unsent letter to the age, july 2013

When it comes to politics I readily admit I am partisan: to vote conservative would be to fly in the face of lifelong convictions. However, perhaps naively, I do not expect a high-end newspaper would be anywhere near as biased as I am. I can’t understand why The Age has not drilled down into the question of Tony Abbott’s expenses scandal (one more in the list of Abbott-related scandals only mentioned in passing, which also includes ‘Ashbygate’ and the One Nation court case).

Abbott is an experienced politician, so I assume the false claim for over $9 000 during a book tour was an error made by him or on his behalf. But that doesn’t mean Abbott shouldn’t be held to account on the same standards by which he judges others. If I was a Liberal voter, I would not want the papers to turn a blind eye to this issue: it goes to the heart of the man’s credibility, such as it is. Political careers have been scuttled on a lot less.

Of course, I never want to see Abbott as PM. But – forgetting all political allegiances – who amongst us does want to see a PM with so many blots on his track record? 

rolling stone's one hundred greatest whatevers

I have had a real set against Rolling Stone magazine for a long time now. Nothing (well a little) to do with the fact that I used to regularly write for the Australian version. I just find it a ridiculously conservative, retrograde organ and I have never found it a pleasure to read, not really. It bugs me that it has often been considered a journal of record and most specifically, right now, it is burning me up that wikipedia is so beholden to noting when records make lists of Rolling Stone's hundred whatever albums (same with AllMusic and that Erlewine who cannot possibly have written all that stuff ascribed to him... or if he did, how the hell did he find time in a life to listen to so much?!). The fact (yes fact) is that RS best-of lists are utterly revisionist, at least, they revise the actual magazine's response to things at the time of release/relevance. RS has often not had the courage of its convictions, or rather, it has had no convictions: it's stuck being a conga line of one suckhole lock step behind the music industry. I remember, and this is a silly example because I don't know what RS ultimately did or has since said about this record, that I reviewed Mercury Rev's Deserters Songs for (Australian) RS and gave it 5 stars, and they wouldn't let me, apparently this was tainting the brand or something (words to the effect of, we only give a couple of records a year that kind of rating). I don't know why I'm telling that story because it doesn't mean much unless we know more about the way RS subsequently has dealt with that album but I do know (from just looking it up on wikipedia to see what year it came out) that it was the NME's album of the year that year. Aust RS people didn't have a clue what it was. I certainly hadn't heard of Mercury Rev before, at least I don't think I had. But I think I'm right that it was/is a fabulous record and that it's a great example of an RS-friendly record... anyway. Who cares, no-one, it just gets my goat. 

When the Australian version of the magazine finally gave up and went online only, a few years ago, I was on social media not crowing exactly but throwing a little shade on people who were bemoaning its loss and the response (from music journalist types, obviously) was, well, it was a good earner for some. But that's not the point. If you want to write shit for a shit magazine, you've already given up your dream of being a quality writer for a living. I was always a hack for $$ in the magazine industry, not proud of it, but proud of not being proud of it. 

the particles 1980s bubblegum

So, after a billion years, there is finally a Particles compilation album. It's called 1980s Bubblegum and it brings together, naturally, the three three-song EPs and a few extra bits to make a dozen tracks. I can't help being certain that what's here is only the tip of the iceberg and I mean just going by the quality (sound and performance) of the one live track - 'I Know a Place', recorded in Perth in I'm guessing 1983 at I think the Red Parrot* - there's almost certainly a whole lot more recordings around in drawers and sheds that would make at least as fine a volume 2. 

Of the EPs, of course 'Driving Me' and 'Truth About You', the A-sides of the first two EPs, are absolutely unsurpassable, except then there's 'The Trumpet Song' which is to be frank 100% my favourite - it's when they embraced the drum machine with gusto and made it work for them. The b-sides of the EPs are a bit variable, as they should be, though of course 'Remington Rand' is pretty wild. 'Dresses and Shoes' is a fine song, so's 'Observations', there's a big gap between the first two EPs and the third, in terms of sophistication. The last three tracks are the most interesting to me - 'Family Life' is by far the worst song of the lot, and is presumably included here only because it was actually released on vinyl 'at the time' - it's formless and shabby. I've already mentioned 'I Know a Place', which is one of the best songs of the bunch - could easily have been a single A-side, and I know there were plenty others every bit as fine on that live tape, if only I could find it lol. The last track, a different version of 'Bits of Wood', is, well, a different version of a song on side one of the record, and it was pretty slender in the first place so I'm not quite sure I agree it's worth it, although it does have a kind of skank to it which is unexpected and not unappealing. 

