Thoughts Of Yesterday: A Review Of What Presence!: The Rock Photography Of Harry Papadopoulos...

If there was ever a book review where regular readers could probably write it themselves it's got to be this one.  What Presence!: The Rock Photography Of Harry Papadopoulos contains many people already featured on these pages. Postcard Records? Tick. Edwyn Collins? Tick. Foreword by Peter Capaldi? Tick. Clare Grogan? Tick, smiley face.

I've been a sucker for coffee table books on film and music since long before I had a coffee table. You're dealing with someone who counts Gary Mulholland's This Is Uncool and Fear Of Music as two of his favourite books, and who still owns a copy of Chris Charlesworth's fantastically sleazy Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Put put aside my fetish for glossy publications and What Presence! is still a must have for anyone interested in the history of Scottish popular music.

Harry Papadopoulos (right) chronicled what many believe was the golden era for pop music, and here is the glorious evidence. I won't deny that some of the people on these pages made music which changed my life. Folk such as Roddy Frame, Billy Mackenzie, Edwyn Collins and Davy Henderson as well as David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello and The Clash; because don't think Harry dealt solely with local heroes. He went on to photograph just about every major pop and rock star of the 1980s, and beyond.

The book itself is a thing of beauty with its 'Never Mind The Bollocks' colour scheme, and it gives the pictures the space they deserve.  It also has just the right amount of commentary from those who were there. What lifts the book above the purely pictorial is a result of the contribution from Ken McCluskey, still known best to many as a founding member of The Bluebells and a McCluskey Brother. Ken not only pens the introduction, but appears to have reached into his little black book and called upon some favours from the great and good of Scottish pop, and beyond, to contribute. Reading what they have to say it is clear that they didn't need much persuading.

They include The Waterboys' Mike Scott, Clare Grogan, Jill Bryson of Strawberry Switchblade, Vic Godard, most of Orange Juice, and a contribution from one of the great writers on music and modern culture, Jon Savage. If you can judge a person by those ready to sing their praises then Harry Papadopoulos is a fine man indeed. What comes across is that this is a fan, a pop fanatic, who just happened to have a phenomenal eye for what makes a great picture, and who was able to use that to full effect.

If you were around in the '80s this will bring the memories flooding back, but even if you weren't then it's a wonderful pictorial history of a time when indie meant just that. For all the well kent faces on show, part of the book's appeal comes from seeing the photos of dimly remembered bands and lesser known heroes such as the Jazzateers, 999, The Elite, The Scars, Angelic Upstarts and The Dreamboys, who featured the aforementioned Peter Capaldi as well as Craig Ferguson in their line-up.

What Presence! is a reminder that we don't become obsessed with bands, musicians and movements purely because of the music. It's also about the clothes, the haircuts, the attitude, arrogance and that otherworldly charm that true stars seem to have. I could go on about The Rezillos, Yello, Heaven 17, Josef K, Felt...all of whom appear on these pages, but I think you get the picture. I'm simply going to leave you with three of my favourites...smiley face...

April's Shower: Last Month's Best New Music...

New music monthly... That's what I should have named this column from the start, because coming up with new puns for every month is becoming even more problematic and taxing than selecting what music will feature.

But at least the music is good. Apologies to the very good bands and musicians who didn't make this roundup, but there was a lot of competition. There's rock, pop, electronic and acoustic sounds, and I think, when you put it together, it makes for a great listen. April was quite a melodic, hook laden, month and there are more than a few classic pop songs on the way.

