| The very well-spoken Mr Milton is holding his cup to his ear. Lost in an analysis of his interest in American electro, he is very calmly letting most of his coffee cascade delicately down his arm. Ummm, Mr Milton ... you're spilling your coffee down your arm. "Oh am I? Oh, yes..." Ted Milton has been quietly flooding the dry gullies of pop for years now, and people have stopped noticing him Me included. For example, first question: what have you been doing since the demise of Britain's best-loved aural assault, Blurt? Ted informed me that Blurt still exists. "It's just that we haven't played in London for two years. And, of course, " he remarks with perhaps a soupcon of irony, "that means that the band is dead." Blurt are continuing happily, I learn. An LP with the name of 'Friday The 12th' out soon on the Belgian Himalaya label, a lot of foreign travel behind them, and e'ne now, a tour of these isles, culminating in a London appearance at the beginningof March. For those familiar with the Blurt noise, the band now prefers the sound of the keyboard to than of the guitar. For those who aren't, Blurt are to white funk and white noise what Towering Infernowas to bee-keeping. And here's a surprise. Ted Milton has made a solo single. It is called 'Love Is Like A Violence', and Danny Kelly made it his single of the week. I don't rate it quite so high, but it is intriguing. 'Violence' is a taut, sparse, electronic thing, with as much surplus flesh as an angle-poise lamp. Ted intones over a backbone beat in a voice of |
exaggerated, but clear, diction, and the whole thing is fascinating; notwithstanding, it bears no resemblance to Blurt. Is this single a deliberate attempt to avoid the style of Blurt? "No," he drawls - Ted drawls in a manner that would make Noel Coward sound like a racing commentator - "It was just a desire to do something like that". "Blurt recordings have always been son et verité, no studio techniques involved at all ... snapshot. Basically, it was the first time I used a studio." For a man whom we had ignorantly supposed to be a doyen of raw and nasty punk rock noise, and therefore perhaps a supporter of some DIY ethic, Ted is well fond of the fab time one can have in a studio. Luckily, the temptation to play with all the buttons was dampened by the point of 'Violence';Ted and producer Steve Beresford set out to make a deliberately simple record, and thus we are spared awful bonking noises and clever bits. Ted is still keen to emphasis the importance of the studio. "It makes the simplicity more powerful; it could never have been done without the technology." I wonder if Ted has ever wanted to make a nice conventional records. "I may get to be extremely orthodox by and by." Do you think that's likely? "No" As he spills coffee down his sleeve, we started talking about lyrics. 'Love Is Like A Violence' contains a series of dazingly odd phrases; it's a poem. The B-side, 'It's Only Lately That Stalins Have Begun To Roost' - and who |
could argue with such a little - is more of a collage. But first to 'Violence'. What it, I enquire about, Ted? "I thought it was pretty goddam straightforward ...", he says, bemused. He allows for ignorance, and adds, "well; in your own words, you tellme what you think it's about, and I'll tell you whether I think you're a complete idiot or not." I hazard an interpretation. The ending of romantic love via the intrusion of reality, disillusionment, disappointment? How many marks do I get for that? "C plus ... Isuppose that comes into it. I'd rather not say anything about it really." Ted, who described himself at one point as "the minor Milton", is a poet. Some of his work ends up in books, some in songs. Parts of 'Stalins' are short poems, or extracts from poems; parts are also found lines, form ads or the radio. "A great dog deserve a great dog food" intones Ted. "go through doors when they open". "I can see lots of opportunities that I've failed to take,doors have opened and I've not gone through them - maybe that's a good thing that I've not gone through; and there was a radio ad, which said a great dog deserved a great dog food. And I thought the two ... a great dog deserves a great dog food, so fuck you! It's like, so that is success." Ted Milton says he's not averse to wads of money. He says he used to shout his lyrics for fear of being mistaken for a singer. And he makes very odd, very interesting records. Why not treat yourself to one right now? |
© 1985 David Quantick/New Musical Express reprinted with permission by DQ
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