The Intercops

The popular American entertainer Mr. P Smitzfield suggested that The Intercops were a mighty good band with notable repercussions of the Joy Division and New Order sound. Other light entertainers have also mentioned this being the case and that the band themselves are worthy contenders for a place on the book shelf.

Anyways up, I did just stride into my local music proprietor and purchase the Intercops album released sometime last year when moles were still in season.

Yes, it is pleasing. I found myself listening to each track from 1 all the way to about 6 before I started flicking around like a recently escaped goose. A good sign nonetheless. First impressions are good, although with the seemingly relaxed song composition I cannot be certain they will hold my attention for any length of timber.

Couple of obvious teasers for everyone. First stop is the comparison centre (as always). Okay definite New Order influence with the melodic guitars and occasional Hooky bass appearance. But more than this, could The Intercops possibly be The Smiths in disguise? - Can't be certain but around track 6/7? - they seem to have faithfully re-created 'This Charming Mouse' with consummate ease.

All in all a promising start. I've already placed the CD in the 'after 9pm' rack alongside 'Sounds of the Sea (Wale Noises Volume 6)'. I'll be enjoying coffee and snouts the next time I play.

£7.99 was a nice touch, I'm not sure whether I would have been as keen if the mandatory £16.99 had been embelished.

I'm glad to hear your reaction wasn't negative, H. I never really listened to the Smiths, but I suspect your comparison is valid.

Like JD, you really owe it to yourself to listen to The Smitz. If you see 'The World is unable to Listen' going for a song you would be doing yourself justice. A compilation, but a classic compilation (they have had subsequent one's that never hit the spot like this one). New Order, The Beatles, The Smiths etc. - without the latter, I'm surprised they didn't turn to you during casting of 'The Hollow Male'.

Instead, they went for bacon.

I'll keep going with Ipot, I'm hoping they will creep beneath my shells.

There are so many glorious Smiths songs though - I've seen grown men physically alter and distort into something wonderful as a result of listening to Morrissey, Marr, Keith and Graham.

Meat is Murder Pat - don't ever forget that.

Never Underestimate a Mushroom - the song they 'should' have recorded.

I have in fact been thinking lately I should give them a try.

How soon is now?

Oh, one of these days, one of these weeks, one of these months...

the voice, isn't that where most people draw the JD comparison from? who knows, but the lyrics feel a bit silly after a while....i mean 200 couches to sleep on?!

Originally posted by Snucker the voice, isn't that where most people draw the JD comparison from? who knows, but the lyrics feel a bit silly after a while....i mean 200 couches to sleep on?!

Or "I left my urge in the ice-box"; is that the way it goes?

Originally posted by Snucker the voice, isn't that where most people draw the JD comparison from? who knows, but the lyrics feel a bit silly after a while....i mean 200 couches to sleep on?!

With a song title like Obstacle 1 they're really asking for it though! Makes me sick when people deny such comparisons in interviews, when there's such an obvious reference.

Originally posted by Huntsman Like JD, you really owe it to yourself to listen to The Smitz. If you see 'The World is unable to Listen' going for a song you would be doing yourself justice. A compilation, but a classic compilation (they have had subsequent one's that never hit the spot like this one). New Order, The Beatles, The Smiths etc. - without the latter, I'm surprised they didn't turn to you during casting of 'The Hollow Male'.Instead, they went for bacon.I'll keep going with Ipot, I'm hoping they will creep beneath my shells.There are so many glorious Smiths songs though - I've seen grown men physically alter and distort into something wonderful as a result of listening to Morrissey, Marr, Keith and Graham.Meat is Murder Pat - don't ever forget that.Never Underestimate a Mushroom - the song they 'should' have recorded.

The discography seems very confusing.

OK, H, I ordered some of their stuff. So, we'll see.

Oh do tell.

Was that a question?

