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Punks, Drunks and Junkies
Welcome to the Gillespie Hall Of Fame - the most gloriously wasted
rock’n’roll stars ever assembled on one C90. From Patti Smith and The MC5 to
Crazy Horse and The Faces, Bobby selects 24 songs that triggered Primal Scream...
by Andrew Perry
Silly question really. Do you fancy making a tape for us? You know, just slap on any
old stuff you’re listening to at the moment...
It’s like luring Brian McClair onto a footie pitch for a knockabout, or suggesting
to John Major that he tinker with European unity, or strapping an axe on Keith Richards
and begging, "write us a classic". We’re leading Bobby Gillespie onto home
turf.
As well as housing the starryy-eyed vision and golden-blue voice behind
Screamadelica’, the Primal Scream mainman is a well-known collector of vinyl
ephemera. Home taping is one of his personal passions, and before you can say
"original copy of’Spiral Scratch’ by the Buzzcocks on New Hormones"
Gillespie Towers is ready to witness the compilation of a killer cassette.
Chez Bob is a basement flat amid the decaying grandeur of Brighton’s Victorian
squares. Next door, funnily enough, is a solicitor called Mr Loader. Inside, several
surprisingly tidy rooms where all the right rock icons, the ones you’d expect of
Bobby, catch the eye.
There’s Elvis Presley and the Sex Pistols in the kitchen (someone’s done the
washing-up), Syd Barrett in the hallway, and a pale blue Vox Phantom guitar leaning
against a cupboard. Love and Tim Buckley are in the front room, plus neatly-stacked
records, tapes and CDs wherever physically possible. Bobby’s flat could be any young
hipster’s he’s got an avocado bath-room suite, but even in there either Brian
Jones or Keith Richards is looking at you.
"Oh, the pictures, they’re old," Bobby croaks. "Been up there for
years."
Indeed, the glass from the mounted centrefold of the Stooges’ ‘Funhouse’
LP has shattered and lies in a pile on the carpet.
And today Bobby is also shattered. He’s Brian Jones-cool in white silk scarf and
black, painted- on trousers and turtle neck, but he’s plainly shredded - not from
full-on indulgence in the Primal Scream lifestyle but from jet-lag. He and the band have
been recording in Memphis, completing two tracks for the imminent Scream EP,
‘Dixie-Narco’.
The lead track will be ‘Movin’ On Up’, the soaring opener of
‘Screamadelica’. From the Memphis sessions, there’s a ballad in the
"really strung-out" vein of ‘Damaged’ called ‘Stone My
Soul’, and a cover of’Carry Me Home’ written, but never officially
released, by Beach Boy Dennis Wilson.
"That really is a desolate song," warns the singer. The forth cut
‘Screamadelica’, he describes as a "ten minute disco mantra". Perhaps
Gillespie has reason to be bushed, but if there’s one thing to help shake off the
post-studio torpor, it’s the three current fave tunes he has lined up to kick off
what promises to be one serious C90. He cues up the first silver-labelled single. Will
this be a psycho- active celebration of human vitality? Bobby slumps into an armchair
beside the deck, eyelids barely apart. No, side one could be heavy going...
1 DlON (Wlth The Phil Spector Wall Of Sound Orchestra)
Born To Be With You (1975)
A sonorous blend of piano, strings and slide guitar gets kicked along by the famous
Specdrums, apparently at half peed. A sax moans mournfully and Dion wails a parched lament
as the Wall Of Sound heads for death’s door. Spine-chilling stuff, eh? Bobby? Bobby?
Oh dear.
"It’s absolutely beautiful, isn’t it?" he splutters suddenly.
"It’s almost like a New Orleans funeral march. You just imagine it’s
raining and it’s really hot and sticky and there’s a huge procession of people
with top hats and umbrellas doing the Second-Line dance."
He springs to his feet.
"You get an umbrella and go like that." He raises an arm aloft and kicks like
Frankie Vaughan. We’re on the way...
"It sounds really arrogant. Fucked but gloriously fucked. Wasted but gloriously
wasted. It’s victorious! When I die, I hope it sounds like that."
