Re-examination of "Punch the Clock"

[History History]

That was a really interesting read. Thanks .

[Otis Westinghouse]

and after three more GREAT shows in the following ten days in nyc and jones beach...i too had to go for one more and did the excellent asbury park august 14th show. i remember steve tinkering with "i'm a rocker" somewhere during the night in homage to springsteen. so, 1983 was the first time i went to five shows on anyone's tour and cemented the obsession all these twenty eight years since.

Wasn't there, but that August 7, 1983 show at Pier 84 is a phenomenal bootleg. Love them TKO horns on Let Them All Talk > Possession > Watching the Detectives > Secondary Modern > The Greatest Thing, among other things.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-deta ... ?id=318928

This torrent seems to be dead. Can anyone reseed this show?

dave

I don't get it - why won't more of my torrents seed? I've had this sitting there for weeks waiting to upload via Vuze. To date only 7% had done so. Although some torrents go straight past 100% and carry on seeding (the ATUB Beacon selection is over 200%), others upload a tiny bit and stop. I just don't get it.

Enjoyed the Paul Speare stuff. I saw him and Big Jimmy live twice, once with Dexy's Sept '82, Birmingham Hippodrome, great show despite the over-the-topness of Kevin in his dungaree/soil rubbed on face phase, and then the above-mentioned PTC tour show. Funny how he writes in detail about the EC experience, but not a word re Dexy's. Probably signed a non-disclosure agreement in blood.

[Harry]

[quote Enjoyed the Paul Speare stuff. I saw him and Big Jimmy live twice, once with Dexy's Sept '82, Birmingham Hippodrome, great show despite the over-the-topness of Kevin in his dungaree/soil rubbed on face phase, and then the above-mentioned PTC tour show. Funny how he writes in detail about the EC experience, but not a word re Dexy's. Probably signed a non-disclosure agreement in blood.[/quote]

http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/dexys_midn ... iews/10191
Paul talks about Dexys in the interview above. He told me that his favourite Dexys record is the one he never played on (Searching For The Young Soul Rebels). He didn't quite get the critics fave (Don't Stand Me Down) but was impressed by Kev's version of The Greatest Gift Of All (from My Beauty). Recently there was a some sort of party/fanclub convention in Birmingham to celebrate the anniversary of S.F.T.Y.S.R and I think most of the TKO horn guys were there as surprise guests but Paul was a bit shy or something.
I love Dexys but I wouldn't want to be in a roomful of Dexys fans unless we were at a Kevin Rowland concert.
Has there ever been a Costello convention? I imagine a gathering of Elvis fans would be easier going for some reason

[johnfoyle]

Has there ever been a Costello convention? I imagine a gathering of Elvis fans would be easier going for some reason

A few of us are meeting up in London on April 9th - all welcome -

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB2 ... f=4&t=8761

[belfast]

I tried listening to a different sequence of this album based on EC's comments in the liner notes. For the bonus tracks, he writes that the outtakes/B-sides "Heathen Town" and "The Flirting Kind" 'should have been part of Punch the Clock. I was still so uncertain about the running order that I even had a scheme to substitute "Heathen Town" for "Love Went Mad" after the initial vinyl pressing.'

He also puts down "Everyday I Write the Book" and "Element Within Her" as 'a couple bright pop tunes that didn't have much else to them. The chorus of "Element Within Her" consisted entirely of the immortal words: "la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la" (although I liked the silly Liverpudlian-slang joke in the last verse: "He said "Are you cold?" She said "No but you are La...la-la-la...etc.)'

I don't think "Everyday I Write the Book" was ever going to lose its place in the line-up since it was the lead single, but it seems reasonable that "Element Within Her" and "Love Went Mad" could have been swapped out for "The Flirting Kind" and "Heathen Town" respectively so I tried that - a straight swap in both cases with no further adjustment to the order.

Those other two songs aren't terrible (and “I wish you luck with a capital F" is a classic insult) but I think EC's assessment is probably right. The changes do feel like an improvement, with a better balance in terms of making a more commercial album without straying too far in that direction. Even without these changes, I don't think this was a bad album at all. Not on the level of the previous six studio LP's of original material, but it's fine on its own terms, especially when I think of it as EC's attempt at making a Madness album.

[Neil.]

Hadn't heard about this possible track listing, but even without hearing it, I can tell it'd be an improvement.

There's just too much blaring going on with the horns (despite it being excellent blaring), and these would've been a respite.

[belfast]

Hadn't heard about this possible track listing, but even without hearing it, I can tell it'd be an improvement.

There's just too much blaring going on with the horns (despite it being excellent blaring), and these would've been a respite.

The horn arrangements are probably my least favorite thing about the album, and they're the FIRST thing you hear. I'm not sure what kind of horn charts would've worked here, but EC had some good ones later on ("Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" immediately comes to mind). I'm not sure the Dirty Dozen Brass Band would've been compatible with the 1983 pop sound they were going for on Punch the Clock, but Chet Baker worked beautifully on "Shipbuilding" so maybe having them would've changed the overall arrangements in a better direction.

Regardless, once I got into Madness's singles, I came around to Punch the Clock - not one of his masterpieces, but despite the compromises it kind of plays like a good Madness record.

[MilitantVegan]

I've loved PTC from the moment I saw the video for "Let Them All Talk" on MTV.