On the Buses - A Very Special Guest Post

 

Following incessant pressure from Ernie I am now including Buses as the next theme for Transport Tuesday.

I am totally humbled to say that we are starting proceedings with a very special guest post from our dear friend Brian of Linear Tracking Lives! fame. He still comments on blogs regularly but I think that this is the first time since he stepped down that he has offered up a guest post. And it is totally worth the wait.

Take it away Brian:

The above art is from a split 7" that came out in 1993 and is shared by German bands Die Fünf Freunde and Die Time Twisters, Verdammt!

The sleeve suggests otherwise, but none of the songs appearing on the 45 have anything to do with buses. The use of it today is merely a cheap plug for the wonderful song "Jetzt" by Die Fünf Freunde. Nearly a decade ago the song squeaked in at number 100 in my Top 100 Tracks from the 1990s

Now let's hop on some buses, and don't pull the cord too early because we are making stops in Australia, America, and the UK. No worries. Free transfers!

First up is late '80s Melbourne band Captain Cocoa, headed up by twin brothers Glenn and David O'Neil and a revolving door of musicians. The band's original recordings go for bags of cash these days. Fortunately, for those of us all about the jangle, trumpets and budgets, Firestation Records assembled a well-done compilation of their work in 2022. The lads make it clear the beautiful people are not welcome on their route with the splendid "Barbies Off the Bus."

Captain Cocoa - Barbies of the Bus

I picked up one boxed set in 2023, and it has given me hours of pleasure. The 1985 album 'Tim’ from The Replacements receives a  new mix from Ed Stasium, and the original album loses its cloudy sound with a crisp remaster. There is also an entire disc of rare and unreleased tracks and another disc containing a live show from my old stomping ground, Cabaret Metro in Chicago, circa 1986. Nearly as important is the lengthy booklet telling the jaw-dropping tale of the band's self sabotage in front of every major label only to have Seymour Stein save the day. We know CC has earned his bus pass, but Paul Westerberg sings of a different kind of pass with "Kiss Me on the Bus." Here is a decidedly louder and less melodic studio outtake.

The Replacements - Kiss Me on the Bus

One downside of retiring a blog is you tend to lose touch with your online pals. Even though we haven't conversed in a long while, I thought of our mutual friend, The Swede , the moment this bus idea popped up. We have a shared love of Robyn Hitchcock, and Hitchcock is a man who loves a good mode of transportation, particularly trains and buses. I envy the Swede for seeing Hitchcock perform at a venue as unique as the Ipswich Transport Museum, and our chum chose the same song to accompany his post about the show as I thought of for this post on buses." Raymond and the Wires" is Hitchcock's vivid recollection of a trolley-bus ride he took with his dad in 1964. This one tugs at the heartstrings. I dedicate this pick to the Swede. Let's catch up soon, friend.

Robyn Hitchcock - Raymond and the Wires

 Last stop takes us to Preston and a record shop that has been around for more than 40 years. Action Records has been a label as well, releasing music by the Fall, Boo Radleys and today's choice, indie popsters Big Red Bus. I didn't really know this band until the turn of the century when a song popped up on the first volume of 'The Sound of Leamington Spa' series. Big Red Bus released a scant two 12" singles and a mini album between 1989 and 1991, and that's it. One song appears on Cherry Red's 'C89' box, and Firestation released a band compilation on CD in 2017. I never imagined I would ever see any of their original releases in a shop. Inexplicably, I found the mini album while on vacation in Palm Springs a few years ago. It was a good day.

Thanks, CC. Looking forward to seeing more buses leaving the depot on these pages.

Big Red Bus - Cathedral Walls

CC writes

The thanks are all mine Brian. It is an honour and a privilege to host you on these pages.

Another guest post will feature next Tuesday