"And Guess What I Found..." Part 6: 31-40

 

Not many comments at all on last week's instalment, other than to query the inclusion of some of the TWP tracks (I had explained how I decided what I was going to be included in the A-Z post at the very beginning).

Despite the lack of comments, the readership figure was similar to previous weeks, so I'm going to presume that everyone just agreed with me!

Anyway, on to the top forty...

40 It's Not You, It's Me 

(Single, 2004)

Released right at the tail-end of Cinerama's original incarnation, 'It's Not You, It's Me' was rather overlooked at the time. A shame, because it's a tidy little tune, delicate and melodic,  underpinned by a hypnotic guitar arpeggio and fleshed out with a trademark rousing chorus. 

Infidelity is the subject once more, but on this occasion it's for the last time: she might be 'undoing her blouse',  but she makes it clear that 'this is the final time' because it's all got too complex and she's had enough. There's a bit of a continuity error: the first verse makes it clear that she's come to his house, so why do they have to 'turn his (presumably referring to the cuckolded boyfriend) photograph away'?

39 Love

(B-side of Kerry Kerry, 1998)

The first Cinerama track I ever heard, as it happens, sent to me my good friend Chris via one of his regular mixtapes. I only recently discovered (courtesy of Keg from the Scopitones forum) that the orchestral opening is sampled from Aretha Franklin's I'm In Love, a song written by Bobby Womack and originally released by Wilson Pickett.

It's as Cinerama as any Cinerama track ever got: lush strings, operatic backing vocals, tastefully choppy wah-wah guitar, flute, intertwined male-female vocals (the latter being supplied by The Delgados' Emma Pollock), and a sultry French opening dialogue (translation below). 

The lyric - mainly made up of the things the couple love about each other. e.g. fingers, boots, freckles, voice, whisper, eyes, mischief, trembling - is a little cutesy, although it does have its less than light and fluffy moments (it also includes bleeding, lies, scratches and temper). There's also a slight touch of S&M: 'seeing blood on your nails just never fails to appal me / but I still want you to stay / I'm bruised, I'm cut, it ought to hurt / but you enthral me, and that makes it okay'.

At the time I thought that the track was just a tad overcooked, a bit rich, but I have warmed to it over the years. It certainly was a bold statement regarding the new direction.

Opening dialogue (according to Google Translate): 

I love the smell of your skin in the morning

She turns me on and I want to hurt

Hot bed

Cold air

Your hungry gaze burns me, and I need to feel more

The blood on your nails scares me

But despite everything I want you to stay

I'm bruised and harsh, and I should be in pain

But you hold me back and

Everything seems good to me

Please believe me when I say "don't leave me anymore"

All I wanna do is lie down

Here in this bed

38 Get Up and Go

(Torino, 2002)

Made from the same mould as 'Close Up' and 'Tie Me Up' from the same album - tremolo guitar, epic strings and a grandiose chorus. 

It is quite remarkable how many lyrics David has squeezed out the topic of infidelity (I'm beginning to wonder just how many times I've typed that word in this blog and the TWP one) but once again he effectively captures the mix of guilt, excitement and sordidness of an illicit one night stand: 'you're removing last night's makeup'; 'I've got to change these sheets before he returns'; 'this isn't fun; it feels like your boyfriend's won'.

Typically, there are a couple of clunky couplets ('Is this for keeps? / Well at least 'til your mobile beeps'; 'I help you hide my presence / it reminds me of my adolescence') but it's a great example of the sweet-spot TWP/Cinerama blend that Torino regularly hit.

37 Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)

(John Peel Sessions: Season 3, 2007)

In general, the TWP cover versions did not fare terribly well on Suddenly It's Tuesday (only 'Let's Make Some Plans', 'Mothers' and 'Make Me Smile' made it into the top 100). This pattern has been repeated here: we've already had six of Cinerama's eight covers lower down the list, and the last of them appears later on in this selection.

I'm not, I must confess, a huge fan of the original, although to be fair it's a very well-executed example of a genre that I just happen not to care for. The Cinerama version doesn't do anything spectacularly exciting with the arrangement other than slowing the tempo dramatically, but they do pull off a smoky, slow-burn builder that evolves into a hypnotic maelstrom of layered distortion.

36 Sly Curl

(B-side of Lollobrigida, 2000)

Within the first minute it's clear that we're back to the 'lighter' sound of early Cinerama: a tinkling glockenspiel, a delicately rich, distortion-free guitar sound and an opening line ('are you sure he treasures you? / 'cause I think he's a philanderer') that could only have come from 1998-2000.

