Any of you familiar with the term Overcoat Rock& Roll?

[Condem]

As an avid reader of MOJO magazine, I stumbled on this term, recently. It was actually a feature on Echo and The Bunnymen. However, they had a sidebox on the Best of this genre. This is some of THE greatest shit from the 80's. Big Country - The Crossing. Simple Minds - New Gold Dream. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire. The Chameleons - Script Of The Bridge. The Waterboys - A Pagan Place. Never heard the term before. Wonder if anyone in the States has. By the way, MOJO is THE best Rock & Roll magazine, by far. Here's the website. http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/

[Midlodemocrat]

1. No. But a question.

First of all. I am VERY offended by your user name.
Secondly: Just kidding.

[Condem]

2. I'll change it, Midlo

Just kidding.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Excellent. Change it to

flvegan_adores_Midlo.

:thumbsup:

[Condem]

5. I seriously thought at one time, Midlo.

The Prairie Prince. The great drummer from The Tubes. GREAT name. Drummed on XTC's Skylarking. Living in Iowa. An apt moniker.

[SoxFan]

4. "The Big Music"

That's the term I've heard. It's derived from a Waterboys song from that era.

Don't forget The Alarm or The Lucy Show! This stuff makes up a huge part of my music collection.

[Condem]

6. Now, SoxFan. Here is my thought on the definition of "Overcoat".

The layers and layers of guitars. Some of the best sounds I've ever heard. Had the pleasure of seeing The Chameleons at the old 9:30 Club in DC. These guys, IMHO, are one of the most underrated bands of all time. Three fabulous albums. Nothing to show for it.

[no name no slogan]

7. You saw the freaking CHAMELEONS?

They keep reuniting/breaking up before they get to my part of the world? They are probably my most favorite band of all time, along with the Comsat Angels (who you should also check out).

Also, if you're looking for another good music mag, check out The Big Takeover (www.bigtakeover.com). It completely indy, and comes out 2x a year, and it HUGE. Check the site for more info.

This is the DU member formerly known as TonyFletcherWalkedOnWater.

[Condem]

9. 1987, no name.

I didn't know they were still around. Morphed into The Sun and the Moon in the early 90's. Lost track after that. Just fantastic. Thanks for the info on The Big Takeover. Appreciated.

[no name no slogan]

11. No worries, mate

They reunited back in the early 00's for another couple studio albums and tours, then imploded again around '06, IIRC. Mark Burgess is a god in my book. Their website is still up at www.thechameleons.com

Definitely check out BT, especially the back issues. There are at least a dozen articles on the Chameleons and the members' solo projects, too.

Glad to find another fan of "raincoat rock" around (curious term, which I think I've heard maybe once before).

This is the DU member formerly known as SwampThing.

[Condem]

12. Well now.

SwampThing. That rings a bell. Grateful for the info. We haven't even got into the late, great Stuart Adamson of Big Country. How good were they?

[SoxFan]

8. Now I'm going to have "Up the Down Escalator" in my head all night!

nd since my copy of "Script of the Bridge" is on vinyl, I can't do anything about it!

[Condem]

10. I've got all Chameleons on CD, Sox.

You can still find them.

[no name no slogan]

13. They just reissued a couple of them, too, IIRC

I think Script of The Bridge was just reissued with a bunch of extra tracks, including some live stuff. It's out on iTunes and probable Amazon.com too, I would guess.

This is the DU member formerly known as IsItAnyWonder.

[SoxFan]

21. What I need is an MP3 turntable

I have too many out-of-print albums. O-Positive (moody jangle pop), Scruffy the Cat (rockabilly/roots rock), the first Sidewinders release on clear vinyl, Golden Palominos, Tommy Keene, Lone Justice, Neighborhoods, The Outlets, Voice of the Beehive.

[mitchum]

14. Back then, the Limey music scribblers refered to it as "mac music"...

in reference to the overcoats

[Condem]

15. Overcoats, mitchum?

Not seeing it. Please, elaborate.

[susanna]

16. I think "mac" is short for

"mackinaw," a type of overcoat. I vaguely remember a book set in England referencing a coat as such (Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, maybe).

Am I right, mitchum?

[Condem]

18. I don't recall these bands wearing said outfit, susanna.

Now a "mac" goes back to Jethro Tull days. "In his jet black mac. Which he won't give back. Bought it from a snowman."

[susanna]

23. Well, I think it's unfortunate phrasing...

as far as who first said it, as the mac is actually a shortish overcoat. That said, the OP mentioned Echo and the Bunnymen, and I do remember them wearing the longer type. So did U2, the Alarm, Big Country. :shrug:

on edit: clarifying who coined the unfortunate phrasing. :-)

[SoxFan]

26. As much as I love the Alarm....

I don't think I'd turn to them for fashion guidance:



Actually, back when i was 16 and subject to a school dress code, I thought this was all that.

I think I want Eddie's hat, Twist's shades, Dave's bolo tie and boots, and Mike's hair spray!

[Condem]

27. The Alarm are from The Clash.

No connections to these bands.

[susanna]

29. OK, I must be missing something.

The Alarm from the 1980s did have the same vibe as Echo, U2 and the like. Is there another Alarm that I don't know about? I'm lost.