2 MOTT THE HOOPLE
Trudi’s Song (1971)
Already he’s up and has located a gentler ballad from the early ‘70s rock
outfit led by Ian Hunter. Suffused in aquamarine imagery, it’s soothing as the
lapping tide at sunset.
"That song makes me feel really calm. It’s very Dylanesque, but there’s
enough of Ian Hunter’s personality in there to make it his own. If you really want to
hear him doing Bob Dylan, I’ll play you this..."
He dances over to his Hoople corner and pulls out ‘I Wish I Was Your Lover’.
Bobness is strongly, instantly evident. Chuckles all round.
"But the lyrics are good on ‘Trudi’s Song’ - ‘Oooh-ooh-ooh
I got my babe’, that’s the bit I love.’She’s a right-on child’...
I dunno, it sounds good. This girl I know heard the song and she thought it sounded like
me singing! I don’t think so at all."
3 THE FACES
Debris (1971)
The first minor calamity strikes. Which track to choose by Rod Stewart’s
launch-pad combo? Bobby settles for this gorgeously laidback early ‘70s rocker,
actually sung by bassist Ronnie Lane.
"I like a lot of records that make me feel calm," he states, and we’re
getting the gist. "They’re generally quite melancholy songs, and that’s one
of them. It’s very ‘70s in that it goes, ‘There’s more trouble at
the depot with the General Workers’ Union’. Nobody would write that in a
song these days because we don’t have a trade union movement any more - the Tories
crushed it.
"That’s not why I like it, though. There’s a feel to it that transcends
the lyrics. The Faces were as good as The Rolling Stones, I think. There may be a couple
of Faces tunes on this tape, actually..." Oh, a Faces tape? "It’s a Faces
lifestyle, isn’t it?" He reconsiders. "I’ll have to think hard how to
follow that."
4 BIG STAR
Thirteen (1972)
Easy. This lovely acoustic number from the band so openly revered by Teenage Fanclub
surely fits the bill. Or does it?
"I like this because of the lyrics," chuckles Gillespie, a wicked grin on his
face. "He’s trying to win the love of a 13-year-old girl (reciting from
memory):’Won’t you tell your Dad to get off my back / Tell him what we
said about Paint It, Black/ Rock and rol is here to stay/ Come inside, but it’s OK
/And I’ll shake you’..."
"And it’s beautiful music. Normally songs about people trying to get hold of
young women are really sleazy and fast, aren’t they? This is really delicate and
tender. Fantastic..." His face clouds. "But I don’t know if it fits or
not."
It does. You’re doing well. Keep going.
"I’m trying to get a flow, but sometimes you have go way back and start
again..."
No, really that was great. What’s next?
5 PATTI SMITH
Piss Factory (1974)
A bitter half-spoken from the mid-‘70s priestess, accompanied poundingly angry
piano. Not too hard, Bobby?
"No," he fires back. "This is a song I think people should know about, I
heard this at a very early age and it had quite an effect on me. It’s about a girl
who has a job in a factory. She’s saying I’m young and I don’t want to
spend my life getting up at eight in the morning to work with people I don’t like .
"It made me feel good that somebody felt the same as me, but she had articulated
it better than I ever could. It’s a powerful thing - true to life, you can relate to
it. You get a lot of lyric’s these days that are obscure or just plain bad, where
people are trying to hide the fact that they don’t have anything to say. These lyrics
are extraordinary."
8 MARlANNE FAlTHFULL
Sister Morphine (1969)
From the model and doomed girlfriend of Mick Jagger, a tortuous version of the song
best known from he Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers’ LP. MC Bob now has the
bit between his teeth.
"She sings it far better than Mick Jagger," he reckons, "because
it’s a song of experience, like ‘Piss Factory’. If you listen to her voice,
she does sound pretty strung-out. The song’s about being addicted to morphine and she
was a heroin addict. She went through all that, and that’s why there’s so much
pain in her voice.
It’s the blues, basically. I don’t think you can sing the blues, if
you ain’t got the blues. You could play this to someone who doesn’t know much
about her and I’m sure they could still hear it’s a great record. So I’ve
put it in."
