If you've been following this blog, you'll probably at least be aware of Total Big as a group for which I attempted to play guitar back in my days as a younger man when everything was better than it is now. If not, or if you feel you need a refresher course, please refer to other tapes listed in the index. In brief, my friends Carl and Chris had just left - or possibly been forcibly removed from - a band called To the Max which had featured both Martin de Sey and Paul Mercer, who are both represented elsewhere on this blog - except for Martin, possibly. Can't remember. Anyway, the aforementioned Carl and Chris had found To the Max a bit more rigorously structured than they liked and were keen to form a band more in tune with their own tastes / sense of humour. They vaguely knew I had a guitar, had no idea whether or not I could play it (I can't), and decided that if the worst came to the worst, I could probably knock out one-string riffs because it had worked quite well for the Cramps. Thusly didst they turn up at my place one Saturday and inform me that I was in a band. I didn't like to disagree, so we set up, went ahead, and this noise is what came out. It's a bit of a racket, although for what it may be worth, my guitaration exceeded their expectations in so much as that I could cope with bar chords in pursuit of a vaguely punky New York Dolls impersonation.
We rehearsed a lot, although really it was more like mucking about to see what would happen, and the only jams I recognise are the fruit preserve, Paul Weller's group up to and including the Setting Sons album but no further, and what happens to traffic at rush hour, so this isn't fucking jamming, it's us mucking about. After four or five bewildering but massively entertaining rehearsals, Carl and Chris made up this compilation for me, picking out things which sounded like songs, or at least like we might chisel them into sounding like songs - apart from My Baby Left Me, which I really feel we nailed first time. Having been given the tape, I drew a cover because that was the sort of thing I did. It's not exactly a greatest hits or the best of, but it's probably a better introduction - should you even require one - than all the rehearsal tapes I've already shared, and it's better than - off the top of my head - the entire Primal Scream back catalogue.
You're welcome.
Tracks:
1 - Rock Sandwich
2 - Keep Your Dreams A'Burnin'
3 - Armchair Maniac
4 - I Believe
5 - Robot Fun
6 - Big Smile, Baby
7 - I'm Not Losing Sleep
8 - Write It in the Air
9 - Instrumental
10 - My Baby Left Me
11 - For You I Have Nothing
12 - Reggae
13 - Simon Says
14 - When It Comes to It
15 - Cold Sore Herpes B
16 - Sofa Maniac
17 - Louie Louie
18 - Sister Ray
19 - Last Christmas
20 - Try So Hard
21 - For You
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