A repost for this:
'(Cathal) Coughlan is that rare, arguably unique beast: a truly gifted satirist, plying his art in a rock'n'roll band.' Andrew Mueller
Mueller cheats here, for his second choice in this collection. He chooses two records. Both of them fronted and directed by Cathal Coughlan, one of the oddest and most specific figures on the Eighties and Nineties pop landscape. Mueller is fully entitled to his conceit though, because he makes an absolutely brilliantly argued case for the importance of figures such as Coughlan who do something that is essentially different from the rest of the pack regardless of the commercial endgame. Great writing like this encourages the previously neutral reader to investigate further, like me, I have one album and one single by Microdisney and nothing at all by Fatima Mansions). So, here we go...
In order to 'get' Microdisney, you have to listen and really listen to the lyrics. Otherwise the records often actually seem to veer towards the middle of the road and wouldn't sound completely out of place on Radio 2. But dig deeper and it becomes obvious that Coughlan's only real rivals for caustic sugaring of the pop pill are Elvis Costello and Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. He's more abstruse than any of them. And unlike them, he never had any proper hits.
He's a contrary character, that's for sure. As Mueller writes of him: ( Coughlan ) 'has eluded the recognition that has long been his due with a cunning blend of intransigence, bloody-mindedness, ill luck , an uncanny instinct for making the music at the wrong time, a perhaps unhelpful surfeit of intelligence and a rarefied sense of mischief often mistake for gratuitous belligerence.' I'd concur but add a small caveat. His true achilles heel was his failure to ever nail down the real killer tune which would take him from his existence as a cult hero to being a genuine chart contender. I'd say the same about his foil in Microdisney, Sean O'Hagen who went on to make loads of really great music with Stereolab and High Llamas, ( his own project), without ever grazing the significant areas of the char either. Probably also on account that neither of them ever cared overmuch.
39 Minutes is a perfectly acceptable record without ever threatening to be a great one to my ears. Mueller rates it so highly largely because of the sour cynicism of its lyrics which he suggests holds a pulse to the corrupt tenor of the times it was made during the late Eighties. I'm insufficiently able to decode more cryptically acute lyrics so I'm unfit to judge. The comparison with Costello holds up again. Compare 39 Minutes with Armed Forces for example. Which record has the cleverer set of lyrics. Hard to judge. Which has the better tunes? Armed Forces, hands down. Anyhow I'd take the one Microdisney album I do own, The Clock Comes Down the Stairs,over this. My couple of listens hasn't inspired me to go back very often in future
So, to Fatima Mansions and a truly horrible album cover. They were the project Coughlan moved onto when Microdisney folded and he and O'Hagen parted directions. He chose at this point to shift towards a sound that reflected the generally unrelenting bile of his lyrics. I never really went for it apart from a couple of songs and I'm gritting my teeth as I listen it to this while writing. It verges on hardcore. The kind of thing Black Flag used to specialise in. Regardless of its lyrical merits, I doubt I'll get through it. I can't multitask and type and think while listening. I don't have the slightest urge to take up stage diving any moment soon.
That's probably because this is certainly not my kind of music as a cursory glance down this blog will vouch. I just find it mindless. I much prefer the Scott Walker records in Coughlan's collection to the Anthrax ones that this suggests he may have nestled alongside them. I just want it to stop. I've posted the quietest song on the record because I wouldn't want to inflict the pain I've experienced on others. Inevitably this turns into a thrash interspersed with the quieter bits. Seriously, don't bother.
As with 39 Minutes and Microdisney, this was Fatima Mansions last throw of the dice. It flopped both critically and commercially and judging by my personal listening terror deserved to. I will agree with Mueller's judgement that Coughlan is a definite if misdirected talent. Read his article if you can track it down. It's an object lesson in how to write music criticism. Meanwhile Fatima Mansions, R.I.P. but don't reform.
He's a contrary character, that's for sure. As Mueller writes of him: ( Coughlan ) 'has eluded the recognition that has long been his due with a cunning blend of intransigence, bloody-mindedness, ill luck , an uncanny instinct for making the music at the wrong time, a perhaps unhelpful surfeit of intelligence and a rarefied sense of mischief often mistake for gratuitous belligerence.' I'd concur but add a small caveat. His true achilles heel was his failure to ever nail down the real killer tune which would take him from his existence as a cult hero to being a genuine chart contender. I'd say the same about his foil in Microdisney, Sean O'Hagen who went on to make loads of really great music with Stereolab and High Llamas, ( his own project), without ever grazing the significant areas of the char either. Probably also on account that neither of them ever cared overmuch.
39 Minutes is a perfectly acceptable record without ever threatening to be a great one to my ears. Mueller rates it so highly largely because of the sour cynicism of its lyrics which he suggests holds a pulse to the corrupt tenor of the times it was made during the late Eighties. I'm insufficiently able to decode more cryptically acute lyrics so I'm unfit to judge. The comparison with Costello holds up again. Compare 39 Minutes with Armed Forces for example. Which record has the cleverer set of lyrics. Hard to judge. Which has the better tunes? Armed Forces, hands down. Anyhow I'd take the one Microdisney album I do own, The Clock Comes Down the Stairs,over this. My couple of listens hasn't inspired me to go back very often in future
So, to Fatima Mansions and a truly horrible album cover. They were the project Coughlan moved onto when Microdisney folded and he and O'Hagen parted directions. He chose at this point to shift towards a sound that reflected the generally unrelenting bile of his lyrics. I never really went for it apart from a couple of songs and I'm gritting my teeth as I listen it to this while writing. It verges on hardcore. The kind of thing Black Flag used to specialise in. Regardless of its lyrical merits, I doubt I'll get through it. I can't multitask and type and think while listening. I don't have the slightest urge to take up stage diving any moment soon.
That's probably because this is certainly not my kind of music as a cursory glance down this blog will vouch. I just find it mindless. I much prefer the Scott Walker records in Coughlan's collection to the Anthrax ones that this suggests he may have nestled alongside them. I just want it to stop. I've posted the quietest song on the record because I wouldn't want to inflict the pain I've experienced on others. Inevitably this turns into a thrash interspersed with the quieter bits. Seriously, don't bother.
As with 39 Minutes and Microdisney, this was Fatima Mansions last throw of the dice. It flopped both critically and commercially and judging by my personal listening terror deserved to. I will agree with Mueller's judgement that Coughlan is a definite if misdirected talent. Read his article if you can track it down. It's an object lesson in how to write music criticism. Meanwhile Fatima Mansions, R.I.P. but don't reform.
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