Endless Art

Last updated
"Endless Art"
A House Endless Art cover.jpg
Single by A House
from the album I Am the Greatest
Released1992
Genre Indie rock
Label Setanta Records
Songwriter(s) A House
Producer(s) Edwyn Collins, Dale Griffin

"Endless Art" is a song by Irish indie rock band A House, released initially as the lead track on the Bingo EP (1991), and then as a single from their 1991 album I Am the Greatest . It was later included on the greatest hits album The Way We Were .

Contents

After the commercial failure of their 1990 album I Want Too Much, A House had been dropped from their label Blanco y Negro Records, to be picked up by the indie label Setanta Records. They quickly released the EPs Doodle and Bingo at the end of 1990 and in 1991. The latter included the first appearance of "Endless Art", which A House recorded with Edwyn Collins as producer. [1] Collins went on to work with them on I Am the Greatest from which "Endless Art" was re-released as a single, accompanied by a video. [2]

Although the song did not enjoy huge chart success, it reached number 46 in the UK - an achievement by A House's standards - and it gained a certain amount of airplay on MTV Europe. The lyrics to "Endless Art" begin with the line "All art is quite useless according to Oscar Wilde" and for their remainder are mostly a list of the names and birth and death dates of artists from various fields, with the chorus remark: "all dead but still alive, in endless time and endless art". This "list" style of song is characteristic of many of Dave Couse's songs. The majority of the lyrics are declaimed rather than sung, over a repetitive electric guitar motif. Melodically, the song features a quotation from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in the chorus.

Video

"Endless Art" was accompanied by an innovative[ opinion ] stop-motion video which received a lot of praise[ by whom? ]. When Paul King played the video on his final MTV's Greatest Hits show, as one "of those videos that I really do think deserve to be called great and classic"[ citation needed ], alongside others such as "Thriller" and "Ashes to Ashes".

Bingo
A House Bingo cover.jpg
EP by
Released1991
Genre Indie rock
Label Setanta Records
Producer Edwyn Collins

Sexism

For the first appearance of the song on Bingo, the band received some criticism for the fact that the artists listed in the song are all male, so they recorded a second version where all the artists are female. [3] This is the version called "More Endless Art". In "More Endless Art", the melodic quotation from Beethoven is substituted with one from Carl Orff.

Updated version

Dave Couse has subsequently performed a live version of "Endless Art" with a new list of artists, those deceased since the original release of the song. This is available as "Endless Art 06" on the B-side of his 2006 single "A Celebration".

Track listings

"Endless Art" single (1992)

  1. "Endless Art"
  2. "Freak Show"*
  3. "More Endless Art"
  4. "Charity"*

∗ From a live recording for a John Peel session on February 2, 1992. [4]

Bingo EP (1991)

  1. "Endless Art"
  2. "Our Love Is Good Enough"
  3. "Slipping Away"
  4. "Baby You're Too Much"

Related Research Articles

Dave Couse is an Irish musician, producer, and radio presenter best known for being the lead singer and main songwriter with the band A House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwyn Collins</span> Scottish musician

Edwyn Stephen Collins is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in 1985, Collins started a solo career. His 1995 single "A Girl Like You" was a worldwide hit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Wanna Be Adored</span> 1989 single by the Stone Roses

"I Wanna Be Adored" is a song by the British rock band the Stone Roses. It was the first track on their debut album, The Stone Roses, and was released as a single. The US release charted at number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1990. In 1991, the single was released in the UK, Germany and Japan featuring previously unreleased B-sides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love Will Tear Us Apart</span> 1980 single by Joy Division

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by English rock band Joy Division, released in June 1980 as a non-album single. Its lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis's marital problems and struggles with epilepsy. The single was released the month after his suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiss (Prince song)</span> 1986 single by Prince and The Revolution

"Kiss" is a song composed, written, and produced by American musician Prince. Released by the Paisley Park label as the lead single from Prince and the Revolution's eighth studio album, Parade (1986), on February 5, 1986, it was a No. 1 hit worldwide, holding the top spot of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks. The single was certified gold in 1986 for shipments of 1,000,000 copies by RIAA.

A House were an Irish rock band that was active in Dublin from the 1985 to 1997, and recognized for the clever, "often bitter or irony laden lyrics of frontman Dave Couse ... bolstered by the [band's] seemingly effortless musicality". The single "Endless Art" is one of their best known charting successes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs song)</span> 2003 single by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"Maps" is a song by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs from their debut full-length album, Fever to Tell (2003). The song is about the relationship between Liars frontman Angus Andrew and Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O. Released in September 2003, the song reached number nine on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 26 in the United Kingdom. The band performed the song at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, and the music video received extensive play on MTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violet (Hole song)</span> 1995 single by Hole

"Violet" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and guitarist Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song was written in mid-1991, and was performed live between 1991 and 1992 during Hole's earlier tours, eventually appearing as the opening track on the band's second studio album Live Through This (1994). The song was released as the group's seventh single and the third from that album in early 1995.