So that's that. I was a fan of The Particles from the outset and I'm glad I got to see them play once if not twice (can't remember) and I guess I'm torn between - I'm glad they made these great records, and I'm a bit unhappy that they didn't get round to recording all their other great songs. 

*I released this on a cassette version of my fanzine, so what's here on the vinyl is a fourth-generation copy I'd say (I copied the original onto tape, copied that on to a master tape, and this comes from a recording from the master... it's incredible that it sounds so good!)

duofrigginlingo

I don't entirely understand how Duolingo works but what I do know is that lately it's been asking me for money to enable me to cheat at the rote learning I've been so dedicated to for the last almostayear. I am at the point where I am no longer doing actual lessons, I guess, just revision stuff which is basically the hard yards of earning the third of these stars. I think there are 18 of these little three-star clusters which help you revise a range of somewhat ridiculous (but obviously the content is not the point) questions/statements.  

My weakness in Finnish is spelling, and so I probably take longer than most people would on the tapping out of the dictation part of the test* - a small component of the overall, most of which is selecting words from a cluster, most of which are wholly inappropriate. But I always get to about three exercises away from finishing the last section of the third start test before it calls time. It then offers me a minute's extension to the exercise (which would be ample; I would usually only need 20 seconds) for a ridiculously inflated sum of money (I want to say something like $7.99, which is presumably $US) just to get over this hurdle. 

What I don't get is why anyone (except Duolingo's bank manager) would think this is a good idea. I imagine it confirms the reality that there are two kinds of people in the world: the stubborn types who, like Sims, just bash into the same closed door over and over, and the people who figure 'the system's stacked against me, time to pay up to push through'. Maybe some people actually have language learning success tied to work targets or something? In which case I can see why they might not want to persist or figure near enough is good enough. 

But weirdly there is a plus, though it's a stupid one that I hate myself for. Every time you attempt to gain a star, you go through three stages each of which gets you points (aka 'XP'). So, my multitude of failed attempts to get the final star in the first section of Section 2 ('Explorer') has put me top of the pearl league, at least for the moment. 

I would love to know who the other people are, and what their motivation is to be here doing this (there are plenty more than just these seven, btw). I mean Deemarie has been doing this for over a year, apparently, what's that about!? Oh, wait, so have I, almost. 

So the gamifying of Duolingo is, apparently, part of its success, and I have always been more or less resistant to this kind of thing, but of course once you start to become convinced that actually you are possibly arguably a bit good at something, even accidentally, you start to want to do it more. I assume that, within the obvious reality that I will never even get the slightest competency in Finnish, there are some positives here. 

* Also I'm constantly tapping 's' for the second 'a'. Fortunately or otherwise, it lets you get through unumlauting the umlauted words which it probably shouldn't. 

electronically yours, special squad, kuolleet lehdet

This week I listened to the audible version of Martyn Ware's Electronically Yours, Vol. 1. As you know, Ware was the prime mover in the Human League in its first incarnation and then went on to be a central force in Heaven 17. The second Human League album, in particular, is one of my favourite records ever, it's called Travelogue and I agree with Ware's own assessment of it - that it sounded like nothing else when it came out and it still doesn't sound dated. It's a remarkable record. 

I was most interested in the early stuff here - particularly the HL material - though I was also disappointed by a lot of the approach. I couldn't help feeling that Ware really needed an editor, which I'm pretty sure he didn't have (someone to elicit more detail on some things and less blah on others). Ware was there, so he doesn't seem to appreciate what we would want to know. For instance, he goes into great detail about 'Marianne' which is, you know, an ok song, but says completely nothing at all about 'The Black Hit of Space', which is, of course, an amazing work of genius. He barely touches on 'Empire State Human' which is extraordinary, remarkable, and immense (actually, he might not even mention it, I can't remember). The rise of the HL is unbelievably fast and things like the release of their first record is practically an afterthought. I'm pretty sure, too, that he gets important things wrong - like John Lydon's review of 'Being Boiled' in the NME which I'm 1000% sure was two words: 'trendy hippies' but Ware says it was 'fucking hippies', in fact, he says it twice. 