A very English expression; 'do tell'. As in, 'ooohhhh that's quite exciting, please do tell'. In context:

'Gemima, Mr. Partridge has buried a pheasant in the woods'

'Oh! where!?, do tell ...'

Hand on heart The Smiths work is exceptional, an absolute standout historical band. Most notable albums (bit like New Order, difficult to assess the best, however) are:

The Queen is Dead (every track a classic) Strangeways Here We Come (almost every track a classic)

Smiths back catalogue 'is' confusing simply because of their constant decisions to release compilations. More compilation releases than actual albums I think. Why oh why oh why? - surely it will remain a mystery. Anyway, this tends to muddy the waters. Please ask for any advice.

However, probabilities dictate that at least one compilation will be good, and it is The World Won't Listen seems to have almost all of the absolute classic Smiths songs on, released in 1987.

Off the top of my head, please look out for my personal faves:

Sheila take a bow Cemetery gates There is a light that will never go out Please, Please, Please, Let me get what I want Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me Panic Girlfriend in a coma The boy with the thorn in his side Asleep This Charming Man

Keep clear of early work until you have mastered the 1985-1987 era. There isn't a Movement in their history, but the later stuff is a more gentle entry.

All in all, if you do 'get into' The Smiths, you can look forward to a vast volume of work which will fulfil you thoroughly. Unlike New Order, Morrissey went on to produce some comparable work, again, all of which has merit.

Superb.

Based on your prior recommendation, WWL was part of the order. Left to my own confused devices, HOH was also included, although it sounds as though you would have recommended deferring that.

As an aside, the Amazon woman was not part of this transaction. Instead a much smaller enterprise called sirendisc got the call based on their practice of offering moderately priced Australian imports.

As a result, delivery date is somewhat uncertain. Sometimes they use regular mail, and that can take two weeks. But after all, this material has been waiting since at least 1987.

Actually, the expression "do tell" is not completely unknown here, but I believe it can sometimes have a somewhat negative tone, suggesting something like "Why would you think I'm interested?"

No negative intentions with 'do tell'. I intended the British original and now antiquated version.

Luckily, Hatful of Hollow is a fine album. Not wishing to steal any thundersome surprise but the worthy songs on this are:

William, It Was Really Nothing What Difference Does It Make? This Charming Man How Soon Is Now? Hand In Glove Still Ill Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now Back To The Old House Reel Around The Fountain Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

... not wishing to repeat myself (to make the point even more evident) but these are the 'standout' songs, which gives you some indication of how wholesome and prolific they were. Nobody ever accused The Smiths of not putting the graft in, actually, they did citing some of their songs as 'too short' but that was later retracted in light of their obvious genius upon later inspection.

So The World Won't Listen and Hatful of Hollow are fine choices. TWWL has many of the classic songs from The Queen is Dead (possibly The Smiths best album) but misses the densely dark and portent'ful Strangeways. If you do like the stuff (when and if it arrives) - head directly to Strangeways.

For your info. - this list represents all of the main releases from The Smiths (in chronological release order):

(they formed) The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow Meat Is Murder The Queen Is Dead The World Won't Listen (compilation) Louder Than Bombs (compilation) Strangeways, Here We Come (they split)

Rank (compilation)

Listen to TWWL first P, it will demand your attention from the kick-off. Unlike most music, you can enjoy The Smiths on even the naffest music system.

So, I do actualy hope the siren folk used priority mail. I have complained to them previously about slow delivery times, and on some recent orders they have used the faster method. When it arrives, if the response is favorable, I will undoubtedly seek further guidance so as to avoid the buy everything approach.

One day, I might ask you why you don't just walk to the shops and buy your CD's. But for now, I'll presume its because you rather enjoy the thrill and tease of expectation, wondering whether or not the product will arrive without being stood on and smashed into a million pieces.

I'll also presume you will have ascertained that the lack of humorous song titles for The Smiths songs is a direct result of my seriousness on the subject.

