Blue Aeroplanes: Classic or Dud?

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Don't think we've done them before. Btw, I say Classic.

― MarkH, Friday, 23 August 2002 11:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic, just for Swagger which was my first indie album ever. I know that some people have problems with the sprechgesang of the singer (what was his name again?). I like it and I like the lyrics as well. With the Wedding Present the Blue Aeroplanes are the incarnation of British indie music in the early 90s for me.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 23 August 2002 11:49 (twenty-three years ago)

OMFG! I had just come to this site to post this very question.

I used to be totally into the Aeros and then cast them aside for awhile. But I heard Jacket Hangs today and I need a fix.

Absolutley wonderful band.. Angelo's guiar playing is simply amazing & brilliant. And the layering, Moe.. what about the layering?...

My guess is that a lot of people think of the BA's as a bit pretentious... Even Gerard's pal Pat Fish said, "It's only rock & roll, Gerard." .. But they hit an incredible groove (e.g. "My Hurricane") Can't say enough.. I'll let someone else have a go...

― dave225, Friday, 23 August 2002 11:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I always see Gerard Langley in our local ADSA - he lives round the corner. We toured with them years ago & there was a falling-out over something silly - anyway, water under the bridge & all that...

Jacket Hangs & Coats are personal faves.

― Jez, Friday, 23 August 2002 12:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Just heard the Weird Shit compilation the other day and it's just as good as most of their regular albums. Classic, to be sure.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 August 2002 12:40 (twenty-three years ago)

.....And Stones was marvelous and I still play the 12" of that. They seemed to be particularly good live but I find their records aren't enjoyable and rarely play them, I even ditched a few CDs in recent years. I think there was something about the production of albums like Swagger that drained some of the life out of them as the same songs sound better on live tapes.

― Winkelmann, Friday, 23 August 2002 12:57 (twenty-three years ago)

the Melody Maker stuff about them was always very funny.

I've heard good music by them.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 23 August 2002 15:29 (twenty-three years ago)

the rodney allen songs are classic still but the others haven't aged as well for me because i've gone soft. i remember how excited i once was when i read michael stipe sang on 'what it is' but then it turned out that apparently he hadn't.

― keith, Saturday, 24 August 2002 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

i've got a tape of Swagger somewhere that i never listen to anymore (but that's because i do no longer own a cassette player). Reading the replies I remember all the great songs: Jacket Hangs, ...And Stones, What it is. You made me want to hear it again, I hope it's available..

― willem, Tuesday, 3 September 2002 09:40 (twenty-three years ago)

three weeks pass...

bought a second-hand copy of Swagger today (What It Is now playing over my headphones, lovely. i forgot that Michael Stipe provides backing vocals on it).

owner of the shop said it's their best, true? (don't know any other albums so: S/D anyone? -a bit more specific than Ned, if possible ;-)

― willem (willem), Thursday, 26 September 2002 21:07 (twenty-three years ago)

so rodney allen was in the band? i have 'circle line' on a compilation tape and i like it lots. i guess i should look into them.

― youn, Friday, 27 September 2002 05:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Everyone seems to think Swagger is their best... I'm also a fan of 'Beatsongs' & 'Rough Music', if you're looking for recommendations. (But I like them all, really...)

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 27 September 2002 10:38 (twenty-three years ago)

"Friendloverplane", a collection of stuff from before their Warhol's Fifteen. Arty, pretentious, but it works somehow. "Swagger" was their major label debut, and is excellent but long out of print - there was talk a couple of years ago of its being reissued but nothing seems to have happened.

― Andrew Norman, Friday, 27 September 2002 12:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm afraid that the Blue Aeroplanes are one of those groups who were only so-so on rec but absolutely blindin' live. I saw them twice, once w/ Primal Scream as support (or vice versa? can't remember - anyway, the BA were approx a million times better...)

