You Must Rank Them All: Michael Head & his bands

This is the first in hopefully an ongoing series of articles ranking every album from a range of artists that feature heavily in my collection, starting with Michael Head and his previous bands Shack and The Pale Fountains.

I’ve decided to limit these features to bands or singers who have released at least ten regular studio albums, and, crucially, only those whom I own all of them by.

My history with the artist

For me, Michael Head is definitely the second greatest living songwriter from Liverpool (behind Macca, in case you were wondering). He’s definitely a big fan of ellipses in his album titles, which is apropos of nothing really.

I’ve seen him live nine times in various guises, having been a fan of his music for many years, thanks initially to my best mate Kris, who gifted me three of his albums across 1997-98.

We got to see Shack in concert in January 1999, when they supported Mercury Rev who were promoting their classic Deserter’s Songs album at the Astoria on Charing Cross Road. That’s a fine double bill.

Kris and I decided to see in the 2000’s at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, with the evening being headlined by Manic Street Preachers, but the presence of Shack on the bill definitely helped sway our decision. Feeder also played that night.

I remember that seeming a very expensive gig at £34.25 at the time, a fee I’ve outspent on seven gigs already this year. But, you know, inflation and that.

As I’m sure you’ll be delighted to know, I’ll reveal when and where I bought each album as they appear in the ranking, but I’ll mention the other things I own, including Shack’s non-album Oscar CD single, which I bought from HMV in Kingston for a bargain £1.60 in March 2000.

I finally got the third Pale Fountains CD (the Longshot For Your Love odds & sods compilation) for £8 second hand from the Music & Video Exchange in Soho in March 2001, along with a Josh Rouse album (also returning home with a selection of discounted discs from HMV on Oxford Street, including compilations by Johnny Cash and The Psychedelic Furs).

My Michael Head collection

Kris and I saw Shack for the third time when they played the ICA in July 2003, supported by Tom Baxter.

November 2003 brought me The Fable Sessions (a revised, remixed version of H.M.S. Fable with b-sides and outtakes) on CD from Selectadisc for £7.99, a busy shopping day that included a trip to Rough Trade and the much-missed Minus Zero/Stand Out! in Ladbroke Grove, as I purchased Echo & The Bunnymen and Television reissues, and new LPs by The Shins and Joy Zipper, amongst others.

I saw Shack in a free show at Pier Head North in Liverpool in August 2006, with my mate Jon, whom I know through the football (and who is the reason I got to know My Beloved Wife). This ended a great weekend when I had also seen the mighty reds beat West Ham United 2-1 at Anfield.

The two of us also saw them at the then-Carling Academy in Liverpool in December 2006, having already witnessed a 4-0 thumping of Fulham earlier that day.

I saw Michael solo for the first time in July 2008, when he was amongst the supports for The Farm at the then-Echo Arena, which I attended with My Beloved Wife. The Real People were the other act on the bill which was part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations.

The next time seeing Shack wasn’t until December 2009, by which time the Academy in Liverpool was now sponsored by O₂, this time accompanied by Jon and Andy, another football mate.

I then got to see his brother’s outfit The John Head Band in a free show at the Crosby Music Festival in May 2010 with Kris (on a very rare excursion up north), and a solo John freebie at the Mathew Street Festival in August 2011 in Williamson Square with Jon and My Beloved Wife. He of course had also been in Shack and The Pale Fountains.

Michael brought out his first new record since 2006 with the release of the Artorius Revisited ep (with The Red Elastic Band) in 2013, which I bought from Violette Records in November of that year for £8.

I saw him at the lovely St Michael-in-the-Hamlet in Aigburth, south Liverpool last June. You can read about that show here.

Most recently, I saw him supporting Jamie Webster at the Pier Head in town in June of this year, as reviewed here.

While there may not be a lot of musical critique to come, I’ve noted (where I can) other people who contributed to the records in a significant way who also crop up elsewhere in my CD racks – the scouse music scene reveals itself to be even more incestuous than I’d previously realised.

10. The Pale Fountains – Pacific Street (1984)

Kris gifted me The Pale Fountains’ 1984 debut album Pacific Street (complete with four bonus tracks on CD) in August 1997, so becoming the first Head music I owned.

This album only got as high as #85 in the charts in the UK, staying on the list for just two weeks in March 1984.

As well as the Head brothers, the band included bassist Chris McCaffery, Thomas Whelan on drums and Andy Diagram on trumpet and keyboards.

Diagram’s work is scattered across my collection, including a Diagram Brothers album, the Howard Devoto‘s only solo LP and The Durutti Column’s fourth album Without Mercy.

Miguel Barradas plays some drums on this record – he’s also on a lot of The Divine Comedy’s opus, also featuring on Wings Of A Dove by Madness.

While this comes at the bottom of my virtual pile of Head’s albums, it’s still a very decent album. For example, in my personal album-scoring system (oh yes, of course there is one!) it ranks right alongside Teenage Fanclub’s (over-)rated Bandwagonesque.