7 DENNIS WILSON
Thoughts Of You (1977)
A harrowing but exquisitely romantic ballad from the late Beach Boy, with sweet piano
bits and then effect-laden weird-outs. This is getting very heavy.
"Aye, but I like to listen to this sort of stuff when I’m on my own,"
offers Gillespie by way of explanation. "His image is really macho. He was a
beautiful looking, well-built Californian guy and he lived a pretty debauched life. You
listen to that song, though, and it’s very tender.
"Again," and here’s the continuity, "His voice sounds really sad
and hurt. Also, I think Dennis is overlooked as a songwriter in favour of Brian. (Reflects
a moment) I’ve gotta follow that up now, haven’t I? I’ll just see how
James Carr works after Dennis..."
8 JAMES CARR
(At The) Dark End Of The Street (1966)
Heart-breaking tune from the Memphis soul axis, often referred to and, indeed, sung
within the Scream camp.
"Yet again," exhales an increasingly troubled Bobby, "a voice loaded
with hurt. It’s a tragic song, about an illicit love affair. While we in Memphis we
met the guy who put this record out on Goldwax. He said that he was sitting playing poker
with Dan Penn and Chips Moman and he goes, I want you guys to write a song for James to
sing. So they popped a few pills, went away to the piano and came back a couple of minutes
later with ‘Dark End Of The Street’."
The laughter subsides, and the next track’s already spinning.
9 CRAZY HORSE
I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1971)
Another slow, bitter-sweet melody, this time from the band famed for backing Neil
Young’s toughest solo operations. The singer here, Danny Whitten, died of a heroin
overdose later in the ‘70s. If you thought Rod Stewart and Everything But The
Girl’s versions were downers, try this on for epic tragedy...
"This was a number one hit for Rod in 1977," Bobby recalls, "and a lot
of people have covered it, but one come close to this. Danny Whitten actually wrote the
song and I don’t think many people know that, so it’s going on the tape. So
emotional, beautiful."
The record spins for several minutes. "Wow" is heard at regular intervals.
Finally, Gillespie states the obvious: "This tape is going down and down, isn’t
it?"
He grabs a Scott Walker album. "God," he mutters, "this really is a sad
song."
10 SCOTT WALKER
Duchess(1968)
The steel guitar, the strings, the soaring, speaker-filling voice... It’s all too
much.
"The lyrics at the end go,’I’m lying, she’s Crying!’
And there’s a bit earlier where he goes,’I feel like a thief when
you’re bleeding". That’s a heavy line. Really guilt-laden."
A minute or so passes in silence. Bobby has another lyric for us: "With your
shimmering dress, itsays no, it says yes, it says I have nothing left for concealing’.
(He exhales) Phwww... They’re all sad songs, eh?"
We’re in trouble.
11 LEE HAZLEWOOD
Wait And See (1968)
The threat of Back-tracking becomes reality. We have Lee Hazlewood, but only after a
series of false starts. There’s one-time New York Doll Johnny Thunders (too long), ex
Mama And Papa John Phillips (way too long), Dusty Springfield ("not sad
enough"!) and Ann Peebles ("This is getting on top of me, I might redo the first
side").
This crisis is averted with Hazlewood’s late late-night bass croon, but it’s
far from the desired 180-degree mood-swing...
"It’s really down, isn’t it?" Bobby fails to apologise. It’s
another guilty song, but really delicate and honest. It’s probably best to listen to
on your own, really personal. You get a better feeling from it like that, you feel
protected, you feel better."
The spool runs out and the machine clicks off.
How about an up side now?
Upside SIDE 2
12 JIMMY REED
Baby What You Want Me To Do (1964)
With his rough, lazy R&B slouch, Reed picks up the atmosphere. Night has long since
fallen. It could be a good one yet.
"Yeah!" cried the DJ, perhaps sensing the same thing. "This is really
good music to get drunk to. Well, it’s great music anytime, but especially when
you’re drunk and your system’s slowed down. It’s really sloppy and sleazy
and sexy - everything that rock’n’roll music today isn’t. I would say the
years from 1977 up till now are probably the worst ever for rock music."
