Great reminder about this band. I might have even been at one of the Schuba's shows.
The Chicago rock scene around 1985-1995 was insanely diverse and talented. In theory, there should have been a "Chicago Scene" break big, but for a lot of reasons, it never quite happened. But I can think of at least a dozen bands off the top of my head that should have had at least one hit album.
Thanks, Griel, for prodding my memory of when Jon Langford sowed seeds of wild inspiration in my native South Wales, before leaving his literal homeland for the scorching music and dark, tangled myths of the land that inspired him.
Not that his early songs lacked a sense of his birthplace in the stark valleys of Gwent. Thought you might like this eerie spacious cover of Tubby Brothers by the superb and unsung Alison Clash. It drips Welsh melancholic soulfulness and she chews every morsel of Welshness from each syllable.
It’s a morbidly beautiful song, a series of snapshots of unnatural deaths in local places. Snatches of circumstance and speculation, culminating in the unifying comforting distraction of the horses leading the funeral cortège.
It has added resonance for me when it lifts its gaze to take in the little crosses on a hill in Aberfan. When I was seven my uncle helped dig out children’s bodies from the landslide of coal tip slurry that enveloped their school.
The track is from the labour of love 2008 compilation album
“Levitation - A South Wales Tribute to Jon Langford” (Country Mile Records).
The whole albums worth a listen as it speaks to a time when South Wales pulsed with talent and passion undiscovered by a wilfully oblivious Londoncentric music industry.
Great reminder about this band. I might have even been at one of the Schuba's shows.
The Chicago rock scene around 1985-1995 was insanely diverse and talented. In theory, there should have been a "Chicago Scene" break big, but for a lot of reasons, it never quite happened. But I can think of at least a dozen bands off the top of my head that should have had at least one hit album.
Thanks, Griel, for prodding my memory of when Jon Langford sowed seeds of wild inspiration in my native South Wales, before leaving his literal homeland for the scorching music and dark, tangled myths of the land that inspired him.
Not that his early songs lacked a sense of his birthplace in the stark valleys of Gwent. Thought you might like this eerie spacious cover of Tubby Brothers by the superb and unsung Alison Clash. It drips Welsh melancholic soulfulness and she chews every morsel of Welshness from each syllable.
It’s a morbidly beautiful song, a series of snapshots of unnatural deaths in local places. Snatches of circumstance and speculation, culminating in the unifying comforting distraction of the horses leading the funeral cortège.
It has added resonance for me when it lifts its gaze to take in the little crosses on a hill in Aberfan. When I was seven my uncle helped dig out children’s bodies from the landslide of coal tip slurry that enveloped their school.
Tubby Brothers - Alison Clash
https://open.spotify.com/track/3vBIx8Eq6PrSec8P46si8x?si=MsHy58lVRmmIaaMvHYvxpQ
The track is from the labour of love 2008 compilation album
“Levitation - A South Wales Tribute to Jon Langford” (Country Mile Records).
The whole albums worth a listen as it speaks to a time when South Wales pulsed with talent and passion undiscovered by a wilfully oblivious Londoncentric music industry.