McCarthy Thread

The night I saw them was near the end - Laetitia came on to sing for one track, and many of the people in the audience were Wedding Present/Galaxie 500/Smiths fans. Good band. I'm glad there's some stuff on CD.

It's a real shame that Malcolm Eden has disappeared from the music industry, but those two records he released under the name Herzfeld weren't all that good..

I was reading an interview with someone or other in a magazine this morning, and one of the questions was "what are your treasured musical moments?" I thought, and the one which sprang most quickly to mind was the very first time I heard "IAAW", sitting on the top of a bus shelter on the brightest autumn morning imaginable.

TNLR#2 is on the "At War" EP, N.

CLASS

I doubt that I like this band a great deal in general, but not long ago I was out walking and on Blackheath 'boy meets girl, so what?' came on my iPod - and its structure, its riffs I think, its lyrical and intellectual progression really impressed me.

There's a fine line between being dense and being formless and they veered back and forth across it like they wavered between snobbery and despair. A few good jokes. A few good tunes. Still - probably because of that - I like them a lot. Am now going to play "Now's the Time For an Iron Hand".

Saw that you'd just posted here NV, amazed it's about music

lol I had to think about that for a moment. There are two McCarthy's I have a deep emotional attachment to and neither of them manages the Wolves.

Finally got into McCarthy after being a Stereolab fan for years. I regretfully decided to explore Moonshake first and thought McCarthy would be as weak as them, fortunately, I was wrong. Think Banking is my favorite so far but I've only heard each album a couple times. Going to try and track down the singles.

Had no idea Peter Hook played bass on The Drinking Song of the Merchant Bankers. I bet he didn't either. Really sounds like him though.

moonshake? weak?? the stuff they did particularly while margaret was in the band is stone cold classic

Wolfhounds. Much better than Moonshake.

don't think this anymore fwiw, i would put them on a par. 'secondhand clothes' is the best thing dave callahan was involved in

fuckin love mccarthy

I was sort of hoping this thread would be a poll where we answered whether or not we were, or have ever been, part of the communist party.

Have loved the Wolfhounds for a long, long time. Ought to give McCarthy a go one of these days.

I guess I really only have Moonshake Remixes, so I can't say that i've given them a fair 'shake'.

the EP on creation & the secondhand clothes EP would be my recommendations

Heya, might as well revive this to note that Cherry Red just released a full-on, every last track (I think) McCarthy box set -- all three albums, all the associated singles/EPs, and a radio session disc

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4899

I'm quite excited to hear the BBC sessions again - looks like there are a few bits and pieces missing from the box (there's only one version of Frans Hals on there, for example, and only one version of "The Fall" (I wonder whether any of the synthy b-sides of "This Nelson Rockefeller" made it on there?); there's also no Celestial City (doubly weird since Cherry Red should have the rights to it after sticking C86 out)), but the kind of people who'd care about the missing bits are likely the kind of people who'd have them already.

Anyway, this has to be good news. While we're on the subject I had no idea they actually made a video for "Frans Hals": it looks like it cost about 30p to make but it's how I remember them most clearly. So young! They seemed rather grown-up to me at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxWb9FAN078

Yeah, Mackro, formerly of this parish, confirms there are still some B-sides missing as you say. So NEAR complete in the end! But yeah, liking the look of the sessions disc.

I'm excited about this. And a little disappointed that the This Nelson Rockerfeller EP has been omitted - one of their most essential releases I think. But otherwise this is excellent news. There's better details of the provenance of the tracks on the Discogs page

This is one of my favourite McCarthy songs- you can hear the seeds of Stereolab here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb2ENkP7t4M

There are two McCarthy's I have a deep emotional attachment to and neither of them manages the Wolves.

― Otto von Biz Markie (Noodle Vague), Saturday, February 14, 2009 10:24 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ouch like toothache

i've got most of this stuff but the political climate seems really fucken apt for a re-release

Very true. Listening today really reminds you how long this has been going on - and everything is the same or worse now. The mothers up to their elbows in suds and the young men with holes in their shoes, always being told by their betters to cheer up and get on with things. Love their little parables and nameless characters in their songs. And over a whole album, if you're listening carefully, the injustice and inequality of life really sinks in.

Finally bought this box on the weekend. Sounds great, especially the later stuff which is quite excellently recorded. It's not absolutely complete - there's at least 4 songs missing, & there are a couple of errors about that in the notes (also in the Discogs page). The Fall & The Enemy is at Home are the versions from This Nelson Rockerfeller, not the Franz Hals/Red Sleeping Beauty versions. Only two of the TNR b-sides appear - too bad because this is my favourite release by them. There may be more omissions I haven't noticed yet. But definitely no complaints.

Did they have a song about holding raffles to support the NHS? I feel like they must have done.

I've taken the opportunity to inflict "God Made the Virus" on a few unsuspecting people lately, in the context of selected preachers making pretty much exactly that claim.