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Older updates 11/8/03: There is now a Young Marble Giants newsgroup on Yahoo! Groups. Click here to join. 10/12/03: Added the Stop Me... YMG covers to the discography section. (There are two: B&S' "Final Day," listed below, and Adam Green's "Eating Noddemix.") 9/3/03: Belle & Sebastian have recorded a cover of YMG's "Final Day." It will appear on the forthcoming Rough Trade compilation album, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before. The comp celebrates 25 years of Rough Trade and will feature current Rough Trade artists covering the label's impeccable early catalog. Out next month (as is B&S' first Rough Trade CD, Dear Catastrophe Waitress). 8/24/03: A correction: The PIAS America version of Colossal Youth does, in fact, include "Cakewalking." I know this because I'm listening to it as we speak. If you buy the PIAS reissue, you're getting all 25 tracks from the 1994 Crepescule version. Sorry for the misinfo, folks. 8/17/03: Added some info to the live shows site. Specifically, I've found out about another early show in Cardiff (at the Casablanca Club, probably late 1979/early 1980) and gotten more information about the Vancouver, BC performance. 8/12/03: Play It Again Sam Records has re-released Colossal Youth on its PIAS America imprint. The new reissue includes the original 15-song LP, the six-song Testcard EP, two songs from the "Final Day" single (no "Cakewalking"), and "Ode to Booker T." With this reissue, Colossal Youth is once again easily available to all...although in the absence of "Cakewalking," the Les Disques du Crepescule 1994 CD still remains the definitive reissue. 8/6/03: I've just gotten news that the Rough Trade 25th birthday celebration has been canceled, and with it the Young Marble Giants' live reunion. It's a bummer for the band and anyone who was planning to see them, although I must admit a certain relief from my purely selfish point of view. Having just moved to St. Louis and bought a house (while still looking for a full-time job), there's no way I could have made the trip over to London next month. Let's hope that Phil, Alison and Stuart manage to sort out another live date, especially now that they're back in touch and playing together. 4/23/03: Vinyl Japan has just released a Weekend compilation CD entitled Weekend Archive. It includes various 7" tracks, radio and live sessions from Weekend's short career. Included is the entire Live at Ronnie Scott's EP, which has been out of print for close to two decades. See the discography page for more information, or check Vinyl Japan's site here. 4/13/03: Remember that proposed Young Marble Giants reunion a couple of years back? According to Stuart, it's in the process of being rescheduled: "I had an email from Geoff Travis recently in which he asked, dubiously, if YMG would be interested in doing a gig as part of a Rough Trade 25th birthday celebration...I immediately checked with Phil & Alison and was able to tell him "yes." It's set for the last weekend of September -venue to be arranged." Whoa! More information as it arrives, obviously. 3/9/03: Added a cover version to the discography section. 12/30/02: www.stuartmoxham.com is live! This site will focus on Stuart as a solo artist rather than as a Young Marble Giant. There will be information about his solo releases, his forthcoming CD-R label (hABIT Records), and...well, whatever else he wants me to put online. I'm hoping we'll have some MP3s of rare and unreleased stuff, and a mailorder of some sort. Currently there's nothing there but a simple index page, but do bookmark it...2003 will bring lots of new developments. 12/15/02: Added the Sounds article text here. 12/11/02: Three new photos added, all from the 5/17/80 issue of Sounds. Article text to follow. 11/18/02: Young Marble Giants also appears several times in Kurt Cobain's Journals, recently published by PenguinPutnam. Here are the appearances I counted: Page 33 and 34: rough drafts of an early press release. "Their musical influences are: HR Pufenstuf, Marine Boy, divorces, drugs, sound effects records, the Beatles, Young Marble Giants, Slayer, Leadbelly and Iggy." Page 94: list of 29 favorite albums. Young Marble Giants' YMG (sic) appears at #27. Page 118-119: rough draft of Nevermind thanks list entitled "Nirvana says thanks to..." YMG appears as part of a long list of bands. Page 154: alternate list (somewhat shorter) of bands to thank in the Nevermind credits. Page 163: short reviews/descriptions of several records. Of Colossal Youth Kurt says, "Lying in an iron lung filled with lukewarm water and Epsom salts." Also reviewed on the same page: the Breeders, Pixies, Leadbelly, Vaselines, Wipers, Shonen Knife, Sex Pistols, Jad Fair." Page 202: list of albums and bands titled "A Matter of Opinion/Personal Preference." Colossal Youth appears near the bottom of the page. Page 229: another list of bands. Young Marble Giants appears in the list. Page 257: "Top 50 By Nirvana." Colossal Youth appears at the top of column 2. 