Margrave of the Mointeach (Tribute EP 2005)
Following the demise of pioneering Avante Gaelic DJ/Plant Hire boss/Chip Shop magnate John "The" Peel (Click here for Peel's AGOFR Biography) in 2004, the stars of the Avante Gaelic movement felt that they should get together and pay him a fitting tribute.
Unfortunately "Margrave of the Mointeach" was all they could manage, and with a typically AGOFR flair for apathy and disorganisation, they didn't even release that until some 13 months after the poor cove was in the ground.
In recognition of the fact that Peel ignored or destroyed everything they ever sent him, the stars of the AGOFR scene decided not to include any of their own material, but instead to perform versions of songs by the artists he did like. Heartfelt versions of Peel favourites by the The Und*rt*nes, The Sm*ths, The F*ll, The Wh*te Str*pes and J*y Div*sion are therefore given the AGOFR treatment.
Evidently there was some dispute about who got to cover what. Sheep Purple (who only do Deep Purple songs about Sunday Flights) went in a strop when they heard that Peel wasn't really a big fan of Glover/Lord/Paice and whoever else isn't in the huff on a given day. They only relented when session overseer Ken "XXL Factor" Livingstone persuaded them that the cove in the White Stripes was really Ian Gillan and that "Seminary Army" was "Smoke on the Water" spelt backwards.
Roddy Huggan's Swedish TV (no relation to the real Swedish TV) couldn't agree with The Zing Pop Tones over who got to do "Teenage Ticks" so they both did it. Keen to avoid litigation from the real members of Swedish TV, Roddy craftily disguised his voice to sound exactly like actual Swedes vocalist Rod "Prof" Macrae, so nobody would know it was him. The absence of any ukeleles or Tolkein references from the Zing Pop Tones' version makes music biz insiders suspicious that they are in fact The Dun Ringles and not Zing Pop at all at all.
Cyclefoot's masterly assault on "Heaven Knows I'm M*sery Now" juxtaposes the studied ennui of Smiths frontman Morrisey with the genuine and understandable bronachness of former Gaelic supremo and regular Gazette contributor D*nald "M*sery" Mac*v*r.
The Guireans' contribution (featuring Watt E Smith on vocals) takes the Fall's "Industrial Estate" to Parkend, extolling the virtues of past and present businesses there. Terms and conditions at Smith's Lemonade (home of the late lamented beverage "Zip-a-Cola") are compared less than favourably with being "on the Dole-a".
The EP closes with the appropriately sombre Croit Division performing "Love A Marybank Ceard". This was the last single recorded by Croit Division before tormented vocalist Iain Ceard-is overdosed on a stash of expired Smith's Limeade that he found round the back of D*vid I*in's old factory.
Ceard-is had been driven to distraction by his neighbour's sheep repeatedly breaking through the fence and eating his turnips, and couldn't take any more. In the week of Ceard-is's demise, the black-bordered cover of the Newvalley Musical Express read simply: "This Man Died for Ewes".
Track Listing
1. Teenage Ticks - Roddy Huggan's Swedish TV
2. Seminary Army - Sheep Purple
3. Heaven Knows I'm M*s*ey Now - Cyclefoot
4. (Parkend) Industrial Estate - Watt E Smith & His Guireans
5. Teenage Ticks - CJ Sharkey & the ZingPopTones
6. Love a Marybank Ce*rd - Croit Commission feat. Iain Ceard-is