[Condem]

31. Disagree, susanna.

I wish I could show you the article. A little outdated now. The Alarm is nowhere close to this sound. Think swirling guitars. Salt on the wind and ravens whirling overhead.

[SoxFan]

34. The Alarm fused old school punk, Dylanesque folk, and post-punk

Sometimes in the same song, eg, "The Day the Ravens Left the Tower"

[susanna]

36. I still have to wonder...

which Alarm we're discussing? I really am confused.

on edit: reworded subject

[susanna]

28. LOL - my hair once looked like Mike's.

Egads. The best part about it is that I was out to eat last night and saw a young lady who had the same 'do. Not only that, she looked like I did as a young'un. It was trippy.

I saw the Alarm last year at a three-fer concert (Alarm, Naked Eyes, Psychedelic Furs), and they looked great. I guess Mike survived a bout with cancer, or something - he mentioned it onstage. He looked and sounded great. Sigh. Now I'm going to have "Rain in the Summertime" and "68 Guns" going through my head all night.

[SoxFan]

33. I saw the original lineup twice

In 1986, opening for Pat Benatar; they did an 8 song set the blew her away. This was about a week before the live MTV show at UCLA.

Again in 1988, on the "Electric Folklore" tour.

I saw Dave Sharp play an acoustic set in New Orleans in the 1990s.

Haven't seen them in the current incarnation. it's really not the Alarm so much as a Mike Peters solo project, but I'm glad someone is out there playing their music.

[susanna]

35. Yeah, I know...

it's not the same at all. I know Peters is not doing right by the rest of the guys. But I have to admit, the songs sounded pretty good. I was really there for the Furs...who had a new keyboardist, but the rest were originals. :-)

[Kat45]

38. I saw The Alarm at the Paradise in Boston in the early '80s.

IIRC, the guitar was acoustic.

[Kat45]

39. Actually, a "mac" goes back to the Beatles days.

"And the banker never wears a mac. In the pouring rain. Very strange." I thought it referred to a raincoat, but I thought it was of the yellow slicker variety. (I could have been wrong about the type, I don't know.)

[mitchum]

45. Ian McCulloch of the Bunnymen frequently wore those overcoats...

(check out the cover of Crocodiles)
and since so many of those bands followed his lead (but usually without his brilliance), they also adopted that clothing style

[mitchum]

46. You are absolutely correct, susanna

[blondeatlast]

17. My two most treasured albums are The Crossing and New Gold Dream (I LOVE "King is White

and in the Crowd"--it's supposedly about the assasination of Anwar Sadat, btw)

[Condem]

19. Someone, Somewhere in Summertime, blonde

Long before Jim Kerr did the hideous soundtrack to a "Breakfast Club."

[SoxFan]

22. I was listening to The Crossing today

[harmonicon]

20. not that term exactly

I'd heard of it as "raincoat" music or rock. I think it's more often called "death rock", but that seems to include some more overtly punk bands as well. Of those listed here though, the only ones I would really think of has being in the same genre as Echo and the Bunnymen would be Simple Minds (pre-"new gold dream" though), the waterboys, and maybe the chameleons. Not included in this list, I would definitely put The Fall (Ian McCullough from the Bunnymen was given his overcoat by Mark E Smtih from The Fall....) early 80's Cure, New Order (good friends with the Bunnymen, to the point where the drummer from New Order played on a few Bunnymen songs), and some bands that almost no one has ever heard of, for various reasons.

[Condem]

25. I've listened to Echo and The Chameleons, harmonicon.

To me, night and day. The Chameleons had one of THE distinct sounds. To this day, never duplicated.

[harmonicon]

30. The Fall don't really sound like anyone else either

.... I maybe should have also added Jesus and Mary Chain, and Felt - it's not just about sounding like other people, but exuding a certain feel. Anyway.... I said "maybe" the Chameleons!

[Condem]

32. The Fall are in a class by themselves.

[harmonicon]

42. ha!

exactly.

I mean, different people see these things differently. I'm ok with The Fall, but the bunnymen are that band for me where nothing else really compares.

[Condem]

43. Fair enough, harmonicon.

See if you can go to Mojo archives. Last month's feature story on the rise and fall of the Bunnymen. A good read.

[SoxFan]

24. OK, now "Up On the Catwalk" is burrowing into my ear

[Fire Walk With Me]

40. Great song.

[blondeatlast]

44. That worm can move--here too! Queued up on the iPod while I do some houseword,

TYVM! :rofl:

[leftyclimber]

37. I'd never heard it called that before

but your band list pretty much confirmed the mental picture.

....like a lover's voice on a mountainsiiiiiide......

(thanks for the nice earworm -- I hadn't thought of Big Country in a long time!)

[susanna]

41. Yeah, me too; mental picture and all.

I always thought of those bands in a group, however loosely.

Now that I'm older I can guess it was because they were what was interesting when I was a young one. :-)

[mitchum]

47. "Oh, how I hate to drink alone...

Come and I will tell you about the Rolling Stones"

A short little ditty I composed years ago, called "Lovesong of the Mojo Writer"

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

48. i love all the bands mentioned in the op

love Echo and Simple Minds, never heard the term overcoat r&r.

Now if someone will just explain steam punk to me, I may be somewhat current.