First off is a sampler video of Collar Up's new album Ghosts (out 13/5/13). Collar Up are a fantastic band who marry melody, dream states and arresting imagery. But don't take my word for it, I can prove it by you listening below. They are making some of my favourite music at the moment, and any band who pens a song called A Jam Jar Full Of Wasps is all right by me:



The Winter Tradition are making a habit of making music which seems specifically tailored to my ears and therefore appear on these pages. Their song Tides And Telegrams has been a regular listen since its release, and their latest single, Black Tiger, is a beautiful acoustic track featuring vocalist Ewan and his guitar. Nice video as well:



And now for something a little different. How to describe the music of John Mulhearn? I'll let the tabs on his Soundcloud page do it for me. They include 'traditional electronic', 'African beats' 'sample', 'bass' and 'story'. Throw all of those things together and you get something quite magical. Something like this:


Edinburgh band Capitals release their album A National Service in June. From that album this is Relieve, and it reminds me of early Simple Minds or Human League, both of which are very good things in case you're wondering. If the album lives up to this then it'll be rather special:



More electronic sounds, but this time a song which rattles along at some speed. It's jERRY lEE lEWIS from The Milliband. It has the energy of The Ruts Babylon's Burning (yet another up to date reference for the teenagers), and it never lets up until it crashes to the floor 3.18 minutes later. Phew:


More indie pop, this time from the Scottish Highlands and a band called KOBI. There are few things I love more than a great melody, and they nail it. This is their song All The Way, and as I write this it is my favourite song of the last month. There are a few bands doing this sort of thing at the moment, but only a select few doing it as well as KOBI. See if you agree:



And finally, April contained two of my live musical highlights of 2013 so far. One was a King Tuts gig (which was technically in May, but who cares?) which featured Ramisco Maki Maki Rocking Horse, Jo Mango, Beerjacket and The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, a bit of a fantasy line-up for Scots Whay Hae! and which more than lived up to that billing. The other was seeing Young Fathers as part of Neu Reekie's night in Glasgow. They are a band who you should definitely see live as they are part Asian Dub Foundation/part Massive Attack, and they are as good as that sounds. Theirs is music that will effect you. This is I Heard, and it is quite beautiful:



Tara for a bit...

Home Truths: A Review Of Karen Campbell's This Is Where I Am...

One of the most difficult things for any writer is to create recognisable characters while avoiding cliche. This is particularly hard to achieve when your subject matter is regularly dealt with in over emotive, one-sided and sensational headlines in the media. Readers will arrive with some prejudice or other taken from whichever political points of view they hold; it's unavoidable. Play up to stereotypes and you will be accused of resorting to cliche, overly subvert them and the situations and characters become unrecognisable. The balance between individuals and issues is a fine act to pull off.

Karen Campbell's novel This Is Where I Am is about a culture clash between two people who discover that while they may not always want one another, they come to need each other. Abdi Hassan is a Somalian refugee who has had to flee his home to save his, and his daughter Rebecca's, life. They are housed in Glasgow where he is appointed a mentor to help with his adjustment to the city. 

That mentor is Deborah Maxwell, a widow who has her own reasons for taking up such a role, but who is determined to do the right thing, even when she is unsure as to what that thing is. Abdi and Deborah's relationship is an uneasy one, with the reader initialy believing this arrives not only from a language barrier, but from their different social and cultural backgrounds. What soon becomes clear is that both are united, and divided, by grief and terrible incidents from their past. They may initially appear to have little in common but they share the guilt that can accompany making the wrong decision, or from making no decision at all. When you scratch their polite and respectful fronts, the raw emotion which lies beneath means that the two are bound to hurt each other before any healing can begin.

Deborah and Abdi's voices and their situations are as believable as they are heartbreaking. What they may represent to wider society is quickly overtaken as their individual stories, and their spirit, shines through. They are absolutely rounded individuals; at times compassionate and caring, at others proud and self pitying, but they are always human. By having two central narrators, readers get a clear insight into their misunderstandings and how they occur, and also where the anger, hurt and confusion comes from.

The best writing, or at least the most emotional, is understated, allowing the reader to recognise the situations, and then fill in the blanks with how they would try to cope.  Not many writers manage to show the horror of the lives of others in a way which stays on the right side of sensational, but by using the unreliable memories of her narrators, Campbell does this beautifully. Both Deborah and Abdi have had to deal with terrible things, things which they struggle to make sense of. Not knowing the full story can be the worst thing of all, and it is in trying to make sense of the past that the two find true friendship and trust. Too few books are about the capacity that human beings have for kindness and compassion. Scottish writing in particular features a cast of deceitful characters who put themselves first, and often they're the heroes. This Is Where I Am is a refreshingly human and humane novel. There may be selfishness and self pity, but the desire to do the right thing for others drives the characters, and the plot, forward.