So here comes the rock’n’roll. Invigorated by the raunchier mood, Gillespie
leaps towards his Johnny Thunders section - a reprieve after the dead axe hero’s
failure to fill that troublesome slot last time.
13 THE HEARTBREAKERS
Pirate Love (1977)
A vintage punked-up riff staggers in and Gillespie has finally left downersville...
"The greatest rock’n’roll guitarist ever!" he beams, bouncing on
the edge of his seat. "Thunders is one of my all-time heroes. He always looked great,
he always dressed well, and, even up to the time he died, he was always an outsider. He
never gave in to society.
"And that’s prime Heartbreakers rock’n’roll. It’s a right
cool, sleazy song. (He sings) ‘Pirate love is what I’m wanted for,
pirate love is what I’m looking for’ (gets up on his feet). That’s
what rock’n’roll should sound like! Really electric and exciting and sexy.
It’s got a really good strut to it."
He demonstrates while pulling out the ‘Early Recordings’ of fuzz guitar
pioneer Link Wray.
14 LINK WRAY
Fat Back (1963)
A portentous rockabilly axe instrumental of carnivorous character...
"In fact," decides Bobby, "Johnny and Link are my favourite two
guitarists ever. It’s really delinquent music, not like today’s. I mean just
listen to it! It’s powerful, violent...and you think of sex, really. Sex, violence
and flying saucers.
"You feel like you’re on a motorcycle, or riding in a fast car. It’s the
kind of music that makes you feel like going out to have a good time."
Whizzing nicely along the road tape-wise, then, except that Alex Chilton’s
‘Bangkok’ is deemed "not powerful enough after Link". So, yes,
it’s out with the Five.
15 MC5 Sister Anne (1971)
Just the ticket. As the thunderous heavy-rock chords crunch in off the MC5s’
lesser known third album, ‘High Time’, this is a glaringly correct choice.
Gillespie’s up, shaking imaginary maracas, clapping along, smiling blissfully. A
cracker, which is probably why Primal Scream self-productions have been credited to
‘Sister Ann’.
"Yeah, it’s great isn’t it?" he enthuses between bounds. "I
just put it on and it makes me feel incredibly powerful. It makes you feel like you can do
anything. You get a real shot of adrenalin off it. I mean, have you ever heard pure energy
like that on a record?" (Heads are honestly shaken) Incredible, a real
full-tilt boogie, but how do you follow ‘Sister Ann’?"
Still out of breath, he fixes up Bo Diddley’s "Who Do You Love’. Superb
mid-‘50s gear but, at the end, BG looks concerned. He’d faded the MC5 and left
the levels down at zero.
"Aw, I’m sorry, I’ll have to tape that again...Hang on, I’ll put
this on instead."
16 THlN LIZZY
Don’t Believe A Word (1976)
A further hard-rockin’ thriller with all the crunchy flavour of the wild (and
late) Phil Lynott.
"They were one of the biggest influences on our band," the Screamster
confesses, "because they were a real teenage thing. Everybody in the group was a fan.
When we first met Andy Weatherall, that was one of the things we had in common - big
Lynott fans. We actually do a version of this song live, really heavy like that."
For once a sequel doesn’t seem to present a problem.
"Right then, a bit of Memphis soul, I think." Except...
17 MINK DEVILLE
Spanish Stroll (1977)
A mellow, doo-wop ditty of Chiltonesque grace that gets Gillespie back in the mobile
mood.
"That record makes me feel very happy," he explains simply. "You put it
on and strut about the house. Like it says in the song, ‘Finger on my eyebrow,
left hand on my hip’ (he tries it out a while)- you don’t have to explain
why you like something just listen. I don’t want to bore people with history
lessons."
Already he’s digging out... What? Aha, the Memphis soul strikes back.
18 FREDDIE SCOTT
Am I Grooving You (1967)
A groin-grinding rhythm makes sure that the answer to Scott’s question is most
definitely affirmative.
"A great dance record," Bobby affirms. "You hear that and you’ve
gotta move to it. You can’t stand still. This is where the Stones were coming from
when they were doing stuff like the ‘Exile’ LP, listening to a Iot of records
like this. It’s got the same kind of feel to it. Aye, great stuff."