Paul Walter Quinn is a Scottish musician who was the lead singer of cult 1980s band Bourgie Bourgie, and also released records with Jazzateers, Vince Clarke and Edwyn Collins and sang on an early track by the French Impressionists.

The Joy Division Peel sessions are a series of sessions recorded by English post-punk band Joy Division for John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1 between January and November 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messages (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark song)</span> 1980 single by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

"Messages" is a song by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) from their self-titled debut studio album (1980). A re-recorded version of the song was released on 2 May 1980 as the album's third and final single, reaching number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and becoming OMD's first top-40 entry. As with their debut single "Electricity", "Messages" features a melodic synth break instead of a sung chorus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashes to Ashes (Faith No More song)</span> 1997 single by Faith No More

"Ashes to Ashes" is the seventh track on Faith No More's sixth studio album Album of the Year. It was the album's first single and was released on May 19, 1997. It was reissued on January 8, 1998.

<i>I Am the Greatest</i> (A House album) 1991 studio album by A House

I Am the Greatest is the third album from Irish rock band A House and features the fan favorite track, "Endless Art".

Carwyn Meurig Ellis is a Welsh musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known as the frontman of British alternative band Colorama, as a member of The Pretenders and as a long-time collaborator with Edwyn Collins. In 2014, they worked together on the soundtrack to the film The Possibilities Are Endless which won the Mojo 'Film of the Year' Award.

<i>Genes</i> (album) 2003 studio album by Dave Couse

Genes, from 2003, is the first album released by Dave Couse since the breakup of A House in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song)</span> 1980 song by David Bowie

"Ashes to Ashes" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his 14th studio album, Scary Monsters (1980). Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was recorded from February to April 1980 in New York and London and features guitar synthesiser played by Chuck Hammer. An art rock, art pop and new wave song led by a flanged piano riff, the lyrics act as a sequel to Bowie's 1969 hit "Space Oddity": the astronaut Major Tom has succumbed to drug addiction and floats isolated in space. Bowie partially based the lyrics on his own experiences with drug addiction throughout the 1970s.

<i>The Way We Were</i> (A House album) 2002 greatest hits album by A House

The Way We Were, fully titled The Way We Were: The Best Of A House 04.85-02.97, is a compilation album released by Irish band A House in 2002. It was released in regular and limited-edition versions; the limited edition, which ran to 3,000 copies and was released only in Ireland, includes a bonus disc of b-sides and rarities. The Way We Were entered the Irish music charts in July 2002 and remained on the chart for four weeks, peaking at number 10.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rip It Up (Orange Juice song)</span> 1983 single by Orange Juice

"Rip It Up" is a song by Scottish indie pop band Orange Juice, released in 1983 as the second single from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band's only UK top 40 success, reaching No. 8 on the chart. "Rip It Up" signalled a departure from the sound of the band's earlier singles, with Chic-influenced guitars and using a synthesiser to create a more disco-oriented sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anoraak</span>

Anoraak is the musical project of French musician Frédéric Rivière, multi instrumentalist, singer, producer and DJ, former drummer of Pony Pony Run Run and member of the Valerie Collective along with artists such as College, Maethelvin, The Outrunners, Minitel Rose and Russ Chimes. Coming from the rock scene at first, he later came to electronic music, starting Anoraak beside his drummer position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer Babe</span>

"Summer Babe", also known as "Summer Babe (Winter Version)", is the debut single by the American indie rock band Pavement. It was first released as a 7" single (was listed and described as an EP at the time) by Chicago's Drag City Records on August 23, 1991, titled Summer Babe. It was their only single on the Drag City label before the band moved to New York-based Matador Records. The songs on the Drag City single would later be included on the Drag City compilation Westing (By Musket & Sextant), and on Matador's Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe. The song didn't enter the U.S. Billboard charts.

References

  1. 1 2 "Listing for "Bingo" EP at Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Listing for "Endless Art" single at Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  3. Strong, Martin Charles (2003). "A House". The Great Indie Discography (2 ed.). Canongate Books. p. 90.
  4. 1 2 "BBC Peel Session info". BBC. 1992-02-02. Retrieved October 10, 2011.