10/12/02: Added the below-mentioned chickfactor compilation to the discography section. Speaking of which, Stuart Moxham answers a bunch of online-only polls here: http://www.chickfactor.com/webonly/. Click on the link entitled "polls polls polls! popstars respond to etiquette questions" to see! Also cleaned up the discography section somewhat, added a link to the Z-Block section, and moved the outdated news on this section to a separate page. Please click on the link at the bottom if you'd like to see. I've been trying to streamline this site a little bit, although most of the changes I'm making are subtle at best. 9/30/02: Redid the live shows/sessions section to be a little more readable. Also added another show to the schedule (Los Angeles, 10/80). Stuart Moxham news: There will be a previously-unreleased track of his, "Save It," on the compilation album all's fair in love and chickfactor: cf mixtape1. This compilation celebrates chickfactor zine's 10th anniversary. They're having some gala concerts in the UK, NYC and Washington, DC, too, although Stuart is not performing. More info: http://www.chickfactor.com/story/news.shtml. 6/16/02: Finally, a message board that isn't ad-ridden shareware! Please post at http://www.appelstein.com/ymgboard, and enjoy. 6/3/02: Added a new date to the live section. YMG played in Seattle, my current hometown, in November 1980. The space: WREX, a typically ramshackle and impoverished venue in the Belltown section of downtown. Thank you, Loser by Clark Humphreys, for this essential tidbit. (ps: Black Flag played the night before.) 4/14/02: Last night I met UK journalist Simon Reynolds. In an entirely overdue move, he is currently writing a definitive history of the UK postpunk scene. Though we only spoke for a few minutes, the conversation reminded me to add links to his site. You can check those (and a few other new links) out here. 3/8/02:
I'm about a year late mentioning this, although it was on the message board
for awhile: Young Marble Giants were mentioned on the American TV show Gilmore
Girls. The show has gotten quite a bit of attention for
its musical references - a recent episode actually incorporated a Shaggs CD.
The YMG reference appears at the
beginning of episode 1:12, "Double Date." Teenage music nut
Lane has gone CD shopping, and is sharing her picks with her friend Rory: So twenty years after Colossal Youth, YMG finally make it onto network television. 1/23/02: Some minor housecleaning: re-uploaded the "N.I.T.A." clip so it's now accessible, and updated some links. Thanks for your patience; I know it's been awhile. 10/25/01: Not much news on the YMG front to report. One bit of tantalizing news: Stuart Moxham is in the process of revving up a new CD-R label, hABIT Records. His first release will be First hABIT, a compilation of various projects he's been involved with. Tracks will include the Gist, the Original Artists and Stuart describes as "an unusually exotic sounding Scots outfit." hABIT may eventually be used as a vehicle to release rare/unreleased stuff from the vaults as well. Keep watching this space, of course. Also updated the Cardiff tour to include the old Virgin Megastore site. (I had the new one mapped.) 7/13/01: Added Weekend promo pic to Photographs section. 6/21/01: "N.I.T.A." recently appeared on the compilation CD To Be Someone. It's the "soundtrack" to the novel by British writer Louise Voss, or rather to her protagonist's life. Also on the comp are songs by Elvis Costello, Jimmy Cliff, Ann Peebles, The Cure...and yeah, the Jam's "To Be Someone." Amazon.co.uk sells it if you're interested. In other news, this site recently surpassed 10,000 hits! Hooray! 6/15/01: Updated the live section. 