On another tack, our friend the Martix, Momento man who is now in the Sultanas bit the dust last night in spectacular fashion. After a minor scuffle with T Soprano (Gandalph) - T bashed his head in until he was a gonner ... then he called for assistance to chop him up. Dead Ralphie had his head removed, his hands and various other bits and pieces (including his wig - note my reference to his hair following in a bowl from yesterday) - and was thrown into the sea, with his head being dropped into a hole dug in a digger by lead Sultana T himself.

Nasty stuff.

This one was definitely not a slow burning episode - also packed into the hour was the unfortunate burning of a race horse, scenes of drug taking which later affected the chopping of King Ralph, two boys messing with a bow and arrow, results of which left one boy in hospital, and a court case featuring the elder Sultana who had to fake madness.

There are no CD stores at all close to where I live and the ones downtown are a rather lengthy walk from work, and when you get there they usually don't have what you want.

After all of Teddy's misdeeds in various movies, it must have been satisfying to see him pay the price one more time. It was interesting on the Memento DVD to see the actor commenting that they wanted another actor who wasn't such a type-cast baddie, but that this other person hadn't been willing to work for so little.

I've heard that James Gandolphini is a bad mo 'fo in the world external of The Superior Beings, I wonder if this other type-cast gentleman also suffers from bad breath. Working for so little probably equates to a wage just beneath your own P - which is roughly 6 million a year. Now I'm no mathematician, but that's 'gotta buy you a whole load of egg-nog!

All your talking of wages has made me recount a recent MTV Cribs. program I saw recently whilst I was ill on the couch unable to graft. Some weasel from the Kiss band showed us 'round his 'crib' and 'co-incidentally' Hugh Heffnoid turned up with 16 dolly birds 'out of the blue'. Nice one. Pretty likely I thought. Also on the same program was that bird from Melinda the Female Witch - her house was quite nice, it was roughly the size of about nine hundred UK homes glued together and she had more gear in it than I think I'd have thought was contained throughout the whole earth. She had the obligatory swimming pool which didn't even have any fish in it!!! ... all in all she seemed quite nice but I couldn't help thinking that she had earned so much money so young and she hadn't even considered sending me any to build a similar house.

How shellfish is that?

Cribs is so depressing, don't you think?

Soul destroying. I knew you'd hate it that's why I mentioned it.

Fundamentally, you have:

Annoying super-fast camera work which operates at such a pivotal speed as to prevent you just seeing that one bit of the place you actually wanted to take a look at,

People who in describing their own gaff tell a sub-story which usually states - I'm grossly over paid, almost completely operated by puppet masters and haven't the slightest idea of culture or in fact any deeper knowledge of the more expensive items I (somebody has bought for me) own,

The expectation that sooner or later, a party will ensue featuring mindless imbeciles catapulting themselves into a once beautiful swimming pool free of urine and excrement,

An obligatory maid who strays into view mopping up sick.

All in all quite disturbing. The more I watch it the more I'm adamant they should sell half of it and built a hospital to help some poor soul.

I feel marginally better though.

Well there, you see, LMA isn't the only thing we agree on!

... it bodes well for The Smiths.

It must be getting late over there, isn't it?

Originally posted by Snucker the voice, isn't that where most people draw the JD comparison from? who knows, but the lyrics feel a bit silly after a while....i mean 200 couches to sleep on?!

Hey look, its still snowing!

Originally posted by Sound of Confusion > Originally posted by Snucker the voice, isn't that where most people draw the JD comparison from? who knows, but the lyrics feel a bit silly after a while....i mean 200 couches to sleep on?!

With a song title like Obstacle 1 they're really asking for it though! Makes me sick when people deny such comparisons in interviews, when there's such an obvious reference.

i don't know if they deny it, but it looks like they're certainly tired of it. they don't come across as big JD fans. i once read that one of the members was reading a book on joy division to find out more about the band they're always being compared to. and and another band member saw this and went "dude, you better not let anyone catch you reading that"

Originally posted by Patrick It must be getting late over there, isn't it?