On Mixing It a couple of months ago they played some Gerard Langley solo spoken word piece (w/ wafty ambient backing) that sadly wasn't much cop.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 27 September 2002 12:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeah, the BA always used to end their set w/ a fantastic loooong versh of Tom Verlaine's 'Breakin' In My Heart'.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 27 September 2002 12:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Breakin' in my Heart is a great song... now i have to look for live-bootlegs, are there any? (i'll have a look on slsk)

― willem (willem), Friday, 27 September 2002 13:32 (twenty-three years ago)

rodney only got one or two songs per album, but he penned such classics as 'careful boy', 'different now', 'fun', 'streamers' etc he is allegedly doing a solo record sometime under the awful name the rodney allen experience. he's still a relatively young guy so it may not suck. even it does though 'happysad' will always be classic.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 29 September 2002 06:03 (twenty-three years ago)

my copy of swagger came in the mail today. right now 'your ages' is on and i like it a lot. earlier i noted that a guitar part in 'weightless' sounds like 'playing with traffic'. someone who knows better should tell me how i'm wrong. rodney allen's songs sound quite different from gerard langley's, if only on account of the voice and its associations. it would be nice to talk to gerard langley at a party and then with rodney allen on the walk home.

― youn, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 04:41 (twenty-three years ago)

pardon me. it's 'play with the traffic'. (why can i never fall asleep when i want/need to?)

― youn, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 05:45 (twenty-three years ago)

for the past few days, i've been listening to nothing but swagger. 'love come round' is fantastic, makes me want to jump around my apartment. yeah, and 'careful boy' is classic.

― youn, Thursday, 3 October 2002 03:20 (twenty-three years ago)

The BAs are playing on Friday, November 29, 2002, at the Fiddlers, Willway Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4BG, tel: 0117 987 3403. Doors open 7.30pm, tickets 7£ in advance, 8/door. See http://www.fiddlers.co.uk/.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 8 October 2002 10:08 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

A rather rum turn of events this. Swagger given the deluxe re-ish treatment and a new album pending on bloomin' EMI. Promo guffage by Chris Roberts here.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 9 January 2006 12:30 (twenty years ago)

well that can only be good news (i hope!)

― joan vich (joan vich), Monday, 9 January 2006 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Very cool!

Looks like some of the items on the bonus disc have previously seen release elsewhere, though.

― Edward Bax (EdBax), Monday, 9 January 2006 17:22 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I'm wondering if this is something I want to buy or not. I am, however, listening to Swagger right now. First CD I ever bought.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Monday, 9 January 2006 18:17 (twenty years ago)

beatsongs and friendloverplane are great as well. everything else apart from swagger i ever purchased by them was a big deception.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 9 January 2006 21:30 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Revived! Listening to a mix tape assembled in 1991, I came across "Jacket Hangs." I was instantly reminded of Swagger, bought in 1990 after a real postive review in SPIN; like alex in manhattan, it was my first "indie" album (or Peter Murphy's Deep, can't remember). I've since lost the cassette. I haven't thought about them in years, but after scanning the track listing and being able to hum the chorus of "Love Come Round" and "Careful Boy" I'm tempted to forgive the one based on the Sylvia Plath poem.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 02:02 (nineteen years ago)

I need to grab some of the earliest stuff as I find it. The sporadic late 90s/early this decade releases are fun but again, sporadic.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 March 2007 02:04 (nineteen years ago)

New cover album, _The Harvester_, coming out this spring, and a reissue of the Art Objects album is due this year as well.

The Blue Aeroplanes are rather unique - poetry over swirling guitars was how they were initially described to me, but it doesn't do them justice. Gerard's speak-sing delivery over a 2 or 3 separate guitar lines that converge and diverge, all expressing differing emotions from track to track but somehow feeling cohesive. I adore everything they've ever done and some days think _Rough Music_ is their best, with bits of Strangelove guesting (especially the epic "Secret Destination") but there's something to love about every one of their releases.

