Tunes From The Tenfoot: Hull’s ‘greatest songs’
The Crow’s Nest, a music column by Russ Litten
Like most fans of popular music, I’m fond of a freshly compiled playlist.
I usually have a merciless clear-out of old stock every January and put together some new themes - Music For Wall-Papering, Top Twenty Singers With Moustaches, Chinese Murder Ballads - that kind of thing.
It occurred to me during this year’s re-juggling that despite watching local bands and buying local artists music for the best part of thirty years, I’d never actually put together a Hull Music playlist.
So, for your perusal and endless argument, here is a starter-for-ten playlist of some of my favourite Hull artists’ tunes.
Such a compilation is obviously not without complications. By “Hull Tunes” I intend to mean any song or track by an artist who have their roots in our fair city, whether by birth or band formation.
The tracks are in no particular order of preference and are not meant to be any kind of definitive catalogue, or purposefully portray a wide selection of styles or genres, although Hull is doubtlessly blessed with many.
These songs are more or less a brief glimpse of a personal soundtrack, memories of watching and listening to the local music scene. The tunes that have stuck with me from way back in the day to more or less now.
And so, in no particular order, we have …
Pink Noise - Thin End Of The Wedge
To this day, I cannot understand why Pink Noise were not massive pop stars. They had the tunes, the looks and most of all, they had something to say.
Debut single Thin End Of The Wedge came roaring out of the speakers with all the righteous fury born of living in the north of England during Thatcher’s reign of terror, but brought with it a genuine rush of hope and positivity.
The band went on to release a string of singles on local label Reasonable Records. They were all very good, but none of them matched the sheer fury and soaring defiance of their debut. “Turn the country upside down, swing it back and forth, change the map, shake up the towns, put hope back in the north.” Words that ring out now, more than ever.
Bunkerpop - Are You Ready For Something?
I walked into Queens one night and there was a mob of about fifty people on the stage all seemingly playing the same guitar. Hidden away somewhere in their centre was a fella stripped down to his underpants shouting about robots. It was love at first sight.
Bunkerpop play modern music that sounds like it could have come out of both East Germany in the 1970s and New York’s Studio 54. Donna Summer meets Neu with a side order of Chicory Tip.
Their gigs are a riot of joyous mayhem and have become the most eagerly anticipated on the local calendar. Front man, Paul Sarel, is a natural born star and an endless source of positive energy for everyone connected to Hull’s music scene.
The Evil Litter - Like The Pines (acoustic version)
They’re perhaps better known for their heavy, raucous guitar sound driven by tribal toms with gorgeous pop melodies; a kind of Siouxsie and The Banshees meets Blondie, but this delicately picked slice of Gothic Folk is, for me, their most affecting song.
I always imagined this as providing the soundtrack for the end theme credits of some heartbreaking Independent Teen Love Story Movie set in Iowa or somewhere.
Fila Brazillia - Mermaids
Where to start with Fila? Probably the most successful outfit to ever come out of this city, in terms of breadth of output and sustained quality of material.
Every album had something head-spinning on it. They never stood still, never sold out and their collaborations and influence spread from HU5 bedsits and late night post-club gatherings to points all over the globe.
It was hard to pick out any track from the embarrassment of riches on offer, but this was the launchpad that introduced them to me and the rest of the world. Evocative use of Robinson Crusoe kids TV Theme tune married to a blissful Balearic beat. Sonic transcendentalism of the highest order.
The Gargoyles - Witnessing
From the mid 80s onwards, The Gargoyles were simply the best night out in Hull. They played a manic style of hook-laden rockabilly and were fronted by the late, legendary and much loved Eddie Smith, a man with a natural comedic talent and a propensity for getting his kit off on stage.
Eddie would also hold impromptu seances or climb out of a window and up on the venue roof, taking the microphone with him. One memorable gig saw him perform three songs from inside the bass drum.
Eddie and The Gargoyles always sent you home with a massive smile on your face and a song on your lips, none more magical than this heartfelt ode to door-to-door religious recruitment.
Horse Guards Parade - The City’s On Fire
I heard this late one night when I was very tired. It popped up on a compilation of some sort, and snapped me to attention straight away. It was like receiving a message from outer space, like some lost soul pleading for salvation, or to be left alone. I could never work it out.
I was transfixed, though. A dead slow burn, this piece of music broods and builds, and by the end it just levels you.
I only saw Horse Guards Parade play once, but I was impressed. I think they’re the type of band who get together when they feel like it. Which is probably the best way of doing it. They also have the best name ever.
Infidels - How About You
Tied around an old rocksteady sample, this bittersweet slice of sunshine never fails to lift me up.
Matthew Hogg is a great songwriter who has fronted some fantastic local bands through the years, and Infidels are up there among them, if not the best yet.
Their music is propelled by a proper, soulful groove and it presses all the feel-good buttons. The darker, more cinematic stuff has an edgy kind of exuberance that I reckon will lead them into some properly interesting areas. I can’t wait for the album.
Kingmaker - Two Headed Yellow Bellied Hole Digger
Oh, the 90s. What fun we had. Kingmaker were a big deal at the time - Top Of The Pops, Top 20 records.
I first saw them when they were called Rain and had won some Battle Of The Bands competition at Tower. Then they were called Tombstone Graffiti and made a demo. One of the tracks on it was the intriguingly titled “Two Headed … etc” The song later popped up on their debut album and remains my favourite Kingmaker tune.
I still have no idea why they gave it that title, though. I can detect no reference to monsters anywhere. There is some nice wah-wah guitar and a hook that becomes embedded in your head, though.
David Bowie & The Spiders From Mars - Life On Mars
A space pixie from Brixton backed by three bluff Yorkshiremen bedecked in glittery frocks. The Spiders were one of the most intoxicating combos in rock ‘n’ roll history.
This particular track is not the usual Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am fare usually associated with Bowie and his band, and sounds all the more intriguing for it, conjuring up images of sailors fighting in dancehalls to a cabaret-style arrangement complete with heartbreaking strings scored by Greatfield’s favourite son, Mick Ronson.
I had the good fortune to interview Woody Woodmansey as part of the City Of Culture celebrations, and he told me that all the versions of these songs that we hear on record were actually only the second or third time the band had played them.
Bowie would play the songs through on his twelve-string, the band would learn the changes and then bang them straight down on tape. How the hell did you manage that?, I asked him. We were just bloody good, he replied. Which is something of an understatement.
The Red Guitars - Good Technology
I can’t think of many songs, if any, that predicted the future with such devastating accuracy as Good Technology.
We have computers that can find us friends. Visionary insights aside, I love this for the general air of throbbing menace and dissonant broken-glass guitars. The entire thing sounds like a slow motion firework display.
Proper local legends, who retained their fierce sense of independence and originality to the end. The reunion tour later this spring promises to be one of the musical highlights of the year.
I filled my Hull Tunes playlist with another twenty or thirty tracks, but I won’t repeat them here. There are obvious omissions, but I think this is a pretty decent starter-for-ten.
You can probably fill in the gaps yourself. The Beautiful South were right - Hull does have more than its fair share of musical flair.