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As the USA celebrate independence day we here at MWIS have a more worthy cause to celebrate. Today marks the start of a new series here on the Mission FB page. We'll let Simon, as he is first up again, explain in his own words.

SIMON'S MOST PLAYED ALBUMS

The brief was to choose 'currently' most played albums, but frankly that wouldn't be much of a list as I don't play the same albums over and over these days. Even some of my favourite ever records might get played once every 2 years, or 5 years (stuck on my eyes) or longer. Playing albums until they wore out is something I used to do though. What I have tried to settle on are the ones that I have probably had on the turntable/cassette deck/CD/streaming more than anything. I almost feel disloyal for not mentioning some others, but here goes.

Scott Walker - Boy Child

Well, it's just my favourite record.

I have, or have had, most of his albums, but this is a 'best-of' that really is a best-of, and scans beautifully beginning to end as an album should.

Over time I have found that there are some records I just can't listen-to casually anymore because they're too special and deserve my undivided attention. This is the top of that list. You'd have to be made of stone not to be moved by it. Scott leads you down dark alleys, through tenderness and ugliness, elation and despair. The words are poetic, fragile and true, delivered in that rich sonorous voice, every syllable enounced with clarity and conviction. The music is dynamic and imaginative - orchestral arrangements painting landscapes for the words to exist in. There is only an occasional sense of the era this music came from. Moreover it has that elusive timeless quality that you just can't fabricate. Ask me to choose one record, it's this. One of those things I feel belongs to me personally.

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen

There was a time when I just played Leonard Cohen all the time. I was still quite young - about 21 when I bought this album, but I soon had everything he'd done. Up until that point I had mostly thought in terms of music with electric guitars and stuff, and the idea of something from the "folk music" section was..."naaah". But being persuaded to listen to the substance of it changed my mind. Like all great writers, it seemed as though he was taking my own incomplete thoughts and eloquently laying them out for me to grasp. Lennie was "yer man." As with Scott Walker (who I discovered later) his writing was unfathomably clever and effortless; genius one might say. Whole verses, even whole songs which turn out to be metaphor for something else. Some songs took ages before that wonderful moment when the penny drops; like an education in love and life. When I was that kid in flats and bedsits, he was the image of how I saw myself being as an older man, and for some years I thought I might live the life of a ladies man like LC. That didn't quite work out for the best, and I blame him completely for all of my romantic mis-steps.

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones

I have more Tom albums than anyone else's and they're all great. At one point I was forced to consider if Leonard Cohen was still "yer man" or was it now Tom? Can there be more than one? I'd like to have both please. You've got basically two types of Tom. There's your mental Tom who draws you in to his not-entirely-sane world and describes what it's like in there. If you're going to dig the man, you have to be willing and able to hang with it. It's not for everyone. Examples would be songs like "Underground" and "Shore Leave." Who else could come up with a line like "In the Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels, I rolled down the gutter to the blood bank"? Then there's the Tom who, armed with nothing but an old, not perfectly tuned upright piano, or a harmonium, will pluck your heart from your chest and reduce you to jelly with the sheer beauty of it. Songs such as "Soldier's Things" and "Town With No Cheer" that have the power to fill you up, often-as-not about something you might never have thought about if he hadn't brought it up. Oh yeah, Tom's yer man alright... probably.

David Bowie - Space Oddity

Here he is again. I think we all love David Bowie here don't we? With my first introduction to Bowie having been Ziggy, I came to this one a little later. This is the first of a string of 6 amazing albums released within a period of barely 5 years (stuck on my eyes.) They each stand alone but also belong together. I wonder why? I think the answer is Mick Ronson.

It's daft to pick one over the others but even though I played them all to death, Space Oddity is the one I come back to most often these days. I remember aged about 13 lying on my back on the living room floor behind the couch, with the stereo speakers either side of my head (didn't have headphones) immersing myself in the places this album took me to. There's something very transitional about it all. Released in 1969 it marked an end of the hippy era (according to David, and he was right of course) bidding it a fond farewell and preparing us for something else...something he would play a major role in. So while there are gentle tracks like "An Occasional Dream" and one of the most beautiful songs ever written "Letter To Hermione," there was something else. It was the space age. Armstrong had set foot on the Moon and the possibilities for the future seemed endless. Yet somehow Bowie knew it wasn't all going to be a bed of roses, as we were being led to believe. That is a strong sense I get from this album, particularly on "Cygnet Committee." The final track "Memory of a Free Festival," played on a child's Bontempi reed organ, really does say the 60's are over. You may notice my choices all feature great lyricists. When Space Oddity was first released in the USA, the record company called it "Man of Words Man of Music." What a shocking title.

Jake Thackray - Jake's Progress/Bantam Cock

This comes as a pair of albums.