― Mr. Odd, Monday, 26 March 2007 03:45 (nineteen years ago)

i remember that in every review of them it was required to claim that the lyrics were pretentious. beatsongs is the best album. it deserved reissue more than swagger which i have been relistening to and loving again. spitting out miracles is the most fun. strangelove was kind of a blue aeroplanes side band when they first started, they were really not very good even in spite of alex lee's presence, i could never stomach their singer. the blue aeroplanes personnel chart on wikipedia is something to behold. they were brilliant live, saw them in windsor when they toured with the church and i don't really remember anything at all about the church that evening.

― keythkeyth, Monday, 26 March 2007 04:10 (nineteen years ago)

the blue aeroplanes personnel chart on wikipedia is something to behold

Thanks, I did that, been meaning to update it for with info from _Cavaliers_ and _Altitude_. The band printed up shirts saying, "Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Blue Aeroplanes?".

― Mr. Odd, Monday, 26 March 2007 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, now this is a band I completely forgot about. "Jacket Hangs" was so good, can't remember what it sounded like now but I recall the rest of the album failing to live up to it. I would be real curious to hear some of their earlier stuff. I don't remember them being mentioned in the C86 days at all.

― Bimble, Monday, 26 March 2007 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

Swagger and Spitting Out Miracles are probably my favourite albums, Tolerance is a good early one too. Also I highly recommend Siamese Boyfriends, the record that Langley did between Spitting and Swagger with fellow airman Ian Kearey. IK plays lots of different things amazingly well, but does a really great take on the whole Church of John Fahey guitar-as-clanging-bell-of-truth thing (and seriously ahead of the current curve on this too - this was indie Britain in 1980-something). Plenty of other neat ramshackle musical invention on there too and in a pretty joyous vein - sorta reminds me of some of Daniel Figgis's stuff in feel.

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

I saw them supporting REM on the Green tour when I was about 15 and got really into them for a couple of years. Cowardice and Caprice on the Peel Session record they did (actually, I think it was a Janice Long session) is CLASSIC. Swagger is good, but patchy, as everything they did was, but .. And Stones was always brain-meltingly good live - all the mad delay on the guitars - and Razorwalk (which was a b-side, I think?), which they always used to play live too, is great. I have the first album, Bop Art, which is like an artefact from a lost time. They were even "artier" then.

It does all boil down to whether you can get on with Gerard's vocals and lyrics, really. I think I said on one of the Kompakt threads - that Baxendale record is a straight Gerard Langley rip. All the breathy enthusiasm.

I got a ccouple of things after Swagger and then lost interest. Pony Boy is good - which one is that on?

Oh, and is Angelo the same guy who did Mezzanine?

― Jamie T Smith, Monday, 26 March 2007 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

Ian Kearey seems to have had a lot to do with Bop Art as well, plays all sorts of different instruments on it as I remember, in a folk-derived style. Did he ever do anything else?

― Jamie T Smith, Monday, 26 March 2007 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Angelo played with Massive Attack on Mezzanine.

If you've got Friendloverplane (which is a somewhat overlong overview of the early Fire Records stuff), there's a corking Ian Kearey solo version of 'Cowardice & Caprice[/i] arranged for acoustic guitar that really buzzes and sparkles along - originally came out as a ltd flexi with Spitting Out Miracles. Ian was one of the founder members of the Oyster Band, who were sort of an 80s folk rock thing, actually they're still going I think, but they're not really my cup of tea. Also played with indie people like Heidi Berry and Pete Astor too, so straddling two disparate worlds. That Gerard Langley one is the best collabs he's done though IMHO.

On the subject of compilations Warhol's Fifteen is a damn good survey of the early pre-major label years and definitely the one to go for if you're interested in that period (yo Ned!).

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

Hey, this Art Objects lot are quite good:
www.myspace.com/artobjects

This was Langley's pre-Aeroplanes postpunk band from 1978-81, so that makes them Bristolian contemporaries of the Pop Group, Glaxo Babies etc.

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

[Removed Illegal Link]

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

Uggh, mod feebs.