There is always the philosophical question concerning why people do good deeds. Can such acts be pure altruism, or are they always tainted by more selfish reasons?  As with most circular arguments eventually you have to say "who cares?". Deborah initially helps Abdi and Rebecca because she feels the need to atone, and the desire to move on, but as soon as she gets to know them as individuals, and they come to know her, their lives become intertwined inexorably, and the care that they have for one another is what defines true friendship. They stop putting themselves first because an other's well-being is more important.

What This Is Where I Am shows that questions of why people act is of little importance in people's everyday lives, it is the act itself that matters. The novel is about the desire for broken people not only to heal themselves, but to help heal other people; an instinct which comes from recognising ourselves in others, and which can cut across religion, race, class, nationality, or any other division that you care to mention. This Is Where I Am breaks through the preconceptions and prejudices of the characters, and the readers, to act as a reminder that there is more that unites us than divides us. Karen Campbell has written an ultimately uplifting novel which recognises there is hope even in the bleakest of siutations, and that sometimes we just can't make it on our own. A tonic for heart and soul.

Echo Beach: The Scots Whay Hae! Podcast's Annual Trip To Talk To Doug Johnstone By The Sea...

Hello folks! In this month's exciting episode... Ali and Ian take the Scots Whay Hae! podcast to The Espy in Portobello, making the now annual trip to the seaside to meet and talk to novelist Doug Johnstone. Last time there was fog and fighting dugs. This time was a tamer affair, although the chat was as thrillingly dark as you would expect from the writer of Smokeheads, Hit & Run and the recent Gone Again.

It is talk about his latest novel that takes up most of the time as Ali attempts to create tension in the Johnstone household by suggesting that Doug's protestations that the book is purely fiction are perhaps too much. Johnstone also gives us a little information about the next novel, absolutely nothing about the one due to follow that, tells us about the trouble with telly, and explains why he believes reports of the death of the book have been greatly exaggerated.

You'll learn about the everyday life of a writer, some mind boggling police statistics, the importance of research, and discover just how emotional Gone Again made Ali feel. As you can see, the sun shone and no animals were injured, and we're already looking forward to returning next year.

You can listen to the podcast at iTunes or by RSS, and if you're new round these parts you will find all the previous podcasts at the same places. I would humbly suggest they're worth a listen. Subscribe and you'll never miss us.

We have a few irons in the fire for future pods, but I can't say a word as yet as you'll just think we're showing off. Suffice to say there will be music, chat, sometimes tears, sometimes laughter; but always a happy ever after...

You Have Been Watching...The Space Between.

I'm part of a generation who were introduced to arthouse cinema thanks to Channel 4 and their clever trick of having a red triangle in the corner of the screen promising sex and violence, possibly together, in the forthcoming feature, before showing some of Europe's finest alternative cinema.

Of course the 'action' was always tame, but on the following Monday morning schools the length and breadth of the country in the mid 1980s were full of teens discussing the merits of Jan Svankmajer, Scandinavian realism, exactly how funny French surreal comedy Themroc actually was (the answer, not so much), and if it was worth turning the TV on its side to get the full effect of Andy Warhol's Empire State Building.

I'm a big fan of most films which try something different, even when it fails spectacularly, sometimes especially so. It's something that Scottish film has done well in recent decades. The most widely praised, if not necessarily known, Scottish arthouse filmmaker is probably Bill Douglas who directed the Childhood Trilogy and Comrades, and there is little doubt that his influence is still felt today. His films were almost dialogue free and beautifully filmed, concentrating on showing rather than telling stories.

