2021 Charity Shop Purchases 102 - Attic Lights - Never Get Sick of the Sea (CD Single)
Attic Lights singles just like Corporation buses - none for ages then two come along at once.
Never Get Sick of the Sea is another single off the 2008 album Friday Night Lights and along with yesterday's post God they were the sole purchases during a pre-Christmas vist to Oxfam at Clarkston Toll.99p each which is a bit more realistic than the £24 they were looking for for Billy Bragg's Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy (which in any case I already have).
They slipped of my radar after Friday Night Lights but have since released two further albums on the Spanish Elefant label namely 2013's Super De Lux and 2019's Love in the Time of Shark Attacks. Some further exploration clearly required.
I have the title track from the album but the song Sorry I Was Drunk is new to me.
I had high hopes for Glasgow band Attic Lights on and around their 2008 debut album Friday Night Lights which was released on Island.
There were shades of Teenage Fanclub about them perhaps unsurprising given that Francis McDonald was involved in the albums production. Although touted as an indie band there is also a feel of Americana about them.
I had their debut self-released EP from 2005 prior to picking up the album. God was originally released as a 7 inch single in 2007 prior to a CD release in 2008 .As was the way of things back then it comes with a video.
The title track God appears on the album and I have Ton of Love from the debut EP which has appeared here before.The third track 5 Weeks Behind is new to me.
If you like this sort of thing stay tuned tomorrow.
A series on Scottish acts who have (in my opinion) been influenced, however tenuously, by Americana/Alt Country/call it what you will.
Attic Lights are a Glasgow band founded in 2005.They have a Teenage Fanclub and Beach Boys feel about them and are described as indie pop or power pop - but I think there is a bit of an Americana in there as well.
They have had two album Friday Night Lights on Island in 2008 and Super Deluxe on Elefant in 2013.
When Minder was re-launched on Channel Five in 2009 they recorded I Could Be So Good For You. I've never heard it but I'm willing to put my mortgage on it being better than the Dennis Waterman original.
These two tracks are taken from their self titled 2005 debut EP
Described in Americana UK as "excellent Beach Boys power pop vocal harmonies " and by The Big Issue as "an infectious blend of swirling guitars and catchy choruses"
When I was rummaging through the A's for my new Saturday serious I happened across something that I thought would do just the job for Friday night - Scottish power pop.
The band in question are Attic Lights and the album Friday Night Lights is from 2008 on the Island label.
I thought I had featured it before but that was not the case. I did however post their self titled 2005 debut EP in my Tartan Texans series way back in 2014.
As far as I can gather at the time the band consisted of Kev Sherry (vocals/guitar), Colin McArdle (vocals/bass), Jamie Houston (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Tim Davidson (guitar/pedal steel) and Noel O'Donnell (drums).
The album was produced by Francis McDonald of Teenage Fanclub fame which might not come as a surprise when you hear the music.
They had another album Super De Luxe in 2013 and seem to have Love in the Time of Shark Attacks scheduled for 2019 although I must admit that their name or music have not crossed my radar for a good few years.
I was criminally well into the blog before I posted anything by Bellshill's finest Teenage Fanclub. I've tried to make up for that but there is still plenty out there for me to delight you with in due course.
A song or two from 1991's Bandwagonesque album has popped up here or there but this is the first time that the album has enjoyed a post in it's own right. Not before time I hear you cry.
I can't remember whether it was this one or Grand Prix which was the first of theirs I bought proving that once more I was pretty late to the party.
Voted album of the year in 1991 by US magazine Spin beating Nirvana's Nevermind to top slot, and rightly so.
And yet it is not my favourite of theirs but it does come a close second to Songs of Northern Britain.
Norman Blake, Gerard Love, Raymond McGinley and Brendan O'Hare wear their influences proudly on their sleeves most notably the Beach Boys style harmonies and the songs of Big Star.
They have also influenced countless others. particularly from Scotland. In a previous post I suggested Whiteout, Attic Lights and Vera Cruise who are all on the shelves. I'm sure there are countless others.
A seminal record and a seminal band.An album you would buy for the cover alone
Sunny day music
My recent post on Whiteout highlighted that they were significantly influenced by Teenage Fanclub
A search of previous posts sees me attributing the same accolade to fellow Scottish bands Attic Lights and Vera Cruise
The same search also reveals that shockingly only two songs from the Fannies have previously featured one from a compilation from songs featured in Nick Hornsby's book 31 Songs and the other in a feature on Alan McGhee's Creation Stories books,
So none of their albums have featured in their own right.