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

Eh, check out the last track on that MySpace page ('The Paperweight Flood'). Nice bit of work that in a Scars/Magazine/Comsats vein. A pleasant diversion in my workday afternoon that. Anyhow, carry on...

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

(yo Ned!).

HI DERE

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

Wojtek!

― Jamie T Smith, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

HI DERE

Why, speak of the Nedvil... [hastily raises ballpoint pens in the form of a cross]: have you heard the Art Objects before? Sounds like something that'd make quite a nice reissue - ever heard of one being mooted? Am so far behind with the tidal wave of reissues from this era, maybe this actually already happened long ago and far away...

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

Pick up the fantastic 2-CD _Avon Calling_ compilation of Bristol post-punk bands. Has an Art Objects track on it as well as wonderful stuff from Glaxo Babies and others. Hit-to-miss ratio is pretty good. Let's put it this way: it made John Peel's top 20 one year along with debut's from the Fall, Joy Division, Gang Of Four - you get the picture.

― Mr. Odd, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

I re-ordered Swagger; found it cheap on Amazon. Can't wait!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

Pick up the fantastic 2-CD _Avon Calling_ compilation of Bristol post-punk bands

Thanks - will do Mister!

― NickB, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

CLASSIC! (thanks for asking!!)

Pick up the fantastic 2-CD _Avon Calling_ compilation of Bristol post-punk bands
yeh, nice idea... thx!! (Art Objects would make a great reissue! I am in touch with their bass player if anyone wants to do this, hit me up off list and i can put you in touch with him, he lives in NY now.)

My favorite (and one of my favorite albums ever actually) is "Spitting Out Miracles", which is significantly more shambolic and collective-ey than anything subsequent. There was a guy called Nick Jacobs, who seemed to disappear after this album (and also somehow Michelle Shocked appears on it(!), sort of at the height of her coolness factor). But Nick wrote and/or co-wrote quite a bit of this album and it's great! I also love the song "Days of 49" (and if anyone can explain the lyrics to me, I have been wondering about it for 20 years).

(I was at their bizarre first NY show which took place on Halloween at the Roxy(!) but that is a long story... anyway, Nick was already not present for that) They were nonetheless perfect right around that time. They began to leave me cold literally the moment they signed to Ensign/Chrysalis (whatever!), i.e. typical major label signing, slicker production, more "hit songs" (in the D Boon model thereof) and the final blow was when Angelo Bruschini took his lovely full hollow body out of the group. (guitar!! mind out of the gutter people!)

S&D = S anything on Fire Records (Restless in the US) plus Rodney Allen's LP on Subway (which I know is on eMusic btw); D broadly speaking anything on the major label, except the odd song here or there which is good.

friendloverplane is indeed a nice cross-section of the good stuff and includes some rarities but there is actually a US and a UK version (or was it a CD and a Vinyl version?!) and anyway BOTH are worth getting.

heh, sprechgesang = OTM

― Saxby D. Elder, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

I had no idea they reformed until I saw a song of theirs in the big torrent of SXSW tracks. Sure enough: http://theblueaeroplanes.com/

New album on the way.

― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 17 March 2009 18:38 (seventeen years ago)

Wonder if the dude's had singing lessons yet.

― Last Exit to Steve Brookstein (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 07:44 (seventeen years ago)

I hope not

― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 07:49 (seventeen years ago)

seven months pass...

BURY YOUR LOVE LIKE TREASURE!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y-IOr4ubkk

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 25 October 2009 00:30 (sixteen years ago)

No love, huh? I just pulled out "Bop Art" on headphones. It's like a post-punk Fairport Convention. I had never noticed what a needle drop that CD is, though.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 6 November 2009 04:43 (sixteen years ago)

five months pass...

Y'all are really missing out on these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTBBJEKTvD4&feature=PlayList&p=2D113960F51FA173&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=59

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 17 April 2010 01:35 (sixteen years ago)

man i just facebook posted that video about a week ago. so classic.

― women are a bunch of dudes (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 April 2010 04:45 (sixteen years ago)

six years pass...