Sadly, the best track on the CD for me is Palm Of My Hand, a single from 1983 which is not on the original LP so doesn’t get taken into account here.

My faves on the album proper are opener Reach and a pair from side two, (Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War (which was a single off the LP, as was the much less worthy Unless) and Abergele Next Time.

9. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Adios Señor Pussycat (2017)

The first album credited to Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band, I bought this from Amazon for £9.99 in November 2017, immediately upon release.

It only hit #57 in the UK albums chart, appearing for a single week, but was #1 on the indie equivalent.

It was produced by Steve Powell, who also plays guitars on it. He previously helmed records I own by Blur and Ella Guru, as well as playing in The Balcony, whose A Cover Version is on the Unearthed – Liverpool Cult Classics Volume 1 comp.

Other musicians included Phil Murphy on drums, bassist Tom Powell, Dan Rogers on guitar and trumpeter Martin Smith (who is on records by Edgar Jones and The Coral in my racks).

Simon James played sax on some numbers, also appearing on an XX Teens album I have, with Michael’s sister Joanne on backing vocals – she also contributes to Dave Jackson from Benny Profane’s Cathedral Mountain that I have, as well as other Headworks.

It’s an album with no duffers, but none of the massive highlights that feature on all his other records, to my ears. The peaks for me are Picasso, Working Family, Josephine, Adios Amigo and a cover of Wild Mountain Thyme, which is also in my collection by The Byrds, Robyn Hitchcock (under a pseudonym) and Kate Rusby.

8. The Pale Fountains – …From Across The Kitchen Table (1985)

I bought the Paleys’ second album from Sister Ray in Soho for £7.99 in June 1999, also buying The Go-Betweens’ 78 ‘Til 79 – The Lost Album from the same shop that day.

It was co-engineered by Gil Norton, who’d already produced Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain (my twentieth favourite album of all time – read about my Top 25 here), going on to helm Born Sandy Devotional by The Triffids, which is my #13 LP ever, so he’s clearly a man with a fair bit of magic in his fingertips!

Ian Broudie produced, who went on to great fame with Lightning Seeds but whom I treasure more for his production work for the likes of Echo And The Bunnymen, The Fall and Benny Profane.

Anne Stephenson played violin, who also appears in my racks on albums by Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Undertones, The The and Manic Street Preachers, among others.

Cello was added by Audrey Riley, another whose work features on various records I own, including by The Go-Betweens, A.R. Kane, Lush, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and The Wolfgang Press.

The LP did even less spectacularly than the debut, creeping into the chart at #94 for a week in February 1985.

The best song for me was the first single off it, Jean’s Not Happening, with its orchestral indie-pop-on-a-major-label sound of the era, but side openers Shelter and Bruised Arcade are also very good, as are two other numbers on side two, the title track (also the second single) and Hey.

7. Michael Head – The Magical World Of The Strands (1997)

I got this for my birthday from Kris in February 1998, together with Shack’s Waterpistol.

Head himself produced most of the record, with help from Mark Coyle (who produced stuff in my collection by Oasis and Smaller) and Frédéric Monvoisin (who was involved in different capacities with albums by Autour De Lucie and Luke that have passed through my hands in the past).

The highlight is certainly X Hits The Spot, which was somewhat oddly overlooked as the single off the LP as the (still lovely) Something Like You was issued.

Perhaps that one wasn’t chosen due to the rather downbeat opening lines, and its probable origin in drug addiction:

“Say what’s happened to all my clothes? What’s happened to all my furniture?”

The Prize and Hocken’s Hey are the two best tracks among the remaining nine.

6. Shack – …The Corner Of Miles And Gil (2006)

I bought the band’s final album from Amazon in May 2006 for £8.99. It spent just one week in the UK chart that month, at #55, as the previous album had done.

It was released on Noel Gallagher’s Sour Mash label, with Shack also supporting Oasis around this time.

The late Iain Templeton drummed, having been with the band from H.M.S. Fable, while Pete Wilkinson was on bass. He also appeared on Bunnymen and solo Ian McCulloch albums I have.

David Palmer aka Yorkie also appeared, having previously played on some songs by Space and that track by The Balcony mentioned earlier.

Andy Frizell contributed flute and saxes (he’s also on works by The Coral and Ella Guru I have), while Rob Shepley played viola, also featuring on Bunnymen and Doves records I own, with violinist Celia Goodwin also on the same Doves LP.

For the avoidance of any doubt out there, the title is a reference to jazz icons Miles Davis and Gil Evans, apparently a strong influence on Michael Head.

The gorgeous Cup Of Tea is this album’s peak for me, complete with swirlingly intense middle eight, with Tie Me Down, John Head’s Butterfly, Black & White and Butterfly other crackers.

5. Shack – …Here’s Tom With The Weather (2003)

I bought this from Amazon for £9.99 in August 2003. It spent a solitary week on the UK charts that same month, at #55, just like its successor.

