Oedipal Expletive

Know, oh prince, that way back in the mists of time before the oceans drank Atlantis the peoples of the earth* got their musical news every Wednesday from ‘the inkies’ – Melody Maker and, more importantly, the NME. These papers were funny, mean, faddy, hugely influential and the peoples of the earth* devoured them from cover to cover.

In 1992 the NME, who were certainly prone to releasing an LP or two themselves, celebrated their 40th birthday in grand style. They released a boxed triple LP of 40, mostly, current indie darlings covering UK #1 songs** with all profits going to the Spastics Society^. It was called Ruby Trax. Reader, I own it.

Over the triple LPs the quality is all over the place. according to my notes we veer from ‘devoid of all subtlety‘, to ‘DULL‘, to ‘sensitive and lovely reading’, to ‘unlistenable mulch’, to ‘BANGER!! Great guitar heavy version. Awesome sex howl halfway through’.

I give you Ruby Trax; the ugly, the average, the good and the gobsmackingly great.

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Let us start with the ugly. The Fall, great cover artistes in my opinion^^ phone in a dull rendition of ‘Legend Of Xanadu’. Vic Reeves is as unfunny as a turd in a swimming pool on ‘Vienna’ and former Kraftwerk employees Schultz and Bartos give us an execrable take on ‘Baby Come Back’, although the original is dire anyway. Saint Etienne, whom I like, bore on ‘Stranger In Paradise’ while Cud, whom I like less^*, denude Quo’s ‘Down Down’ of anything remotely exciting. Teenage Fanclub give us a bit of a perfunctory ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and I’m not a fan of Tin Machine covering ‘Go Now’ live.

That’s about it for the outright duds, which is not, all things considered too bad a return.

Amongst the average Ruby Trax we can count Dannii Minogue’s smooth take on the Jackson’s ‘Show You The Way To Go’, The Fatima Mansions weird hip-hop sarcasm on ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’*^ and Ride’s doppelgänger version of ‘The Model’. I’d also lump in Sinead O’Connor’s uncharacteristically sterile ‘Secret Love’ and Aztec Camera/Andy Fairweather-Low’s anodyne ‘Half As Nice’. The seldom seen again Welfare Heroine hit us with a plangent ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely?’, the original of which is genuinely one of my fave oddball hit singles ever^^^. Carter USM, huge press darlings at the time (and a stonking live act) give us Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’, which starts off rubbish but which redeems itself with a great Oedipal expletive halfway.

I have skipped a few for space reasons. Now the good.

Blur give us a very good, rather campy take on ‘Maggie May’ which really works. Jesus Jones hit us with synthy version of ‘Voodoo Chile’ which sounds crap on paper, but works great in reality. Blue Aeroplanes give us a spirited romp through ‘Bad Moon Rising’ and Tears For Fears deliver a characteristically classy ‘Ashes To ashes’. The Inspiral Carpets deliver some moody guitar crunch on ‘Tainted Love’, Bob Geldof does a nicely rolling ‘Sunny Afternoon’ and EMF smash ‘Shaddup You Face’ in your, umm, face.

Also registering well on the positron is Marc Almond’s excellent take on ‘Like A Prayer’, Tori Amos giving us sexy campanology on ‘Ring My Bell’, Billy Bragg going all funky on ‘When Will I See You Again?’ and the Manics blow through of ‘Suicide Is Painless’; which in itself was an astonishing record ever to have reached #1.

The very best on Ruby Trax are, in no ranking order (he typed carefully):

• Jesus & Mary Chain – Little Red Rooster: feedback drenched gnarliness and ennui, as only they can.
• The Wonder Stuff – Cuz I Love You: the Stuffies do Slade proud with this stomping fiddle-enhanced banger.
• Suede – Brass In Pocket: a gentle, sensitive, nay sensual take on the Pretenders classic.

I lied about the wranking, the winner here is Curve’s version of ‘I Feel Love’. Covering one of the sexiest dance tracks ever in a heavily stomping guitar-drenched indie manner, with appropriately crystalline vocals, is just pure dancey perfection. I became a Curve fan and they still sound futuristic and throbbingly sensual to these tired old ears.

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Ruby Trax is a lot of fun and I have really had fun with it this week. Its a reminder of how empires rise and fall, then fall a bit more. The inkies, supreme arbiters of all musical taste, found themselves swiftly destroyed by the internet and they fell hard, while the lone and level sands stretched far away.

Best to remember them this way as a collection of variable-yet-trending-good collection of utterly random cover versions, Possibly.

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The vinyl version of Ruby Trax is served to the discerning hipster resplendent as a red box set over 3 LPs each with very droll sleevenotes about all the tracks. My fave example, dealing with 90’s grebos Neds Atomic Dustbin covering Charlene’s ‘I’ve Never Been To Me’,

‘a 1979 number one whose thoughtful sentiments and moody melody have by and large been totally ignored by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’.

I miss the inkies.

1280 Down.

PS: worth it.

*students reading English and History at Leeds University, particularly.

**the definition is twisted to include the NME’s own charts, to give a bit of leeway here and there.

^which in itself sounds like a mumbling unenthusiastic yet sarcastic indie folk trio from Barrow-In-Furness who made a Peel session back in ’90.

^^’White Lightning’, ‘Victoria’, ‘Strychnine’ …

^*good interviews, saw them live once and they were really not my thing.

*^during which a lady shouts ‘I haven’t had an orgasm, you jerk’ which is sadly absent from Mr Adams turgid original.

^^^along with the incredible Zager & Evans ‘In The Year 2525’ – sadly missing here.