New album, "Welcome Stranger!" out on the 6th. Early download for pre-orderers sounds pretty good on first blush.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 1 January 2017 19:39 (nine years ago)

Yep, started listening this morning, very nice!

― Fastnbulbous, Sunday, 1 January 2017 19:48 (nine years ago)

I see they have a UK tour lined up for the second half of January too

Dates here: http://www.theblueaeroplanes.com/?page_id=24

― a passing spacecadet, Sunday, 1 January 2017 20:07 (nine years ago)

three weeks pass...

Since the glory days, when they were one of the best live bands around (see Access All Areas DVD/YouTube for evidence), I saw them a couple of times in the 00s, which were fun shows. But tonight's was back up there with Swagger/Beatsongs era. I think this must have something to do with the new album being really good.

― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Sunday, 22 January 2017 00:11 (nine years ago)

I think every album since "Rough Music" (except the covers album "Harvester") has been excellent, with "Cavaliers" being extremely underrated. I only got to see them in the states once, on the "Rough Music" tour.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 22 January 2017 01:51 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

Anyone know whatever happened to Rodney Allen? Such a wonderful voice, full of emotion. He must've gone back to work...

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 18 May 2020 20:47 (six years ago)

one year passes...

Weird thing this morning. "No Go (For Louis MacNeice)" by The Cleaners From Venus was suggested to me by Spotify. Not a band I'm very familiar with, but I was struck how the phrasing really reminded me of The Blue Aeroplanes. Once this occurred to me it was hard to get the thought of Gerard Langley singing it out of my head.

And of course, the common link between this 1990 track and The Blue Aeroplanes is Langley's favourite poet, Louis MacNeice. The song itself is based on a MacNeice poem called Bagpipe Music, but when I listened to a recording of MacNeice reciting it, it doesn't particularly remind me of Langley at all.

Seems like being inspired by MacNeice just seems to lead pop musicians to intonate in the same way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzPePvO6l8

― Alba, Tuesday, 30 November 2021 12:36 (four years ago)

When I got round to checking out Rolling blackouts Coastal Fever relatively late I couldn't not think of The Blue Aeroplanes. The vocal rhythms maybe aren't that similar but I don't have all that many ready reference points for speak-singing over driving multi guitar jangle.

― feed me with your clicks (Noel Emits), Tuesday, 30 November 2021 14:00 (four years ago)

Good heavens, other Aeroplanes fans!

That Cleaners From Venus song is circa 1990, perhaps a year or two earlier. That would've been the peak exposure for Gerard and the BA's so Martin Newell might've played with them or otherwise dug "Swagger" which got a lot of airplay.

Gerard's first band, Art Objects, titled their only album "Bagpipe Music".

Allegedly there's a new BA album in the works. Slow and steady releases at this point.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 30 November 2021 15:13 (four years ago)

one year passes...

I'm listening to Swagger for the first time since...my thread revival? Besides the peak of a certain kind of Poppy Bush Interzone-era attention to the interaction of 12-string guitars against self-consciously imagistic lyrics, it reminds me to what degree R.E.M. were feeling their oats during this perios. From the cameo on "Jacket Hangs" and the instrumentalists playing on Zevon's Hindu Love Gods project to Stipe's appearance on Billy Bragg's "You Woke Up My Neighborhood," these guys thought they could do no wrong.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 January 2023 20:13 (three years ago)

Lurve that album, was listening to one of the best-of's the other day. Some of my all-time favorite intricate weaving guitar lines.

New album, "Culture Gun" coming in April!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 27 January 2023 20:33 (three years ago)

three months pass...

I somehow missed this and there's been no news since. Is everything OK?

We are sorry to announce that our upcoming April shows in Glasgow and London have been rescheduled to September on medical advice due to Gerard having been admitted to hospital for emergency surgery. pic.twitter.com/1U3xW1WNHA
— TheBlueAeroplanes (@Blue_Aeroplanes) April 12, 2023

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 3 May 2023 21:36 (three years ago)

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