| Author | Message | ||
     spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 750 Registered: 05-2005 |
Lads and Lassies! Did anyone see the Stiff Records evenings Friday and Saturday on BBC4? They were brilliant, some great stories and clips, great artists, I loved it, its funny how these label bosses are all quite similar in their stubborn, holier than thou outlook, real risk takers, but they really don't give a shit, they just go for it regardless. Dave Robinson, remionds me of Alan Horne, Alan McGhee, Ian McNair and Mike Alway, you can see a real similarity in their personalities. The last night ended with a Madness documentary. They were an unbelievable group, they should be filed under unique too. | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 45 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yup, Spence - I've just finished watching it! It brought me over all nostalgic. Mind I'd forgotten that the label that had Madness, Ian Dury, Elvis, Wreckless Eric etc who I love and respect had Pete Waterman as a producer and Alvin Stardust as an act! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 810 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just watched both episodes back to back. That guy Dave Robinson was a nutter. it also made me realise that for every great act - Elvis C, The Pogues and Madness, there were 3 or 4 acts that were absolutely dreadful. would have been duller without Stiff though thats for sure | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 200 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rachel Sweet as well. Lene Lovich tends to slogged these days, but I was a big fan back in the early 80's. Hey, I finally got to 200 posts! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 752 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stiff are/were like every other madman who's started a label though. Look at Tony Wilson, or Alan MGhee. OK, save for Mary Chain single, most of early Creation artists were dreadful. I think its the passionfor the music, getting out so peaople could hear it, that is what its all about in these cases. One of the most consistent guys I think was Mike Alway of El Records/Cherry Red. he had a bout 15 artists all of whom were highlyoriginal in one way or another, but virtually every release was great. The el aesthetic was beauty too. the sleeves were as good as the product, but he managed to make the whole label mysterious and ambiguous, that's what made itreally special, like no one knew who were behind a lot of the artists. I suppose it was a bit like Crepescule in that way. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 202 Registered: 01-2005 |
Spence, My Bloody Valetine was on Creation don't forget! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 787 Registered: 03-2006 |
Sorry, I missed that. Hope that gets shown over here soon. I always thought Stiff was the coolest - love the whole "we're Stiff, and you're not" attitude. Really loved all the artists. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 754 Registered: 05-2005 |
Michael yes of course, although they were on Lazy Records initially, so you should blame Wayne Morris. My old group was on that label, Elizabeth Jane although our projects got shelved when the label went into liquidation, it was around the time of Birdland and The Primitives. Creation did have some great acts too. House of Love, Alan's own Biff Bang Pow were cool too, although live they wre a stinker. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 204 Registered: 01-2005 |
Spence, The Primitives. I remember Dave Kendall from MTV's 120 Minutes was a big fan. I have a couple of their cd's. Dragged out the one with "Crash" on it and listened to it on the way to see The Church the end of July. I liked some of the other lesser known bands with women singers better though that were out around the same time, like The Darling Buds. Great name for a band with a chick singer. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 755 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah, we toured with the primitives, just after we signed to Laz. we ended up kind of falling out as we every night our bongo player would accidentally knock the line of beautiful guitars over, just after they'd been tuned by their guitar technician. tracy wasn't too pleased, i remember trying to win her heart whilst pissed only to be told where to go! darling buds were crap. we played with them too, and heavenly, they were nice people. we also supported a group with a singer called johnny, forgot their name, oh, the siddleys. they were cool too. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 206 Registered: 01-2005 |
Spence, Too funny about your bongo player. Robyn Hitchcock had a song from his 1999 album Jewels for Sophia, titled Elizabeth Jade. Pretty close to you old band's name. |