Is that correct grammar P? (if the rock softens the benchmark is removed and all are lost)

It was about 7.30pm P when I posted - only a fleeting glance at the goings on - excuse my hasty exit.

One of the quirks (and draws) to this place is the rotation of international postings. It must have seemed a bit unsightly a post from me when most UK NOOL posters had left the building ... I don't know what came over me.

If my timing is correct, you should be clocking on right about now; being an early bird who attempts to always catch the worm.

Well, H, if there's something wrong with my grammar, I hope you'll let me know.

Yes, it does tend to get rather quiet at a certain point during the day when all of you tend to disappear, but as far as following the waves of those from, say Australia, that's far beyond my ability to add or subtract hours.

By the way, the passage in PDA that starts at 3:09 I find extremely moving. Does it have that effect on you?

It could be that PDA is in reference to a band members Personal Digital Assistant that was around or used at the crucial 'title defining' moment?

IP seems the type of music which is denser and deeper than most, a good sign. Although I cannot recall your precise moment specifically - I will listen again to this moment. T4 is a goodie, that's for sure.

I found the slow one (I think T6 running at about 3:20 - a relatively short one) the most stirring.

If I recall correctly, T6 is called Hands Away. That is not actually one of the tracks I have been listening to the most. The passage in PDA I was referring to is without vocals, where the guitar repeats the same note about ten times, changes chords (or keys? remember I know nothing about music) does the same note repeat, etc. Gives me the shivers, and on some listens, even becomes tear provoking.

Having a journey to fulfil tonight I will listen to this passage of music.

Few songs manage to provoke such a reaction - usually its personal to the person listening, sometimes a reaction to a recollection of a private remembrance.

I do enjoy KB's music for such reasons. I find myself regularly sniffling when I eventually pluck up courage to listen.

Symphony no 3, by Henryk Gorecki, has a memorable tear jerking passage. Very moving. I would have to also indicate the exact moment, which occurs as a crescendo after a very stirring swell lasting around 3/4 minutes. A true calm before the storm, however the storm is very subdued. The short space of time between the ground swell and the outpouring of emotion from the singer is awe inspiring.

Moments in Love, by the Art of Noise, released a version which played at half speed (i.e. very gently and calmly) whilst Anne Dudley (the brilliant Anne Dudley) plays the single most outstandingly beautiful piano in reflection of the mood of the music. Well worth seeking out, not sure of the version name though - as there are lots of MIL versions. It is identifiable because it is the only version that plays at half speed.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the various works you cite. I puzzled over KB for a minute, but then recalled your previous references. When the reaction is provoked by music with no lyrics, I'm not sure how prior personal experiences could play a role. When lyrics are present, of course, personal experiences do play a role. LMA; TMW.

Music alone can serve as an equally poignant reminder of certain points in life. But then again I tend to listen to music as well as songs so they are also stamped in time.

LMA, TMW, TWA, UPS make me recall the days I first listened to them and the events surrounding. I 'found' a cassette with the Gorecki symphony on, and it will always remind me of that period of time. I like to refer to it as my lost and found era.

Unfortunately I have yet to locate an anthem to accompany lightly buttered mushrooms, obtained from a favourite Italian now steeped in our history.

Well, yes, music or songs heard at a particular point in life can certainly recall that time and everything associated with it. But new material presumably derives its power differently. Genetic memory or something, perhaps.

P, what say you on the seemingly common, general drop in interest with people in music as they mature, leaving the minority to retain the faith.

I discussed this at some length with a good friend of mine recently, and we both concluded that it was quite disappointing, sometimes adversely affecting the euphoria felt on discovering newer music. With nothing to share, the enjoyment is a little lessened.

I assume that parental responsibilities bear a large part of the blame.