19 TAPPER ZUKIE (And The Musical Intividators)
New Star (1977)
Rough and ready mid-‘70s reggae waxing with up front dancehall vocals and echoing
dub effects that boom out for body action.
"It’s the thing you play first thing, when you’ve just woken up. Another
song that makes me feel ‘up’. I like a lot of ‘70s reggae because it kind
of flows, it’s sort of liquid. It’s dubby, but there’s a good song in
there.
"The lyric goes,’They’re killing off the youth, but every day a new
star is born’. It’s really defiant and insurrectionary, a song about
fighting back and not giving in. Very inspirational, very spiritual."
With that under his belt, Selector Gillespie heads for soul/disco turf. There’s
fluff on the needle, though.
20 GEORGE McCRAE
Rock Your Baby (1974)
21 DETROIT EMERALDS
Feel The Need In Me (1972)
The good-time vibe prevails with these two exquisite Northern grooves. Soft, romantic
voices abound.
"These two just make me feel happy," offers Bobby. "Records like this
are really joyous and I like that kind of music too. That’s the other side to the
first side of this tape! I don’t really think any of those songs are miserable, but
they are kind of ‘down’. These are pure joy, though.
"Actually, I always thought our song ‘Shine Like Stars’ was like a
George McCrae song. I mean, I could imagine him doing it like that, but not us.
We can’t play like that, unfortunately."
He trails off, perusing the Emerald’s LP sleeve where a black girl in a fur coat,
crushed-velvet hot pants and thigh-length boots stands leggily in front of a big limo.
22 THE SPINNERS
I’ll Be Around (1972)
Suitably inspired the wax wizard takes it back to Detroit - the first at Chipmunks
speed - and the seeds of doubt over his choices are sown once more...
"Aw, this tape’s a real pain in the arse," he moans. "I don’t
think half of it has taped, to be honest - I never took the pause off."
It’s OK, the lights are going on the tape deck.
"Right, well, this is a great song too, produced by Thom Bell who was one of the
great Philadelphia people. A really talented guy. It’s a sort of ‘I’ll be
there’ song."
A bit like the next.
23 THE CHAlRMEN OF THE BOARD
(You’ve Got Me) Dangling On A String (1970)
Top Ten classic from the soul group led by Norman "General" Johnson.
"This came out on Holland, Dozier and Holland’s label after they left Motown.
They were pretty talented guys, too, The General had a real bleeding quality to his voice
- he’s not yelling...I think Kevin Rowland of Dexys must’ve been abig fan ofThe
General... I dunno, it sounds quite happy at the start, but the chord progression gets
quite melancholy."
Eighty-seven minutes gone, three to go..."Aye, we’ll get one more song on
here."
24 CHUCK BERRY
I'm Talking About You (1961)
A prime early cut from (yet another) "King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll".
"I love the lyrics on this one," he cackles, between strokes on his air
guitar. "He’s supposed to get it on with this girl: ‘let me tell ya
‘bout a girl I know, I saw her walkin’ down an uptown street.’ and,
y’know, he’s into her. I love the feel of it - almost out of tune, really funky
and dirty and... Actually, we jam this song sometimes."
SO THE MARATHON IS OVER, AND THE C90 is full. As he surveys the line up Bobby explains
there are no current dance faves included because a recent flatmate took most of the House
collection with her when she moved out.
"So let’s see what we’ve got. I think it’s quite a good mix of
stuff. I mean, I could’ve made a mad tape, with some jazz and things, but I’ve
made a pop tape instead. I suppose I could change it."
No, no, Bob, that’ll be just excellent, honestly. You’re looking tired after
all that hard work - perhaps we should’ve left the down stuff till later and
had some rock numbers to start with.
"What do you mean? Dion! Ya cannae get much more rock’n’ roll
than Dion! Nor The Faces! Nor Big Star. Nor Patti Smith... It’s a total rock
‘n’ roll tape, man!"
He grabs a pair of pens, gold and White, and christens the cassette shell with a big
star (ha!) and the perfect title: Rock’N’ Roll Music.
But of course.
Originally Appeared in Select February 1992 Copyright © Select.
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