I know that he came up as part of the chain for the last Six Degrees, on Kirsty MacColl, but Terry Hall's passing in December, leaves a rather large hole to fill in the world of music.
For me, that is probably largely because of his (and his bands) place in the background to my youth. But I saw no harm in rolling out one more, somewhat oblique, celebration of his life - by using him to start this edition of Six Degrees of Kevin Shields.
When Terry Hall appeared in the last Six Degrees chain, we talked about his time in various bands - The Specials, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield and Vegas - but he also did some solo work. His 1994 debut album, Home, was produced by Ian Broudie (famous Liverpool producer and Lightening Seed) and was released on the Anxious label, reaching just 95 on the UK album charts. Much of the album was co-written with Craig Gannon, who had made his name playing as the occasional second guitarist in The Smiths, but also with Aztec Camera, Adult Net and some of Morrissey's solo work. Other guest writers included XTC's Andy Partridge and 80s pop legend, Nick Heyward - with Les Pattinson (Echo & The Bunnymen) and Chris Sharrock as two of the guest musicians. The following year saw the Rainbows EP come out (with lead track, Chasing A Rainbow included on the Home re-issue that year), this time featuring Damon Albarn as a guest collaborator.
Chris Sharrock is an extremely talented drummer, who started out in under-rated Liverpool band, the Icicle Works. He was with them for their first four albums, before leaving in 1988. He has played with a host of bands since, including World Party, the Lightning Seeds, Del Amitri and eight years with Robbie Williams. He was also briefly in another Liverpool band, The La's, and features on their most well known tune, There She Goes. But in 2008 he followed on from Zak Starkey as drummer for Oasis, with Noel Gallagher saying of his recruitment; "Liam is still not happy about Chris Sharrock, because he's Robbie Williams drummer. I went home and thought about it and it was just too much of a temptation to piss Robbie Williams and Liam off in one phone call." Relations must have improved between Sharrock and Liam Gallagher after that initial doubt, as he followed his time in Oasis by joining Liam's new band, Beady Eye, along with Ride's Andy Bell. Sharrock was also one of four drummers to feature on Faith And Courage, the fifth studio album released by Sinead O'Connor, in 2000.
Icicle Works: Hollow Horse - https://youtu.be/NHGKFbJbhIg
Sinead Marie Bernadette O'Connor, was named after the wife of Irish republican hero and politician, Eamon de Valera's, as well as St Bernadette of Lourdes. This is perhaps significant, because she has had a difficult, and very public, relationship with the Catholic church throughout her career, especially around the subject of child abuse in the church (and its cover up). There have been numerous infamous public incidents, including during her appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992, when she held a picture of Pope John Paul II up to the camera, calling it evil, before ripping it up. But she has also looked out for other female pop stars, such as when she wrote a letter to Miley Cyrus in 2013, warning her about the treatment of women in the music industry.
That aside, we are now going to travel back to her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. This was her 1991 classic, that includes Nothing Compares 2 U. As well as Jah Wobble (PiL) and Andy Rourke (The Smiths), the record also features, on the song The Emperor's New Clothes, Marco Pirroni on guitar.
Marco Pirroni was most famously an Ant, backing Adam that is, but his first appearance was playing for Siouxsie & The Banshees in their first gig at the 100 Club in London, in 1976 (with one Sid Vicious on drums). From there, he joined the aforementioned Adam & The Ants as lead guitarist and co-songwriter, playing on the two big albums, Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Prince Charming (the first contemporary pop album I ever bought). He was one of several names brought into the band to replace the original Ants, Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman and Leigh Gorman, who had left in January 1980 to form Bow Wow Wow.
Do I need an excuse to play this? Not really...
Adam & The Ants: Stand And Deliver - https://youtu.be/4B2a6l6wM2k
Bow Wow Wow were managed by everyone's favourite pop Svengali, Malcolm McLaren, who had persuaded Messrs Barbarossa, Ashman and Gorman to team up with 13-year old singer Annabella Lwin. First up was the Your Cassette Pet EP in 1980, which was followed a year later by probably the best named debut album of all time - See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!. From it, in early 82, came the #7 hit Go Wild In The Country. The band spent time touring the US opening for The Pretenders and The Police and then for Madness in Japan. Several EPs and non-album singles followed, before 1983 saw the second full length album arrive. When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going had a cover photo by David Bailey and in credits 'a kiss' was given to John Belushi and 'Jim' who had both recently died.
Bow Wow Wow: Go Wild In The Country - https://youtu.be/UrzKNGEl-ZA
'Jim' refers to James Honeyman-Scott, a west country lad, who was growing vegetables and selling guitars (at Buzz Music in Hereford) when he got the call to join the Pretenders. His guitar playing influences straddled the blues rock of Cream and the Allman Brothers and the jangle pop of Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and Elvis Costello. He was a key part of the Pretenders early success, but in June 1982 he succumbed to heart failure caused by cocaine intolerance. His short but exciting career had left an impression though, with a young Johnny Marr particularly liking his work; "He was the last impressive influence on my playing before I went out on my own." And things went somewhat full circle in 1987, when Marr, fresh from his Smiths exit, spend some time as touring guitarist for the Pretenders.
Fun Fact: while everyone thinks that The Pretenders song 2,000 Miles is a cute Christmas dittty, it is, in fact, Chrissie Hynde's beautiful and haunting tribute to James Honeyman-Scott.
"He's gone two thousand miles. It's very far. The snow is falling down.
Gets colder day by day. I miss you."
In 2010, Edwyn Collins put out his seventh solo album, Losing Sleep. Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand was on there, as was Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera - and on Come Tomorrow, Come Today, was Johnny Marr.
Back in 1986, Collins, having left Orange Juice, was a solo artist signed to Elevation (a joint venture by Creation and Warner Music). He managed to put out two singles on the label, both produced by Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins - Don't Shilly Shally and My Beloved Girl - before the label closed in November 1987. And while other Elevation artists like The Weather Prophets and Primal Scream were moved across to the parent Creation, Collins was not.
By 2002, Primal Scream had released their seventh album, Evil Heat, which made it into the UK Top10. Jim Reid (Jesus & Mary Chain) sang lead vocals on Detroit and there is also an interesting cover of Lee Hazlewood's Some Velvet Morning (including Kate Moss on vocals). And one of the album's producers (also adding guitar effects to City) is one KEVIN SHIELDS.
Primal Scream: City - https://youtu.be/4WS7gwfzzGU
Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra: Some Velvet Morning - https://youtu.be/Sb-SVPJM4L4 (okay, it's not directly related, but I love Hazlewood's vocals on this)
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