I did vaguely remember Jake for his Sunday night TV spot on Braden's Week when I was about 8. My parents thought he was weird and apparently there were letters to the BBC demanding he be fired. I reckon it must have been nearly 25 years later when my then-girlfriend had a box of cassettes in her car and I picked-out Jake Thackray with interest. This was the first time I'd even heard his name in all those years. The story gets better because my girlfriend was from Canada and had heard Yorkshireman Jake on the radio in Toronto, searched-out the records, and put Jake's Progress on one side of a cassette and Bantam Cock on the other. So he had made it from Leeds to Canada and back to England and landed in my lap in the middle of London traffic. This cassette became a real favourite, played all the time. I turned my mates on to it too. So funny to hear a car pull up out front of my house on a summer's day, windows down and Jake blasting out. Perhaps Jake was "yer man"? I went to see him live 5 times, always in upstairs pub function rooms, which really was the perfect setting. The first time he didn't turn up. Does this mysterious figure even exist? The second time I was sat so close to where he was performing - standing with one foot on a stool - that I had to keep ducking to dodge the neck of the guitar. The audience was mostly much older, and Jake was a bit puzzled by this half dozen or so rock-looking people who knew all the words and clapped and cheered loudly and enthusiastically after every song. It was almost unbelievable that this absolute legend was there, no microphone, as if in your own living room. On a couple of later occasions I bought him a drink afterwards and had a chat about music and life - him intoning in his deep voice and thick Leeds accent.

So what about the music? For the most part it's one man with a battered nylon string guitar, sometimes with a double bass, bits and pieces of other instruments. The songs are stories, mostly wry and comedic, but interspersed with some real heartbreakers. No one but Jake could have written a song about getting your finger stuck in a hole whilst waiting for a bus, or about a young woman who likes to make love on national monuments. Jake's yer man.

It's a long way off, we know, but the Mission believe in planning ahead despite the uncertainty of our times. We are very pleased to be able to announce that we will be appearing at NEXT year's Sinner's Day Festival in Hanger 66, Sint- Truiden, Belgium, on Saturday 30th October, 2021.
For those that were asking for us to play some shows together with Gary Numan, well, this is as close as we've ever been to doing so. Gary is scheduled to appear on the Sunday with our other friends, Fields Of The Nephilim, on the Monday. Why not make a long weekend of it and see all three bands and a host of other great bands? It is Halloween weekend, after all......
For more info and ticket pre-sale please go to: www.sinnersday.com
or
https://www.facebook.com/SinnersdayFestival/

Today, Thursday 2nd July, in the UK is the #letthemusicplay day. We, The Mission, and all here at MWIS are in full support of this initiative, a campaign aimed to bring to the attention of the UK government the plight of musicians, sound & light technicians, crews, promoters, agents, venues and their staff, truck & van drivers - EVERYBODY involved in the business of putting on live shows.

Dan Morris who fronts the campaign had this to say: “This morning I was on BBC Breakfast TV talking about the impact of Covid-19 on the UK Live Music industry. Today we launch a national campaign, #letthemusicplay, and have penned an open letter to the UK government asking for them to acknowledge that the industry is on its knees. This is an industry that in 2019 employed over 210000 people and added £4.5 billion to the UK economy. It’s a business that rarely asks for assistance. It’s a business that is known throughout the world for producing some of the best festivals, live bands, skilled workers etc. We are truly world class at what we do.”

Like our friends, Evil Blizzard and the 1000s of other bands, artists, and workers in the industry who signed the open letter, we urge everyone to do their part. Spread the message, write and tweet and annoy the hell out of your MP and demand they get on board too. This will impact not only the industry right now but the entire future of the UK live music scene. The live music scene has been criminally overlooked whilst big corporations are being bailed out. Together we can make enough noise to make a difference. We can help ensure that there will be a live music scene to return to when this horrific pandemic is over. Make a noise with us now by sharing and spreading the word. #letthemusicplay
Thank you.
Craig, Mike, Simon, and Wayne

Video courtesy of Sara Ribeiro, filmed at the last Mission show before the lockdown at the Ao Vivo, Lisboa, on Thursday 12th March 2020.

This is the letter that The Mission put their names to:

Letter to Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden
The copy of this letter is now final.
Dear Secretary of State,
UK live music has been one of the UK’s biggest social, cultural, and economic successes of the past decade. From world-famous festivals to ground-breaking concerts, the live music industry showcases, supports, and develops some of the best talent in the world – on and off-stage.
As important as it is, our national and regional contribution isn’t purely cultural. Our economic impact is also significant, with live music adding £4.5bn to the British economy and supporting 210,000 jobs across the country in 2019.
Like every part of the entertainment industry, live music has been proud to play our part in the national effort to reduce the spread of Coronavirus and keep people safe. But, with no end to social distancing in sight or financial support from government yet agreed, the future for concerts and festivals and the hundreds of thousands of people who work in them looks bleak.
This sector doesn’t want to ask for government help. The promoters, festival organisers, and other employers want to be self-sufficient, as they were before lockdown. But, until these businesses can operate again, which is likely to be 2021 at the earliest, government support will be crucial to prevent mass insolvencies, and the end of this great world-leading industry.
Government has addressed two important British pastimes - football and pubs - and it’s now crucial that it focuses on a third, live music. For the good of the economy, the careers of emerging British artists, and the UK’s global music standing, we must ensure that a live music industry remains when the pandemic has finally passed.