Arthouse films can alternatively be called 'festival films', those which are shown around the world in places like Cannes, Berlin, Venice, etc. Films such as Red Road, The Magdalene Sisters, Ratcatcher, Young Adam, My Name Is Joe and this year's Shell have all won prizes and found audiences on the festival circuit, and filmmakers such as Peter Mullen, Lynne Ramsay, David Mackenzie, Richard Jobson, Scott Graham and even Peter Capaldi have had their reputations made to an extent with arthouse films, and all of the above can be said to have followed Douglas's template to some degree. You could say that this is the type of cinema that Scots film makers do better than any other.

In 2006 Lyre Productions made the flawed, yet beautiful, The Inheritance, about two estranged brothers who take a road trip together. They followed that with 2011's The Space Between, written, directed and starring Tim Barrow. Once again it is a wonderful film to look at, and the lack of dialogue works very well. In fact I would have rather the whole thing was silent, as that is where the film excels.

It's been described as a love story, but it's a loss story. Two strangers struggle to deal with personal tragedy and this common despair is what binds them. They don't want, and I'm not sure they even need, each other, but it eventually seems easier to be together than alone. Although they find a form of comfort in each other you are left with the feeling this is unlikely to last. Their emotions are still too raw to let anyone too close, and although there are some beautiful moments the two share together, they still seem detatched. Or maybe I was just feeling cynical when I watched it.

The best thing about the film, apart from the cinematography, is the performance of Vivien Reid as Lisa, who brings a believable emotion to the part that her partner in grief, director Tim Barrow as Steven, can't quite match. I was talking to a director friend of mine about this film and he said that he can't imagine being on both sides of the camera. Of course, there are great examples of people doing so magnificently, but not that many. Here Barrow shows he can direct, and there are memorable images which he captures with an artist's eye, but he is in the shadow of Reid when it comes to the acting.

The film avoids most of the cliches of Edinburgh, and as a result is a fresh look at the city. There is little doubt that Barrow loves Edinburgh, warts and all, and wants others to share this. Of the filmmakers named above only Jobson has used Edinburgh in a similar manner, and his A Woman In Winter, which is a hugely underated film, would make an interesting, if harrowing, double bill with The Space Between, showing Edinburgh at its best and humanity at its most desperate.

Here is the trailer:



And here are Vivien Reid and Tim Barrow at a Q&A at the London Premiere giving some personal insight into the film:



It is heartening to see that films such as The Space Between, Peter Mackie Burns' Come Closer and  Cora Bissett's multi-platform Whatever Gets You Through The Night continue to get made against the financial odds. Each one of these films show us a little bit more about Scotland's people and places and that can never be a bad thing. The more we see, the more we understand.

Rip It Up And Start Again: New Music From Edwyn Collins & Lloyd Cole...

Long time readers will know that Edwyn Collins and Lloyd Cole are two of my musical heroes, and they have had very different albums released recently, both of which give listeners an insight into where the two men are today.

Edwyn Collins last album, Losing Sleep, was the first recorded entirely after his well documented illness and it was as defiant as it was life affirming. His latest, Understated, is more reflective in content, although musically it fits alongside some of his best solo work such as Hope and Despair and Home Again. Tracks such as Carry On, Carry On, Down The Line and the closer, Love's Been Good To Me, see Collins looking back on his life so far, perhaps saying a fond farewell to that stage, and looking forward to the next.

The biggest surprise for me was the deeper baritone quality to his voice that lend the more melancholy tracks extra poignancy. Think of the American Recordings of Johnny Cash and you have an idea of how Edwyn now croons. Losing Sleep was a remarkable album, but you could not listen to it without thinking of the trauma that the man had recently been through. With Understated that doesn't cross your mind, you just think that this is one of our greatest singer/songwriters in reflective mode using a terrific band of musicians to great effect.

This is the first single, Dilemna, which is a rowdier number than most of the tracks:

And so to our second hero, Mr Lloyd Cole, a man whose music has soundtracked many a doomed relationship, which, with hindsight, probably explains a lot. Unlike Edwyn, Lloyd has decided to try something completely different, a world away from the mournful songs of love and disappointment that I for one know and cherish. Or is it?

