RTSBBK#6: Dillard and Clark – Polly

A complete change of musical genre here. I was inspired to put this one on the blog as a tribute to the late Doug Dillard, who died very recently, and who, along with the song-writing genius that was ex-Byrd, Gene Clark, composed this beautiful, haunting song, from Dillard and Clark's second (and final) album, Through the Morning, Through the Night (1969). It's an example of the late 60s country rock scene's song-writing at its finest, and it is a crime that this relatively short-lived duo' s recording output is not much better known and appreciated than it is. In particular, it's a tragedy that Gene Clark did not achieve the degree of success or recognition that his song-writing deserved post-The Byrds, before his descent into alcoholism and untimely demise at the age of only 46.

RTSBBK#6: Dillard and Clark - Polly

RTSBBK#5: The 39 Clocks – Psycho Beat

Ok, this is the first, (relatively speaking), obscure band and record on this blog. The 39 Clocks were a hugely underrated duo of musicians from Hannover, Germany, whose first public appearance was back in 1976 at the Dada Nova in Hannover, a space occupied by the radical AAO Commune. They split in 1983. Gigs were characterised by Situationist violence and the wilful and chaotic unprofessionalism of the band, but their recorded output was superb. They built on the American garage punk and psychedelic noises of the 1960s, sanded it down with the sound of the Velvet Underground at their most dissonant, and varnished it with the hauntingly spare electronica of legendary pioneering synth-punks, Suicide, (who were clearly a massive influence on them, adopting the New York duo’s confrontational aesthetic).  They were often, unfairly, and much to the band’s annoyance, referred to simply as the “German Velvet Underground”, when it is pretty obvious that they took on a lot of influences and forged their own sound, as part of what was dubbed “new German psychedelia”. This song appeared on the band’s first album in 1981, Pain It Dark, and  undoubtedly provides the trancey, cascadingly repetitive, minimalist psychedelic template for a host of imitators, such as Spacemen 3, Loop and the Telescopes, to name but a few. Great track.

RTSBBK#5: The 39 Clocks - Psycho Beat

RTSBBK#4: Josef K – It’s Kinda Funny

Signed to the legendary and achingly stylish Postcard Records label of Glasgow, who proclaimed that it was the “Sound of Young Scotland” during its short existence between 1979 and 1981, this Edinburgh-based band, named after the protagonist of Frank Kafka’s The Trial, remain the quintessential embodiment of indie-art-school-cool to this day. (Just ask Franz Ferdinand, who have clearly embraced the Josef K aesthetic). Always in the long post-punk shadow cast by their more well-known and commercially accessible label-mates, Glaswegian band Orange Juice, Josef K were heavily influenced by the likes of art-punk bands, Televison and Pere Ubu, and the American No-wave movement. This song, released in 1980, was their third single, and appears on the only studio album released during their existence, The Only Fun in Town (1981), and combines a strong feeling of reflective melancholy with an air of impending menace. It’s a typical Josef K song – jangling guitars, thought-provoking and cryptically ambiguous lyrics, full of metaphor and imagery, and a strong melody, though a less up-tempo track than was usual. Great record.

RTSBBK#4: Josef K - It's Kinda Funny