Wednesday 25 January 2023

Edward Barton – "Here Is My Spoon" (Wooden Records – WOOD 10) 1990


 

Edward Barton looks and sounds like an artist,he may even be an Actor,for he once resembled a Drama student,or a member of Furniture (UK arty one hit wonders)...but we'll settle for 'poet'!?
Young Edward, first came to our attention attacking his acoustic guitar while writhing on the floor and screaming about his Mini on the exceedingly awful and sickeningly Hip early evening pop magazine programe ,"The Tube".The vile creature that spawned Jools Holland in his mission to make music as bland and pointless as yer Aunties cakes.A raison d'etre that this boogie woogie terrorist embraced with all the efficiency of a death camp Kommandant and the spiteful enthusiasm of his uncaged wife.
Inexplicably,YouTube has no footage of Barton's first appearance, but luckily there is a performance of his debut single,"I've Got No Chicken But I've Got Five Wooden Chairs".
Edward embraced this fifteen minutes of fame eagerly,and made it last about twelve minutes before spending the next thirty years in artsy obscurity.
His other three minutes of fame belong to the unaccompanied vocal Hit single Edward penned,With girlfriend, Jane, "It's a Fine Day", which was one of those rare 'Good' singles that hit the top ten in several countries.Other versions exist,including one by bloody Orbital!?
His songs,"It's a Fine day" excepted, have all the requisites that make Jandek's works so provocative,except I rather suspect that our Edward has the sense of Humour that The Corwood representative so patently lacks....which of course, makes it Funny.
Eddie's songs are funny too,but he actually intends this....so,he is an Artist after all, yes?
Alas, as a lifelong Mini owner,I thoroughly approve of Edward Barton. 

Tracklist:

1 Listen To Edward
2 Knob Gob
3 Sorry Dog
4 What Shall We Do Today?
5 Everyday I Try To Find The Man Who Killed My Brother
6 Barber Barber
7 Violence
8 In Dreams I Drive
9 King Of A Flat Country
10 Dear Dad
11 I've Got No Chicken But I've Got Five Wooden Chairs
12 Shover
13 Thin And Pale
14 I've Got No Chicken But I've Got Five Wooden Chairs
15 I Am A Mother
16 Two Cows
17 Me and my Mini (Bonus Track)

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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous26 January 2023 at 10:29

    Cool. Original. 60sish & Fluxusish. Good. Ty.

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  2. northfieldhat27 January 2023 at 12:53

    I can't believe you have a mini

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  3. Jonny Zchivago27 January 2023 at 14:04

    Yeah its to compensate for my massive knob.....but of course my latest mini is one of those BMW ones,Cooper SD. First car in a huge line of cars, was a Austin Rover mini cooper back in the 80's.
    'nuff said...i fucking hate car bores.

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  4. Anonymous5 February 2023 at 09:12

    Saw Edward play in Manchester in the early 00s. Entry price was £2.37 and all attendees received a free pair of shoes! Cue scenes of people frantically searching through heaving tables of trainers, eager to claim their free pair. Little did they know, there were no pairs. A jolly jape indeed. Musically intriguing and baffling in equal measures as I recall. Loved it

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  5. dee_seejay 5 February 2023 at 17:22

    Someone uploaded all 5 series of The Tube to youtube recently - about 120 episodes (the only official releases being 6 hour DVD comps of S1&S2 I think) - and promptly took all if it down again hours after posting S5•E24. Pretty turgid most of it as you say, the more interesting bits being non-musical, not that i've watched all 250 hours or whatever it is, just ►► mainly...but I downloaded the whole lot before it disappeared, with the idea of re-posting some minus the gushing introductions/descriptions, replaced by something closer to the reality...no doubt eliciting outraged comments from ageing Then Jericho fans. You'd probably do a far better job of it actually.

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  6. Jonny Zchivago5 February 2023 at 18:24

    dear pointless...sounds like something to archive after a severe editing.
    It seemed like Paul Young was on every week when i watched it...'twas fish'n'chips night fridays,followed by cream buns...its a wonder i'm still alive!? I hated this programme.....i do remember a rather good Killing Joke performance, but most of it was just utter bollox like ..as you say...Then Jericho.
    Swansway were on every week too, probably following Furniture,Blue Rondo a la Turk,Propaganda, and....Paul Young.
    It was the only time me and me dad agreed on the quality of modern music....bloody rubbish.
    But even rubbish is cosily nostalgic....

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  7. dee_seejay 5 February 2023 at 22:58

    There's an amusing Paula Yates interview with Jaz and Paul Raven (Series 3/1985, second time on the show), both of them whisky-sodden, pre-set (with a gig to play later that night). So Paula asks "why so successful all of a sudden five albums in?"
    Jaz: "Cos there's too many hairdressers around, that's why."
    Paul Raven: "Handbag music's out, Killing Joke's in."
    Jaz: "We've got a good relationship with the press actually [...] We (tend to) take em into a back-alley and slap em around a bit."
    At which Paula does her finest 'hot under the collar' act and asks a couple of inane fashion questions, joking that Jaz got his boots off Paul King, whose band King is appearing later (we remember them don't we...unfortunately).
    PR: "He used to be a copper, they don't say that do they.."
    Jaz: "Yeah he's a copper, we found out about that, yeah" ≖‿≖
    PR: "Keeps that quiet." [cue laughter from camera crew..] ≧◡≦
    Paula: "So what are you doing next?"
    Jaz: "Drinking more whisky and doing a gig tonight in Glasgow. Oh! I know! It's my birthday on Monday!"
    Pissed as farts the pair of them.

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  8. Jonny Zchivago5 February 2023 at 23:33

    yeah, Jaz said the same when he was on Tiswas....on the subject of Paul King:
    surrounded by Kids..."Hey Kids Did ja know he used to be a copper?"
    Don't remember if he was put in the cage or not....don't think he'd be up for that.

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  9. dee_seejay 6 February 2023 at 01:20

    Detective Constable King eh, hope he took it on the chin. Another interview Down Under the same year (while living in NZ) had Jaz stone cold sober talking about the odds of nuclear war, describing his audience thus: "Most of the kids, they feel that they must burn now". I think he nailed it there, quite a few of my old friends/associates are either dead or astonished to still be alive. A lot of people born in the mid 1950s seem to be in better nick than us, haha. Not sure about latterday Killing Joke, the metal fraternity seem to have claimed them as their own, which is fine I s'pose, but I have no plans to see them live again, although Jaz is a darn sight happier these days...he's still talking about Armageddon though (just heard another hysterical interview from mid-2022). Anyway enough from me.

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  10. Vaykorus26 February 2023 at 09:51

    THANKS!!

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