Update 10 July: It also occurred to me how extremely little Ware says about '(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang' which was a revelation and an amazing statement of intent for Heaven 17 - it was their first single. The bass playing of John Wilson (inc. a hell of a solo) was a remarkable feature of this single and how Ware, Marsh and Gregory came across Wilson is entirely avoided, I am not even sure he's discussed at all. That's all pretty weird, right? It took a lot of gumption to launch H17 the way they did, and a lot was made of Wilson, in particular, at that point. Wilson appears in group photos etc (I'd never seen him before but I gather he's here second from right) and yet, not a mention. 

Of course it could be that I stopped listening/paying attention for a while and/or that I accidentally skipped a bit (I definitely skipped one section about football, so maybe he segued into discussing John Wilson then as well) so who knows?

Ware is a very dedicated socialist, which I approve of, and a football fan, which is a bore. He really likes art and values creativity and adventurousness which I admire. His book is full of the usual crapola about hot women and drinking too much which is a drag but apparently necessary in books like this. Simultaneously to H17 he became an extraordinarily successful record producer though he gives us precisely no information about what a record producer does or is (I suppose I'm fine with that). OK I think I've about said all there is to say about this. By the way it's hard to be sure whether he's providing his own interjections reading this book for audible or whether the interjections are in the original book, I guess I'll never know. 

Meanwhile I've been watching a lot of another Crawfords show made in Melbourne in 1984-5, called Special Squad. It's a peculiar production which apparently sought a certain measure of gritty realism. In one sense it might as well be Homicide '84; it's three men in an elite section of the police force, always in car chases, each episode a neat solving of crime with a lot of the usual moralistic elements (no crim ever gets away). One odd aspect is that the first episode absolutely does not even slightly bother to introduce you to the police characters - you are just thrown in at the deep end. I'm still confused about who these three men are. 

What else does it have? A lot of interesting actors. Red Symons as a terrorist (I'm not even sure he has a speaking role, but it's him) and Frankie J. Holden as an undercover cop, for instance. Norman Coburn is a corrupt cop in another episode (see below). The storylines are, on the whole, not magnificent* and if it wasn't for the intriguing mid-80s technology (phones and computers in cars!) the above mentioned actors and the locations I wouldn't really be bothering, I suspect. Oh, but every episode does end with someone making a lame joke** and the frame freezing, which is pretty amazing to see in the wild. 

Last night my mother and I went to see Kuolleet Lehdet, a low-key Finnish film which surprised me no end by including Maustetytöt in one scene. 

Oddly enough I knew they were in a film because I saw this poster a few weeks ago on the Maustetytöt fan club facebook group but I didn't realise that this was the same film I had already bought tickets to. Just 'cause I'm dumb. 

They don't have lines or anything just a crucial moment in the action, where they convince one of the main characters to stop drinking by dint of their extremely depressing song. It's pretty cool. 

Overall the film is probably worth it. I am still thinking about it. 

* to be fair, I haven't been paying 100% attention

** or just a pointed comment. 

no-cowboys

 

I don't have much to tell you but I am presently listening to this album which is basically the only album by the London group PragVEC but for reasons unexplained they pretended it was a compilation record featuring PragVEC, Major Eddie, Couch Potatoes, Vince Quince and his Rialto Ballroom Detectives and 'Spec Records' (which is the name of their record label). It's the kind of record that makes me appreciate that, yes, 1980 really was a long time ago. And/or that while some records were being made that still sound contemporary-ish, like say the Human League's records (jesus, I heard Gary Numan's 'Cars' in a shop today, it's still revolting) there are records like this that took the road less travelled and sound, well obviously this is where I'm heading, really dated. I'm not against 'dated' (and I like PragVEC a lot - a lot more than most people on earth) but I feel the need to mention it. I don't know why. 

This afternoon I played in an ad hoc band called Loaded and True with Alec, Jack, Dusty and Snowy. Alec contacted me a few days ago and asked if I wanted to play in this band with him and Jack that had two shows booked in Melbourne. I don't know if someone dropped out or what but I said yes, which I probably shouldn't have (too many other things on) but on the other hand, who does it hurt. So we did five or six songs which had been partly worked out last night and it went really really well. I mean really well. People were being very complementary and these were people who I am pretty sure if they couldn't say anything nice, they wouldn't have said anything. So, that was good.

flook july 1953

 

I can't imagine what had to be altered for the North American market to read 'strip-cartoons'. 

Nor can I imagine how people walking towards a house from quite a long way off (bizarre perspective notwithstanding) can sound, within that house or anywhere, like a wardrobe creaking.

Mau Mau = a reference to the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. Somewhere along the way, for what it's worth, the action is now taking place in 'England'.