It was recorded in Wales in May and June of that year under the guidance of Jay Reynolds, who has credits on records by Pulp and Jools Holland that I own, with Guy Rigby on bass this time around.

This is a very consistent album, but without a real killer number for me.

The record opens with three really good songs in As Long As I’ve Got You, Soldier Man and the single Byrds Turn To Stone (which peaked at #63), with another strong four-song run of Meant To Be, John Head’s Carousel, On The Streets Tonight and Chinatown.

4. Shack – Zilch (1988)

I finally managed to complete my Shack collection when I bought this from Amazon for £7.98 in February 2008 (having had a dodgy copy off another mate already).

This was their first LP and was produced by Charles Harrowell, who also worked on the post-Young Marble Giants act Weekend’s La Varieté that lurks in my W section.

The peak for me is Someone’s Knocking, with it again being a record without any poor tracks, although the closing three numbers are amongst the weakest.

As this album isn’t on Spotify, here’s Someone’s Knocking:

Opener Emergency, John Kline, Realization, High Rise Low Life and Who Killed Clayton Square? are other particularly strong songs.

3. Shack – Waterpistol (1995)

I got this for my birthday from Kris in February 1998, together with The Magical World Of The Strands.

Although recorded in 1991, it wasn’t released until October 1995 with a fire at Star Street Studio in London destroying the master tapes, before producer Chris Allison (whose previous highlights included the likes of The Wedding Present’s first two albums and Pale Saints) then leaving the DATs in a hire car in the USA, although these were later recovered.

At least one of the photos in the booklet was taken by Jürgen Vollmer, who was one of the ‘exis’ who befriended The Beatles in Hamburg, with one of his shots being used as the cover for John Lennon’s 1975 album of covers, Rock ‘N’ Roll.

My favourite tunes are Dragonfly and the gently strumming Undecided, with other strengths being Neighbours, Stranger, Time Machine, Mr. Appointment and London Town.

As is often the case, Undecided slips in something slightly darker in amongst the lyrics of love:

“It’s got to be like sticking a needle in your arm when you’re sleeping, and then you can be somebody”

2. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Dear Scott_ (2022)

I bought this in a package with a ticket for the St Michael-in-the-Hamlet gig last June, for a bargain combined £29, directly as it was issued, with it becoming my personal #1 album of 2022.

Produced by Bill Ryder-Jones (whose West Kirby County Primary album I own, as well as his production work or playing for The Coral, Arctic Monkeys and Yard Act), this went into the album chart at a lofty #6, but then dropped out immediately.

Drummer Phil Murphy and Tom Powell on bass remain from Pussycat, joined by Nathaniel Cummings and Danny Murphy on guitars.

The album has a run of four classic tunes slap bang in the middle: American Kid (the archetypal example of the lovely accent in his voice, with some unusually rapid-fire words during the chorus), Grace And Eddie, the gorgeously yearning Fluke and Gino And Rico (a nice example of his regular use of brass), while the only song that is below par for me is the slight closer, Shirl’s Ghost.

The record opens with another strong pair in Kismet and Broken Beauty, while straight after the four killers come two other excellent numbers in The Grass and The Ten. His voice has really matured beautifully.

Ten albums in and he’s producing almost his best work – that’s rare.

1. Shack – H.M.S. Fable (1999)

I acquired this brand new from Our Price in Richmond for £9.99 immediately upon release in June 1999, a day that also saw me carry a few other CDs up the hill to my flat, including a couple of expanded R.E.M. discs, ABBA’s The Visitors and Bummed by Happy Mondays.

This was the band’s most successful album, entering at #25 in its three-week chart stint in July. It was named as the second best LP of the year by both NME and Uncut, and number five in Select.

Unsurprisingly, The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin topped the poll in the first two instances, but only came in third in Select, with The Man Who by Travis coming #1.

This album includes what is probably my favourite ever Head song in Streets Of Kenny, obviously about the Liverpool suburb of Kensington rather than the posher London version. Undoubtedly, this is the loveliest ever song about heroin. To be fair, tracks like Cold Turkey or I’m Waiting For The Man, while both great, can hardly be considered lovely.

Heart-breaking first single Comedy (their most successful ever single in the UK, peaking at #44 in June and spending two weeks on the charts), Pull Together (complete with subtle nod to his beloved Love) and Lend’s Some Dough (far lovelier than any song with a refrain of “I’ve got a sore back and I’m itching” has any right to be) are also classics.

The only less than stellar song for me is I Want You, with everything else being excellent, including second single Natalie’s Party (which hit #63 in August).

I love this album, which would quite possibly just squeeze into my all-time Top 100, if I ever got round to expanding on my Top 25 properly. Anyone who loves beautifully written guitar pop songs who doesn’t already know it should investigate right now!

Next time

The next feature in this series will cover another scouse songwriter who released twelve studio albums in his lifetime. Stay tuned.

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Playlist

Here are almost all of the absolute killer tunes on Spotify: