something's in the air...
have you noticed many small businesses are having some variation on a "yes we can"-type sale this week? (my favourite so far is the local mattress company doing a "barack o-bedding" sale.) seems to me many small businesses are happy to about our new president...
not to mention the musicians/artists/publishers/educators who are giving deals on their wares these days - i've seen 70% off on some stuff. here's another good one (recommended: the book of hipgnosis album covers).
unrelatedly, over the weekend i watched made in sheffield. it's a documentary about the scene in sheffield from the mid-70's to 1982/3, so that would include the human league (and by extension the future and heaven 17), cabaret voltaire, ABC, and a few other bands. kinda disappointed. not a lot of research, just some musicians yakking about the old times.
the film led with what was probably its most striking revelation, phil oakey (human league) saying that he missed working with ian marsh and martyn ware (founders of human league and 2/3 of heaven 17). that band had a really harsh split, according to legend, but that was about as in-depth as the film got. it was also crippled by the cabaret voltaire content - while CV might be the most important band ever to come out of sheffield (dare i say, northern england), the producers only managed to sit down and talk with chris watson. genial he was, of course, but missing out on talking to stephen mallinder and richard h kirk made for weak content in that area. now i know that neither one of them would want to talk to any interviewer about CV, but still, they should have known this going in.
also, amusingly, the cover of the disc mentions pulp, which is fine, as they're from sheffield, but they didn't even really get started until the timeframe of the documentary was winding down. (though they did get in some amusing footage of jarvis cocker and his sister reminiscing about going out to clubs.)
at any rate, it was about an hour long, which i guess was fine, but it felt a bit padded considering its lack of any hard content. now, if i would have done it i would have kept going, and made it 20 years of sheffield music 1975-1995. after 1982, the scene didn't die at all - ABC were just getting big, CV were still going strong, and human league/heaven 17 were just about to get their biggest hits. pulp, clock dva, and the thompson twins were getting going, as well as def leppard (not really related, but would be a good side thread). the scene would kind of peter out in the mid- to late-80s, but then warp records would start, and holy fuck there's a renaissance that leads the city (and, therefore, the film) through the mid-90s and the second most important band to come out of sheffield, autechre. hunh? yeah. that would have been better.
oh, and any time i see pictures of phil oakey circa 1979, i'm reminded that i'd have had the same hairstyle then had i been born 20 years earlier.
Originally published at this is.
not to mention the musicians/artists/publishers/educators who are giving deals on their wares these days - i've seen 70% off on some stuff. here's another good one (recommended: the book of hipgnosis album covers).
unrelatedly, over the weekend i watched made in sheffield. it's a documentary about the scene in sheffield from the mid-70's to 1982/3, so that would include the human league (and by extension the future and heaven 17), cabaret voltaire, ABC, and a few other bands. kinda disappointed. not a lot of research, just some musicians yakking about the old times.
the film led with what was probably its most striking revelation, phil oakey (human league) saying that he missed working with ian marsh and martyn ware (founders of human league and 2/3 of heaven 17). that band had a really harsh split, according to legend, but that was about as in-depth as the film got. it was also crippled by the cabaret voltaire content - while CV might be the most important band ever to come out of sheffield (dare i say, northern england), the producers only managed to sit down and talk with chris watson. genial he was, of course, but missing out on talking to stephen mallinder and richard h kirk made for weak content in that area. now i know that neither one of them would want to talk to any interviewer about CV, but still, they should have known this going in.
also, amusingly, the cover of the disc mentions pulp, which is fine, as they're from sheffield, but they didn't even really get started until the timeframe of the documentary was winding down. (though they did get in some amusing footage of jarvis cocker and his sister reminiscing about going out to clubs.)
at any rate, it was about an hour long, which i guess was fine, but it felt a bit padded considering its lack of any hard content. now, if i would have done it i would have kept going, and made it 20 years of sheffield music 1975-1995. after 1982, the scene didn't die at all - ABC were just getting big, CV were still going strong, and human league/heaven 17 were just about to get their biggest hits. pulp, clock dva, and the thompson twins were getting going, as well as def leppard (not really related, but would be a good side thread). the scene would kind of peter out in the mid- to late-80s, but then warp records would start, and holy fuck there's a renaissance that leads the city (and, therefore, the film) through the mid-90s and the second most important band to come out of sheffield, autechre. hunh? yeah. that would have been better.
oh, and any time i see pictures of phil oakey circa 1979, i'm reminded that i'd have had the same hairstyle then had i been born 20 years earlier.
Originally published at this is.