john cooper clarke strikes a ridiculously cool pose, 1977.
inner sleeve, "suspended sentence" ep. TOSH 103.
This, as the BBC was once quick to retort, is little more than a lachrymose repeat.
John Cooper Clarke first released an EP on the Manchester based label Rabid Records in 1977, backed by a coterie of musicians named the Curious Yellows. Produced by Martin Zero for the "Criminal Gramaphone Company" - with artwork by Kirk Van Gough Studios - "The Innocents" EP first seized my ear like a fish hook whipping off the indecently turned cheek of a small boy on a weekend fishing trip. Casting off. A sinking feeling as feathers and lure sail out from the end of the pier and the line snaps.
☚ this is what happens when you pogo round your bedroom without due care and attention.
In equal measures punk poet and stand-up comedian, Clarke had few peers. In hindsight, he probably did more to ignite an enduring fascination with words than a classroom full of yellowing paperbacks. His modest three minute observations often packed more of a visceral punch than a Ken Loach film. And where Loach sometimes stumbled under a banner of self-righteous indignation, Clarke exhibited a lightness of touch more imperfectly aligned with the origami unfoldings of Mike Leigh. Not so much delicate as human and robust. Engagingly open ended.
As a result, I suspect, of HBO's clever placement of "Evidently Chickentown" over the closing credits to an episode from the final series of "The Sopranos", Clarke has enjoyed something of a renaissance of late. Deservedly so.
▼ JOHN COOPER CLARKE & THE CURIOUS YELLOWS: PSYCLE SLUTS (PARTS ONE & TWO) from "Innocents" EP (Rabid) 1977 (UK) [R]
▼ JOHN COOPER CLARKE & THE INVISIBLE GIRLS: THIRTY SIX HOURS from "Snap, Crackle & Bop" LP (CBS) 1980 (UK) [R]
▼ JOHN COOPER CLARKE & THE INVISIBLE GIRLS: SLEEPWALK from "Snap, Crackle & Bop" LP (CBS) 1980 (UK) [R]
PURCHASE WORD OF MOUTH: THE BEST OF JOHN COOPER CLARKE
JCC PREVIOUSLY ON ART DECADE
JOHN COOPER CLARKE: OFFICIAL WEBSITE
6 comments:
I first JCC on the Grey Whistle Test - way back in 77/78? - the resultant appearance became quite a talking point at the following High School. I retained a fond affection for the guy's work ever since.
I first heard Innocents on a college radio station and it blew my ears off. I have no idea why the greatest hits collections leaves off this seminal song, his most straightforward punk rock explosion...
I vaguely remember that, I think, Löst Jimmy; and an interview with (a younger) Melvyn Bragg interspersed with local (Erics ? Manchester Corn Exchange ?) live performance on the South Bank Show.
Like Dylan in an Oxfam suit. With broken teeth.
Good to hear from you, Warden.
I agree that it was lamentable to disbar "Innocents" and "Suspended Sentence" from the CBS compilations. Maybe it was a contractual omission ?
I know the situation has been more recently been corrected 'cos I have all three on MP3 (from somewhere), and as you can see from the original Rabid EP - pictured - it certainly did not hail from own vinyl rip...
It still makes me wince. "Snap, Crackle & Bop" with the emphasis, sadly, on snap.
ib,
there's a great and recent interview with JCC over here :-
http://tinyurl.com/yzy4m42
Never knew of the Nico connection ...
the man's a jewel ...
mr.K
Cheers, Mr. K,
I only learned of JCC's seriously intimate relationship with the Chelsea Girl relatively recently, myself. Who would have thought it ?
Right. I'm off to read that interview.
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