I was fortunate enough to watch two new music documentaries this week.
While they covered the works of two totally different bands, there were a few similarities between the two - both came through in the late 70s / early 80s, both went on hiatus before returning with a sense of celebration, and both lost a key founding member in recent times (and both docs deal with that differently).
One of the bands may be considered a national treasure - the other struggled to gain the status many thought their music deserved. Whether you know much about either band, if you are into music in any way, watch them both - if you can.
The Story Of Microdisney: The Clock Came Down The Stairs
What happens when a Luton born teenager moves to Cork and befriends a local and they get stuck into the music scene there?
You get Microdisney, formed in Cork in 1980, at a time when it seemed like everyone in southern Ireland was listening to Steely Dan or folk music.
An alternative scene was growing at the turn of that decade around the Kampus Club at University College Cork, and Micro Disney (as they were then known) were a part of that.
The band was formed by those two young men, Sean O'Hagan (the Luton one) and Cathal Coughlan (the Cork one). Early single, Hello Rascals, got a release on the Kabuki label in 1982 and was picked up by John Peel, who gave it airplay on his show (and the B-Side too).
Early 80s Ireland was in the grip of recession and was nowhere near the centre of the music world, and Microdisney weren't the first band of that era to realise the need to relocate to London if they want to get on. It is clear from the old interview footage, this was out of necessity, not any love of London.
The documentary, understandably, concentrates on second album, The Clock Comes Down The Stairs - it is their most renowned. We get a good insight into the production process from all four members (O'Hagan, Coughlan and Jon Fell and Tom Fenner), as well as producer Jamie Lane, who recalls that they recorded the drum parts last - something considered 'insane' at the time, but now a fairly routine thing.
There is the inevitable struggling record label (Rough Trade) putting everything into one act (The Smiths), leaving other bands a little to they wayside. There is the desire to move on (to Virgin Records), a new album (Crooked Mile) and a new producer (legendary Lenny Kaye).
And Kaye recalls a point that comes up quite a bit through the documentary - the dichotomy between the raging, often brutal lyrics of Coughlan, set against the beautiful arrangements of O'Hagan (the theme of melody comes up many times).
The album that ends up being the last, 39 Minutes, is accused of being lacking in mystery, with someone referring to it as, "Microdisney's suicide note." A sad implosion at the Dominion Theatre in London is recalled in 1988, with the band splitting up - through a combination of Coughlan's drinking, the intensity of the music business and the fact that sales never matched expectations.
The redemption is a long time coming. Coughlan goes off to vent his spleen with Fatima Mansions, and O'Hagan continues his pop sensibilities with the High Llamas (and occasionally Stereolab). There is a get together at a friend's birthday party in 2012, and then in 2018, the unthinkable - they get back together. One last round of shows stretches into 2019 and a final hometown show in Cork. Actor Aidan Gillan notes that the reunion was "a gift from them to us, but a gift to themselves also."
The shows appear joyous and celebratory, it being clearly noted that the reception is perhaps better than they ever had in the 1980s. Interviews with the band members are taken from that 2018-19 reformation, with added bits recorded in 2022, including extra material with Coughlan, who would die that year. His passing is noted at the end of the credits.
"You want to be welcomed and loved, but you're not always welcomed and loved." (Sean O'Hagan)
Available on: BBC iPlayer
Record On: The Specials
It will remain one of my biggest regrets in life, musically speaking, that I never get to see The Specials live. Everything I have ever seen and heard suggests that I would have had the time of my life. My consolation - I did see Neville Staple once, supporting Buzzcocks, and he finished with Ghost Town.
The Specials came along at the right time. Britain was in the midst of austere times, a Thatcherite government, rampant racism and lots of rioting. Their music fused two cultures when it was needed most - the socio-political anger of punk merged with the irresistible roots and rhythm of reggae and ska.
It is ironic that in just a few short years, seven men from Coventry would rise to the peak of their powers - Ghost Town would be number one for three weeks in 1981. They would then record an appearance on Top Of The Pops, and split up in the dressing room afterwards.
In 2009, six of those seven men would come back. Jerry Dammers wanted to take the music in a different direction and didn't end up re-joining. It is perhaps the only sad note for this documentary, is that neither Dammers nor Staple are interviewed (presumably personal choice) and neither get much of a mention during the reflective interviews.
Like the Microdisney doc, a huge focus is made on a 2019 tour - in this case we are presented with several dizzying montages of live performances as the band make their way around Europe. By this time, six has become three - as Staple and Roddy Radiation had left, and drummer John Bradley passed in 2015. So the focus is on Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter.
What we get through the programme is that reminder of how urgent and important their music was. A&R man, Johnny Chandler, says of Gangsters - "[it] comes out of the redio and grabs you." When discussing that epic original finale of Ghost Town, the symphonic nature and resonance is discussed, with The Selector's Pauline Black remarking on how it "encapsulates the melancholy."
There are notable contributions from Elvis Costello, who did such a great job producing that first album, and mega fan Damon Albarn.
Unlike the first documentary, the sad ending, that we all know is coming, is fully embraced within the piece. The last interviews with Golding and Panter come after that tragic day in December 2022, when we lost Terry Hall - as Albarn notes, looking down, "I can't overstate how much of an influence he was."
Available on: Sky Arts
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