played to 72,000 at Wembley Stadium in London as one of five supports to INXS.

That Is Why was the second single from Bellybutton, following the release of The King is Half-Undressed. Written by band-members Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer, it reached number 11 on the US Modern Rock Billboard chart.

Jellyfish - That Is Why (1990)

NZ television: the first 25 years

At the weekend I picked up a copy of Robert Boyd-Bell's 1985 book New Zealand Television: The First 25 Years at an op-shop in Featherston (Monsieur Fox, 74 Fox St). It's a fascinating time capsule of the development of TV at a time before the national network was fully commercialised, and when there were still only two nationwide TV channels. (TV3 didn't launch until November 1989).

New Zealand was a late starter in television terms, only implementing network TV in 1960, more than four years after it was introduced in Australia. Governments were wary of the additional cost involved in establishing a new broadcasting network, particularly because the existing radio networks were deemed to be furnishing all the country's mass media requirements in a cost-effective and easily regulated environment. But experimental test screenings led to growing public demand, and in January 1960 the Nash Government announced that TV would be introduced in the four main centres later that year.

Boyd-Bell's book documents the gestation of TV services and summarises the broadcasting highlights of the first 25 years. There are plenty of interesting photos included - below are some highlights of the colour inserts. (All reproduced images are the property of their original owners).   

Selwyn Toogood & the ladies in panel advice show 'Beauty & the Beast'

Scary sci-fi drama 'Under the Mountain', 1981

A shiny Phillip Schofield hosts pop magazine show 'Shazam'

Much-loved telly chefs Hudson & Halls, 1983

John Clarke as Fred Dagg

The 'Spot On' team, 1978

Play School (1972-90)

The Billy T James Show, 1983

See also:
Blog: TV flashback 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991

Probably still not past its best before date

A ship's biscuit from HMS Galatea, commemorating its 1869 visit to Nelson, captained by the Duke of Edinburgh HRH Prince Alfred (1844-1900), Queen Victoria's second son. The trip was New Zealand's first royal visit, and started in Wellington, before venturing on from Nelson to Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland, before concluding with a final return visit to Wellington. The Nelsonian colonists very much looked forward to their royal visitor:

Nowhere in the colonies, we feel convinced, will the Prince meet with a heartier or more loyal welcome than in Nelson; grander and more expensive receptions he has had, but he will find that the son of England's Queen will be received with as much enthusiasm in our quiet little nook in Blind Bay, as in any of the wealthier and larger cities of Australia. The Galatea anchors at Port Hardy to-night, and will probably be signalled about mid-day to-morrow, when the Superintendent will at once proceed on board, the public landing however, will not take place until noon on Monday, when he will be received by the Reception Committee...

- Nelson Evening Mail, 17 April 1869   

HMS Galatea ship's biscuit, Aratoi Museum Masterton

 

So I'll light another cigarette and try to remember to forget

Thursday music corner: Little Feat, led by former Mothers of Invention member Lowell George from their formation in 1969 until 1979, were at the peak of their success around the time of their three US gold albums: Dixie Chicken (1973), Feats Don't Fail Me Now (1974) and Time Loves a Hero (1977). Their career success was topped by the platinum-selling 1978 live double album Waiting for Columbus, which was recorded across shows at London's Rainbow Theatre and in Washington DC. Tensions within the group inspired in part by musical differences led to it disbanding in 1979, a short time before George's untimely death in Virginia from an accidental cocaine overdose at the age of 34. Other surviving members got the band back together in 1987, and since then it has released nine more studio albums. 

Easy to Slip is the opening track on Little Feat's second album, Sailin' Shoes (1972), which features on its Neon Park-designed cover a cake on a swing, being observed by Mick Jagger drawn in the style of Gainsborough's The Blue Boy. Co-written with Martin Kibbee - credited pseudonymously on the album as Fred Martin - the track features additional percussion by Milt Holland of the famous Wrecking Crew band.

Little Feat - Easy to Slip (1972) 

From Wright's Hill

 

An old French peacock had told him 'Hell is other birds'

Thursday music corner: The Burning Hell are a Canadian indie-rock band formed by Mathias Kom in 2006. They have released nine albums, six EPs and eight singles, the most recent of which was Nigel the Gannet. The song refers to a New Zealand bird that the world’s media dubbed ‘the world’s loneliest’ after he was discovered living solo on Mana Island north of Wellington amidst a flock of concrete gannets designed to attract live birds to the island. The band is currently touring in Canada and is shortly departing on a tour of Europe and the UK. 

The Burning Hell – Nigel the Gannet (2022)

'Those two Australian stretcher bearers couldn't do enough for me'

A New Zealand infantryman writes of his escape from the front lines at Gallipoli in 1915:

'After I had covered a hundred yards or so I began to feel pretty bad; then an Australian spotted me. He wriggled over to where I was and told me to lie down while he tied up my wounds. Then he soused his handkerchief from his water bottle and spread it over my face. It was a scorching hot day, and what he did for me revived me tremendously. I lost so much blood, though. I did not seem to make further progress, so he got stretcher-bearers to come for me, real heroes.

My word, what a mistaken idea that some people have about the Red Cross boys! Do you know, I'd always thought they were inclined to be cold footed or something. I know better now. Those two Australian stretcher bearers couldn't do enough for me. They had me on the stretcher and were off with me before I had time to think. I begged them to lie down and wait until there was a lull in the firing, particularly as we had already learned that the Turks had no respect for the Red Cross men, but they said, 'No, you're shot and we've got to get you back as soon as possible; besides, we're too busy to wait.'