Narrated from the point of view of a rueful ex-lover who drove the object of his desire 'into someone else's bed' for reasons unclear to both him and the listener, it's beautifully wistful and understated. It's rounded off nicely by a lovely little pastoral coming-of-age tale told by renowned TWP fan Sean Hughes who sadly died aged only 51 in 2017.

I don't remember when we first met. She was just always there, small and meek, a sly curl about her lips that drew me in. We spent the Summer days in an orange tent in the garden, feeling dizzy in the heat, drinking warm Tizer. 

Then one day a rush of flying ants flushed us out, blinking into the sunlight, swarming around us as we ran. We tried to lose ourselves in the woods, shutting our eyes and bumping into trees, smelling the wild garlic underfoot. 

But she always knew the way. Maybe she cheated, but I just thought she was smarter than me.

35 Superman

(Disco Volante, 2000)

After tales of betrayal and unfaithfulness, David's second favourite lyrical theme is probably the 'you're way out of my league' scenario (see 'Perfect Blue' and 'Mystery Date', for example) and the phrase '[not] quite good enough for you' crops up here once again. This time it appears that she agrees, considering him 'lazy slob', although whether this is just down to the narrator's self-deprecation is unclear.

What is clear is that this is one of those moments where DLG placed himself (musically) about as far from TWP as he could get. There are no guitars beyond a lightly-strummed acoustic; the song is driven by the luscious strings and brass and decorated with a touch of harpsichord-like keyboard. It's swooningly heartfelt and romantic and gloriously moving; a real marker of Gedge's ambition at the time.

It contains the wonderfully pithy line 'the wine goes in and the truth comes out', a rough translation of the Latin phrase 'in vino veritas' which may also have its origins in an ancient Chinese proverb. A Spanish version of 'Superman' was released as a limited edition green vinyl 7" single in 2001.

34 Girl on a Motorcycle

(B-side of Your Charms, 2000)

The Anglo-French film of the same name was a 1968 erotic romantic drama starring Marianne Faithfull and was the first movie to receive an X certificate. Not for the first time, there's a slightly S&M tone to the lyric ('you're excited by people who abuse you'; 'I'm tired of the scratching and the biting') although in the main it simply tells the tale of the dutiful partner who'll be 'waiting here' when she's 'done living on the run' and tired of the 'sensational affairs'.

It's one of the best examples of Cinerama capturing the chic-60s-arthouse-French-movie-shades-and-Gauloise ethic that much of their early work was clearly aiming for. The grinding guitar in the chorus is a nice counterpoint to the knowing kitsch elsewhere.

33 Reel 2, Dialogue 2

(B-side of Your Charms, 2000)

Yet another tale of infidelity and mistrust, but this time told through a dialogue between the two protagonists, voiced alternately by DLG and Sally. He discovers her unfaithfulness by looking through her diary (which he rather disingenuously describes as having taken 'the opportunity / to make a brief enquiry / about a name I could see'), although his evidence regarding the indiscretion doesn't seem to be exactly watertight - 'when I dialled his number / to ask if he'd spent the night alone / he said: "I don't remember"'.

Nonetheless, although she tries to deflect the argument to his invasion of her privacy ('What were you thinking? / How could you do that? Had you been drinking?'), she doesn't seem to deny her infidelity, blaming him for having driven her to it.

All of this is backed by an understated, atmospheric musical backdrop framed around an insistent guitar arpeggio, enhanced with delicate touches of shimmering guitar and Hammond organ chords, harpsichord-like keyboards and mournful cello. The gently melodic soundtrack and sweetly fragile vocals make for an effective contrast. 

32 Erinner Dich

(B-side of It's Not You, It's Me, 2004)

Cinerama's most successful cover is a version of German band Klee's 2002 single 'Erinner Dich' ('Remember Yourself'). Even if you don't know the relatively obscure original, it's clearly a cover, as it's not a typically Gedge-like melody. But Cinerama do own the song here, transforming the breezy electro-pop of the original into something urgent and abrasive but evocatively melodic. 

31 Because I’m Beautiful

(Disco Volante, 2000)

I suspect I will get some stick for rating this song so highly (especially from my good friend Gricey aka Iggy who I know takes a very dim view of the song) but it's a great example of several of the factors that made Cinerama so loveable. 

Yes, it is fluffy and throwaway; yes it has some dodgy lyrics ('you're a premium bohemian'). But the sprightly, knowing back-and-forth between David and Terry is joyful,  the arrangement is entertainingly overdone (strings! horns! wah-wah guitar! - fling it all in!) and the chorus is so cheesily uplifting that it never fails to raise a smile. Sweet, silly and lovely.

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