4/11/01: Please note that Cardiffians has a new message board. Please use the following link from now on: http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?user=mikeapp. I've never been 100 percent happy with the previous board, and the recent spate of strange email spam from China has frayed my last nerve. 3/14/01: Added a small guide to YMG-related addresses in Cardiff. 3/8/01: Decided to give Z-Block its own page. 3/6/01: Added a special Z-Block section to the discography. Z-Block was a small Cardiff collective label; Spike and members of YMG and the Original Artists all contributed to its existence. 3/1/01: More new photos and artifacts added. Go see! 2/24/01: Bad news first: The Young Marble Giants reunion gig at London's Union Chapel, originally set for March 3rd, has been cancelled. Alison Statton has been suffering from various chest infections and will be unable to perform. We at Cardiffians extend our heartfelt wishes for Alison's speedy recovery. Stuart will be performing at the Union Chapel as scheduled on March 1st. Hope you like the site redesign! I've added lots of amazing photos, flyers and artifacts, most courtesy of Mr. Andrew Tucker. Please email me if you see any broken links or have any criticisms/suggestions. 2/14/01: Added a graphic of the original YMG demo tape cover to the discography. We try to give you all the exclusives here at Cardiffians. :) 2/11/01: Added Kurt Cobain's praise for Colossal Youth to the Press and Photographs section. 2/5/01: Two live shows coming up, both in conjunction with the Rough Trade Shop's 25th Anniversary: a) On March 1, Stuart Moxham will perform solo. Also on the bill: Mark Mulcahy (of Miracle Legion), Mark Eitzel, Darren (Hefner), Echoboy and Wisdom of Harry. b) On March 3, there will be a Young Marble Giants reunion. For the first time since November 1980, Alison Statton, Stuart and Philip Moxham will perform together onstage. Also on the bill: The Raincoats, Nectarine No. 9 (featuring Vic Godard and Gareth Sagar), and Butterflies of Love. Let me sum up: that's YMG, the Raincoats and Vic Godard on one bill. Can you even believe it? And guess what: Barring a major miracle, there's absolutely no way I fly in from Seattle to be there. Please, I implore you: send me live tapes, send me photos, send me videotapes. I'll put them up on the site and give you full credit. Tickets for both shows are available by calling 020 7287 0932. Rough Trade is putting on some amazing bills in celebration of their 25th year. See the official Rough Trade 25 site for more info: http://www4.deo.com/uk/roughtrade/. Also see the site's ongoing history of Rough Trade, and read about the box set they're producing of indie faves (not just RT) from the last 25 years. 1/28/01: A new review of Colossal Youth, and a couple additional live shows. 1/7/01: A few new FAQs. 12/29/00: Added a link to Richie Unterberger's Stuart Moxham interview. Richie's Web site is full of goodies -- his Mayo Thompson and Gina Birch interviews are particularly worth checking out. I'm still checking to see if I can use the YMG chapter of his book, Unsung Legends of Rock & Roll. We'll see. Also made some updates to the discography -- I'd forgotten a few EPs and reissues here and there. 11/25/00: Additions to live performances section: a few more live dates and three set lists. 11/19/00: Revamped the discography and added a list of YMG live dates. 10/28/00: Like the new color scheme? I got bored with the homepage looking like the Colossal Youth cover, so I decided to make it look more like the "Final Day" 7" cover. ;) 10/1/00: Some changes/tweaks to the discography and press/photos section, and a revised front page. Vinyl Japan has just released Weekend's La Variete on CD! Also, please note that the AOL addresses and URLs are now officially defunct. 6/18/00: Updated the FAQs. 6/3/00: A couple of tweaks to the site, and some new additions to the FAQs. The message board has been incredibly hopping lately: both John Henderson (ex-Feel Good All Over) and Ian Devine have checked in! 4/24/00: Steve Rees kindly provided some screen shots from YMG and Weekend TV appearances, so I've added them to the "Press and Photographs" section. Thanks, Steve. 4/23/00: A new URL for this page. Starting immediately, please use http://www.appelstein.com/ymg. Coming soon: more photos, and (hopefully) a real message board to replace the public one we're stuck using at present. Now that I have a web hosting service with CGI capability, it's within sight! Also, if you're interested in this early-80s post-punk stuff, I've just started an online radio staion called "Adventures Close To Home." Right now it's just a four-hour looping broadcast taken from my CD collection, but I have lots of great vinyl to convert to MP3 at some point... 