How they got back with me I don't know, for bullets whizzed all round and frequently they went zip-zip-zip over my prostrate body and between those two game chaps. They were completely fagged [i.e. tired] by the time they got me to the beach, but they would scarcely wait for a spell. They were off again in no time for more wounded men. They were game, those fellows, real game - fired at all the time and never a chance of hitting back or making cover. Like the rest of us, they're game'.

- Private B. Smith, Auckland Battalion, letter to his mother, printed in The Dominion 26 June 1915, quoted in Glyn Harper, Letters from Gallipoli, Auckland, 2011, p.102-3.

See also:

Blog: The mercurial naval legacy of HMS Maori, 10 May 2020

Blog: 'Europe is mad. The world is mad', 25 June 2009

Blog: The Western Front, 11 December 2007

Are you so blind that you cannot see?

Thursday music corner: The Specials had eight UK top 40 singles between 1979 and 1982, seven of which entered the top 10; famously Ghost Town topped the UK charts in June 1981. The band's name was somewhat fluid - two of the eight singles were instead released under the name Special AKA. This was the name the band preferred after the breakdown in band relationships that led to the departure of Neville Staple, Terry Hall and Lynval Golding in 1981, who left to form Fun Boy Three. 

With some new members Special AKA spent two years recording its 1984 album In the Studio, with many of the tracks written by keyboardist Jerry Dammers. While the album was not broadly successful, and its first two singles, War Crimes (The Crime Remains the Same) and Racist Friend, failed to breach the UK top 40, the album's third single was its most memorable moment.

Free Nelson Mandela, written by Dammers, produced by Elvis Costello and with lead vocals by Stan Campbell, reached number 9 in the UK charts, achieved considerable success across Africa, and topped the charts in New Zealand for three weeks in June 1984. In 2013 Dammers recalled the song's impact and legacy:

We shot the video in a church hall with these kids doing crazy jazz dancing, and we used the sleeve to give people information about the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The song was banned in South Africa, but they played it at football matches, which were communal black gatherings. It was an international hit and helped build momentum against apartheid. Dali Tambo [son of exiled ANC president Oliver] approached me to form a British wing of Artists Against Apartheid, and we did loads of concerts, leading up to a huge event on Clapham Common in 1986 that attracted a quarter of a million people. That was the proudest day of my life. It led to the Wembley Stadium concert with people like Dire Straits and Whitney Houston, which was broadcast to millions around the world – comparable to Live Aid. And then things really took off, with a lot of people who hadn't previously supported anti-apartheid coming on board.

On 11 February 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from 28 years of imprisonment by the apartheid regime of South Africa. He served as the first President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (1984)

Kenya Special

In the spirit of moving on from the music of 2016, I spent a lot of my downtime in Amsterdam seeking out albums from literally any other year. One of the albums I tried to track down was by a late-1970s Kenyan group called Gatanga Boys Band. I'd first heard them on a compilation I'd bought years ago called Kenya Special; a collection of rare, archived Kenyan rock music, that I'd clearly bought in order to feel like I'd moved to Kenya after all and still believed in the Bible. Kenya Special featured two outstanding songs by Gatanga Boys Band but I couldn't find anything else by them anywhere online. I whinged to Chris all day long about how much I desperately wanted a Gatanga Boys Band album and he advised me to talk to his housemate who conveniently owned a record store specialising in East African music. The conversation I had with his housemate went like this:

'Do you know where I can find an album by Gatanga Boys Band?'

'How have you heard of Gatanga Boys Band?'

'I've got two of their songs on a compilation' 

'Was it called Kenya Special?'

'Yes.'

'Oh, cool, I actually compiled and released that album myself.'

'What?'

'I'm afraid you can't buy anything else by them, those two songs are all there is, but we did release a second Kenya Special album if you'd like that instead?'

'Yes please, I'd like that a lot.'

*He hands me a vinyl copy of Kenya Special, Vol. 2*

- James Acaster, Perfect Sound Whatever, London, 2019, p.264-5.

[The tracks in question are Wendo Ti Mbia and Keep Change Kairitu]

We held our breath, they held their place

Thursday music corner: British singer-songwriter Anna B Savage released her debut EP in 2015 and promptly disappeared, despite the favourable attention it garnered, finding the spotlight troubling and dealing with the aftermath of a breakup. But the break, Savage told Rolling Stone magazine in March 2021, was ultimately cathartic:

In hindsight, she says, the break was beneficial for more than just her mental health. Through therapy and introspection, she eventually found her way back to making music, and rediscovered her strengths. In addition to her distinctive, brooding alto voice, Savage has a way of meticulously working through life’s conundrums over the course of a song – even if she doesn’t always arrive at a solution, or a happy ending.

Her follow-up, the 2020 debut album A Common Turn, attracted even more positive reactions from the music press, and spawned five singles. A Common Tern - the avian spelling is intentional - was the third of these, released in September 2020. It's another dramatic, swirling break-up classic, with an impressive video performance. She told Out Now magazine in the month it was released that '[f]or me, a common turn means the common moment where you decide you just don't / can't love someone any more, and there's nothing any of you can do about it'.

Anna B Savage - A Common Tern (2020)