I'm featuring Thirteen named after the song by Big Star who where a huge influence on TFC.
Their fourth it received scathing reviews on its release in 1993. It is not as good as its predecessor Bandwagonesque nor its successors Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain.
However it is not a bad album at all, it just suffers when compared to the greatness of the three mentioned above.
I have a bit of a soft spot for it as it was the first of their albums I bought. Plus any album with a Mitre football on the cover is ok in my book
It took until the day that the clocks go forward but I have finally attended my first concert of 2025.
A combination of finance, illness and accidents has led to this sorry state of affairs. I'll be very surprised if I make double figures this year.
The act I had gone to see was Dropkick at Glasgow's Glad Cafe on Saturday. It is the 4th, or possibly the 5th time, that I have seen them and the 2nd, or maybe the 3rd time. at the Glad Cafe. I blame Brian
Despite getting there reasonably early I missed the start of the first act who was Kev Sherry formally the frontman of the sadly missed Attic Lights band. It is not often you see an artist singing in his stocking soles. It also takes balls to sing a song called Young Presbyterians in Glasgow!
The next act were Star Trip a band from Valencia. Ian, from Dropkick, introduced them as " the Spanish Teenage Fanclub" They made a splendid racket and had the audience, and their Spanish fans, boogieing furiously.
They are certainly a band worth pursuing further. I would definitely try to see them again and will try to obtain some of their music
They were certainly a hard act to follow and it took Dropkick a wee while to get the audience fully engaged with their set, They finally got there and the delivered some top tunes from their extensive back catalogue. They included a couple of songs from their recently released album Primary Colours.
It was duly purchased but I have yet to listen to it.
A solid 7/10 and maybe even a 7.5/10 if fractions are aloud.
Here are the first 2 tracks from their 2021 Best Of album which formed part of the their set
In most collections Astrid would be catalogued in alphabetical order next to yesterday's featured artists Aswad - but not on the CCM shelves - oh no.
Astrid are filed under Indie/Pop and Aswad on the other side of the room under Reggae.
However as No Reason the Astrid CD I now have is a single it is filed in the strictly alphabetical CD singles section. It would be adjacent to Aswad if I had any of their singles but is in fact in between Asian Dub Foundation and Attic Lights. Glad we cleared that up.
I had vaguely heard of Astrid a Glasgow band with strong ties to the Isle of Lewis. I then saw a terrific documentary on BBC Alba about their singer Willie Campbell who left the band after mental health and alcohol problems returning to Lewis where he has successfully re-built his life and is now playing music again.
From 1998 and recently purchased in Callander a tourist town in the Trossachs it is a rather splendid piece of indie pop.
My burning software has erroneously attributed this to Shetland musician Astrid Williamson so apologies if her name pops up.
As you can see from the photograph David Bailey has absolutely nothing to worry about.That's Carla in the red in case you were wondering.
It does however give you some idea as to the intimacy of the venue.I was in the back row of the room which held about 50 folk. For once we were in an attic as opposed to a boiling hot basement.
What a great evening's entertainment I experienced on Saturday .Four excellent and diverse acts for a tenner.Talk about value for money. Huge thanks to Olive Grove Records and especially to Last Night from Glasgow for making it happen.
The first act on stage was Kirsty Law an artist who comes from a traditional Scottish music background.
She has written songs with the great Karine Polwart and with Carla who joined her on stage for the first time that they had sung the song they co-wrote together.
Next up was Brett Nelson a Canadian singer songwriter who Carla had met at a singer/songwriter workshop in Banff (Canada as opposed to Aberdeenshire) .He was staying at Ian from LNFG and was wearing his socks!
Some excellent songs with an Americana influence to them. There was one about a three pawed weasel which was particularly good.
Brett was followed by Irish poet Rachel McCrum who had the audience totally mesmerised with some readings from her book The First Blast to Awaken Degenerate Women
In a first for CCM here is a poem she did for the Scottish Refugee Council
Finally Carla J Easton took the stage.She advised that her mum who was in the auidence had told her to hurry up as she was going for the last train to Carluke. Sadly she never got to see the full set!
I'm useless at remembering all the songs and in the correct order but Fireworks, Vagabonds, Millions and somewhat bizarrely for August Spending Every Christmas Day with my Boy all featured
She also aired a couple of the new songs from the Work in Progress cassette (which thankfully comes with a download code) including Lights in the Dark and Girl From Before.
Just Carla and her piano but songs that are likely to be worked up with the band and which will feature on Ette's new album.
No diminution in quality - as totally brilliant as the rest of her stuff.