3/30/00: Salad Days, the forthcoming compilation of early YMG demos and outtakes, is on its way! The London label Vinyl Japan will be releasing it later this year. In the meantime, you can see a scan of the front cover and hear a short clip of "Brand-New-Life" by clicking back to the index page. And you can find a complete track listing on the discography page. Also, watch for a change in domain name soon. Callie and I have reserved the appelstein.com domain, and I expect to transfer all my web pages there in the next week or so. I'll pass along the new URL and leave a referral page on AOL. 1/19/00: Some basic maintenance work, fixing broken links and such. Nothing too noticeable. 1/15/00: Happy new millennium, everyone. Late as usual, but there are some new pieces of news to impart. In December 1999, Stuart Moxham played a series of solo shows at club Fez in New York City. Louis Phillippe and Harvey Williams played as well, and new NYC band Stars chipped in on a couple of nights. Here are Stuart's impressions of these shows: "We played thrice. The shows, as a package, probably peaked in the middle overall, although I personally would find it hard to put a pin between my contributions because they were all slightly different. The first had all the impetus/momentum of the long, slow buildup, but also the most mistakes. The second was consequently better performed but not perhaps quite as verbally engaging. For the third I changed quite a lot of the material, including more readings and some fresh songs, including two totally untried ones. I enjoyed them all, feeling hugely relaxed and good-humoured. We played to small but enthusiastic crowds. I used these shows as an opportunity to experiment, reading out poetry / lyrics for the first time ever and playing songs from right across my catalogue, including 3 YMG tunes and many previously unplayed ones. I left NYC on a total high, having enjoyed the place and the company very much and feeling totally encouraged." (Does anyone have any photos or set lists of these shows, or would anyone like to contribute their own reviews? To get the ball rolling, here's the only review I've seen of this show, written by Sherri Locker of the March Records email list: "Mr. Moxham was a nice surprise. I am not familiar with any of his records at all, so it's relatively out of context for me. He was chatty, very British, reading poetry and lyrics between songs. It's nothing at all like Young Marble Giants, as it 's just he and an acoustic guitar. At one point he was joined by Mr. Williams and Mr. Philippe to do 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.' I'd be interested in pursuing Moxham's records after seeing him." Come on, I know that more of you were there. Help me live vicariously.) Back in England now, Stuart is working on several projects: the latest in a series of children's music recordings under the name James First, a soundtrack to a business video (!), and...a CD of Young Marble Giants outtakes and unreleased material. This CD, Salad Days, is due to be released in February on the Vinyl Japan label. Stuart again: "I am the proud owner of an unique CD titled "Test Pressing 1 of 1" delivered last night (January 13, 2000) with 17 tracks, including 3 previously unreleased instrumentals, viz: "Have Your Toupee Ready," "The Man Shares His Meal With His Beast" and "Hayman 40/40," and one completely forgotten gem of a song, (captured in first and last performance, when we rehearsed it for the tape recorder, to hear the arrangement,) entitled "Loop The Loop." I remember that my beloved Galanti electric organ was unsuitable that week and I borrowed a Vox, I think it was, for this occasion. The cutting engineer couldn't believe that we hadn't used a sampler - Good God man, the Moog was hot shit then! And it should give you young Lo-Fi types something to chew on, too." More information on track listings, etc. as I have it. Finally, Stuart has been interviewed for a documentary on the Welsh music scene. It's due to be released in September, with plans for a book to accompany it. And there are tentative plans to revive that unfinished Young Marble Giants tribute CD that Land Speed Records planned in the early '90s. As ever, more information as I have it. |