Eddie knows a bit about alienation
Download: YEAH YEAH NOH "Temple of Convenience"
One of my favorite reworkings of "La Bamba," "Temple" is classic smartypants near-groove, a vaguely Situationist-y (well, surely these folks read VAGUE!) twistin'-in-your-fancy-slacks number by one of the four best bands to be clearly influenced by the Fall (and you have to drop major props for them being influenced by the Fall back in the early '80s, not, like, yesterday.) Like The Loft and June Brides and possibly Shop Assistants and maybe Blurt and the Membranes and the Creepers, Yeah Yeah Noh are a truly nifty British band from the '80s that it's not so easy to find stuff by these days. Like these others, they were championed by John Peel, and yes, this song is taken from an LP of Peel Sessions. I love how quite a few bands used snippets of Peel's voice on their records -- Pooh Sticks anyone?! Anyone?
I hardly know anything about Yeah Yeah Noh. There's one best-of comp. with a really ugly cover on Cherry Red that should be easy to find actually (as an import), though it leans too heavily toward the group's later material. The group hit their apex with three 7" EPs from 1984 on In Tape -- the "Cottage Industry" EP, the "Beware the Weakling Lines" EP, and of course the absolutely brilliant "Prick Up Your Ears" EP. These EPs were compiled onto the 1985 longplayer When I Am a Big Girl, also on In Tape. Find it. That and the Peel sessions LP Fun on the Lawn Lawn Lawn are really all you need. Try Gemmmmmmm. Dude from Trouser Press (only place I could find info. about 'em online -- thank you Anglophiles!) says this: "Unpolished, raw pop gems with smartass lyrics. Cymbal-less drums and chunky bass lines form a foundation for modest guitar work and Derek Hammond's deadpan baritone. Great fun." Hope you agree.
One of my favorite reworkings of "La Bamba," "Temple" is classic smartypants near-groove, a vaguely Situationist-y (well, surely these folks read VAGUE!) twistin'-in-your-fancy-slacks number by one of the four best bands to be clearly influenced by the Fall (and you have to drop major props for them being influenced by the Fall back in the early '80s, not, like, yesterday.) Like The Loft and June Brides and possibly Shop Assistants and maybe Blurt and the Membranes and the Creepers, Yeah Yeah Noh are a truly nifty British band from the '80s that it's not so easy to find stuff by these days. Like these others, they were championed by John Peel, and yes, this song is taken from an LP of Peel Sessions. I love how quite a few bands used snippets of Peel's voice on their records -- Pooh Sticks anyone?! Anyone?
I hardly know anything about Yeah Yeah Noh. There's one best-of comp. with a really ugly cover on Cherry Red that should be easy to find actually (as an import), though it leans too heavily toward the group's later material. The group hit their apex with three 7" EPs from 1984 on In Tape -- the "Cottage Industry" EP, the "Beware the Weakling Lines" EP, and of course the absolutely brilliant "Prick Up Your Ears" EP. These EPs were compiled onto the 1985 longplayer When I Am a Big Girl, also on In Tape. Find it. That and the Peel sessions LP Fun on the Lawn Lawn Lawn are really all you need. Try Gemmmmmmm. Dude from Trouser Press (only place I could find info. about 'em online -- thank you Anglophiles!) says this: "Unpolished, raw pop gems with smartass lyrics. Cymbal-less drums and chunky bass lines form a foundation for modest guitar work and Derek Hammond's deadpan baritone. Great fun." Hope you agree.
posted by Mike McGonigal at 1:32 PM
4 Comments:
Great track, Mike!
Thanks!
Paulo, in Brazil
hey mike. remember you from CI in the mid-eighties. just going through my record collection (im broke and selling) and found that yo la tengo single given away with one of the zines. "i know i picked this up somewhere..." i hadnt thought about that in quite some time. i did enjoy the thing, even though there was a bit of pretentiousness there (mike discovers french surrealism!...i think that was my final issue!) it really was a treasure trove of good stuff for a teenager and i think back upon it fondly. you can find my page on stumbleupon as the5thdentist or at my website at www.the5thdentist.com. i guess what this is all about is a shout-out and a thank you for publishing that thing. it was formative for me and a pleasant read. glad to hear you are keeping dry. victor.
hey! ive got the prisoners vs. the milkshakes on right now!
victor
excellent... i have a friend at work who's always going on about how his best mates were in a band called Yeah Yeah Noh and that John peel loved them etc etc and i'd always kinda imagined he'd made them up...
I might not avoid him quite so often now.
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