Selected Studies Vol.1 sees Lloyd collaborating with Krautrock legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius on an album of ambient electronica which reminds me of Sakamoto, Tangerine Dream and Eno. This is a path that another of my favourite singers, David Sylvian, has been travelling for some time and there is little doubt that he brings a pop sensibility to the genre that many purveyors of electronic music lack. Likewise, Lloyd appears to give these songs an emotion that is reminiscent of his most mainstream work.

Like Sylivian's early work with Sakamoto, there is a feeling that Cole is learning a different craft here, and as there are no vocals it is difficult to work out exactly what Lloyd's contribution is to the project. But then why should that matter if the result is this wonderful collection of ambient sounds? If this is a starting point I'm intrigued to what he does next, but Selected Studies Vol.1 is a fine addition to the electronica section of your record collection. If you've never dipped your toes before, then this is a great place to start.

Here is the first track, Pastoral, and if you listen to this on a train journey to the coast, suddenly it all makes a lot more sense:



Like Understated,  Selected Studies Vol.1 is not breaking any new ground, (although it will be for many fans of Cole), but both albums are fascinating additions to bodies of work from two men who still remain relevant three decades after they first picked up guitars. What presence? Same as it ever was.

You can read reviews of Edwyn and Lloyd's last albums here.

A Cut Above The Rest: A Review Of Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare...

Sometimes you read a book which leaves you asking questions about yourself, your own prejudices, and how they affect the way you read. Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare did just that for me. Ostensibly it is a novel which is a warm, evocative and humorous story of the relationship between two of Zimbabwe's most sought after hairstylists and how their initial, admittedly one sided, competition changes to become an, admittedly one-sided, partnership.

But it is the writing about people and place, and the cultural and social politics of both, that raise this novel above the ordinary, and had me questioning my own point of view. Situations which are still serious but hardly surprising occurances in Scotland take on greater danger set against the background of contemporary Zimbabwe.

Vimbai, the narrator, is a vibrant, confident and talented single-mother who has been mostly used and abused by men until she meets Dumisani, who appears too good to be true. Dumisani seems to be just that little bit more in every way to Vimbai. More charming, courteous, and, to her dismay, a better hair stylist. He is beautifully dressed, spoken and mannered, and perhaps most surprisingly, is single. All the women love him, and flock to get their hair cut and styled by him and he soon becomes the talk of Harare.

One of the things which makes the novel such an interesting read is how you react to that initial description of Dumisani. On the cover blurb it says that The Hairdresser of Harare '...confounds stereotypes', and it certainly does when it comes to those I had of Zimbabwe. However, I found my own more homegrown stereotypes being at least partly fulfilled by the characters, particularly where Dumisani is concerned. As a result, right from the beginning, it was clear to me what others in the book, particularly Vimbai, could not see.

But as the novel unfolded I realised that my initial indifference to their relationship came from my judging the plight of these characters as someone for who their situation would not be the biggest of deals. What Huchu does is to make clear just how difficult life has been, and remains, for the two central characters, not necessarily because of individual oppression, although that exists, but from widely held cultural beliefs which mean that the two will be not only be condemned by many in their society, but possibly attacked, cast out and even 'punished'.

Even when you know how a central aspect of a novel is going to turn out, it doesn't mean that the journey to that revelation is diminished. Take Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat, where we are told at the beginning of the novel that the narrator of Lise dies by the end. That doesn't stop it being one of the best examinations of the human condition you could wish to read. As with The Hairdresser Of Harare, what may be revealed to the reader takes on a greater significance as the story unfolds for the other characters who are not so privileged.

By taking a situation that could happen anywhere, and writing characters who you quickly come to think of as individuals rather than any stereotypes you may bring, Huchu has written a book which introduces readers to a country most will only have knowledge of from media reports and TV images. Love, hate, prejudice, history, culture and class are all examined through the lives of Vimbai and Dumisani, their friends, and their families, and if you are like me you will finish the book knowing more about Zimbabwe, but also about yourself.