Shuffle. Five. Describe.
- Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians- Birds In Perspex (live, BBC). One of my favorite RH & Es tunes, this version especially. I played this album ("Perspex Island"), David Byrne's self-titled solo album, and Adrian Belew's "Here", constantly, the summer of 1994. T'was a summer of pleasant melodic adult-alternative. Though I was only 23.
- Beck - Sing It Again. A simple country waltz: finger-plucked acoustic, brushed drums, piano, some kind of slide guitar haunting the background, a harmonica. I'm sure a lot of people only know Beck's dense, sample-heavy rap and/or dance songs. But, he has albums full of tunes which sound nothing at all like "Loser" or "Devil's Haircut"; one of the bleakest records I have is his "Sea Change". Quite the talent, that Beck.
- Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About An Angel. My favorite SDRE song. Quiet-loud-louder - repeat, beautifully melodic, and the lyrics are completely unintelligible and impenetrable.
- Pixies - Santo. From their "Complete B-sides" collection. The mixed Spanish/English lyrics and shouty delivery makes this sound like a "Surfer Rosa" outtake. But it was the B-side for "Dig For Fire", from "Bossanova". Shows what I know.
- Belly - Stay.This pretty thing is the last song on "Star", closing that awesome album with a sweet, warm hug. A YouTube search for this brings up countless videos of fat bellies, pregnant women, exercise videos.
Do it.
Oh my god that live version of “Birds in Perspex” is one of the greatest things ever. My youthful Robyn Hitchcock fandom had passed over me by the time Perspex Island came out and I never heard it until I bought the disk in 2007 — that very video, which I happened on a few days after I bought the record, played a big part in me becoming as devoted of a fan as I am now. Don’t have the mp3 though, could you send it to me or tell me how to find it?
i don’t have the version from that video. i just have the BBC version (from “This Is The BBC”).
it’d be easy enough to capture the audio from that acoustic version, though.
One time in 2007 I was walking down the street listening to the album version on my brand-new iPod and I had this weird, pleasant out of body experience of being Morris (I think it’s Morris, or possibly Andy) singing “Birds in perspex, come alive” over and over at the end of the song, on the fade out.
Grind Hard-UGK feat DJ Doe. I haven’t had the time to give the album repeated listenings required to sift the wheat from the chaff. But off the cuff; chaff.
Sexual Healing (Prince of Ballard Remix feat. the Hot 8 Brass Band)– Marvin Gaye. Is it okay that I like this much better than the original? No? I don’t care. It rocks.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts VI-IX I haven’t listened to this in years. I had mentally dismissed ‘Shine On’ suite as a lot of tiresome, 70s style improvisatory twaddle. Even though I listened to this over and over and over again when I was a teenager. This is all more concise and clearer than my memory told me. Alright, Wish You Were Here, back into rotation you go.
I’m Free – Violent Femmes. From Why Do Birds Sing? What an awesome album. Their best, I think. Go Wisconsin! Can I recall my Republican rep too?
Got My Mind Set You – George Harrison. What can I say? I like an uptempo, tuneful, Beatlesque song. How many videos of this song did you make, Sir George McBroodybeatle?
Wish You Were Here is my favourite Floyd album. I have to listen to it from start to finish though.
Your fave? Really?
Wow. Okay, I’m going to re-listen carefully.
Sometimes, if I’m feeling cantankerous, I will claim that The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking is my favorite Pink Floyd album. But I’m not sure I totally believe it when I say it.
cleek, you seem like a pixieologist . Your thoughts on Bossanova? I remember it as being weak.
that’s how i remember it too. it’s the only one i never bought. lots of friends had it, but i never liked it well enough to get my own copy.
I had it and gave it a chance. I literally wore out my copy of Doolittle. How do you miss that badly after two home runs?
Macy Gray – Oblivion (spotify link to album version)
This has always sounded like a Kurt Weill piece to me, like it’s from the Threepenny Opera or something. It’s a complete musical departure from the rest of the album, yet it doesn’t come off as a novelty. And I do love the way Macy does manic.
Marilyn Manson _ Rock is Dead
Does this remind anyone else of “Personal Jesus?” Something to do with the shuffle beat and the guitar distortion.
Richard Thompson – Keep Your Distance
They call him “folk rock” but to me it’s more like “soft rock,” like what my mom would listen to — and I mean that in a nice way. Easy to listen to, well-executed and not overproduced.
Danzig – The Hunter
Another hard rock shuffle! This kind of music is my substitute for riding motorcycles, because I fucking hate riding motorcycles. So I’ll just close my eyes and let Glenn blow my hair back.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Jumpin’ Jack
The ’90s swing revival didn’t last long enough for me, though I acknowledge that it didn’t really have anywhere to go since by its nature the bands weren’t really doing anything new. The soul revival going on right now will probably fizzle out soon for similar reasons. Anyway, BBVD was as competent an ensemble as any of them, and I’m glad they got their time in the spotlight.
Re Richard Thompson: You are an old
I gave myself my last mohawk in ’97. Looked in the mirror and thought, “Well, I can’t really pull this off anymore.”
I’ll try and post a list later – I was glued to the TV last night watching my capital city burn. :(
Crazy happenings, Rob. Hope you and yours are weathering the storm.
Don’t worry, I’m well away from it all. My brother lives in West London but he can take care of himself.
It’s like 1981 all over again.
My Brother just texted. Looks like it’s starting to kick off again. He lives in West Ealing which was hit hard last night. He said you can taste the tension in the air.
Love this picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel-eight/6024429000/
that’s awesome. :)
Rob, what the hell is going on over there? I had no idea things were that touchy in London.
Is the root cause chronic unemployment and an alienated minority again?
Hard to blame unemployment when a lot of the rioters appear to be under 16. Hard to blame poverty when they’re organising riots on their Blackberries and stealing HD TVs instead of food. But having no future, little hope of decent employment, little hope of ever leaving the area you grew up in, being in a gang, having no respect for the law, having rampant consumerism telling you that the world is yours … well, it all has an effect doesn’t it? But they simply don’t give a shit, know they probably won’t get caught and know that the police are too nervous to crack heads else there will be more trouble.
It started on Saturday after a black man was shot dead by armed police (he had a gun but despite initial reports to to contrary he never fired a shot). It wouldn’t be the first time an incident like this has provoked a violent response from the local community. However, what we saw last night is different – this isn’t political now – it’s mob rule.
I’m not sure how this will end. There will be 16,000 police on the streets of London tonight and they may use rubber bullets for the first time in mainland Britain. Ironically what we need is some bloody rain – it is England after all! If it was pissing down then they would stay at home!
But we do have a (mostly) Tory government and there always seems to be at least one summer of civil disorder when they’re in power.
One more thing: It’s amazing how many of my left-wing friends are calling for the army to be mobilised and for rioters to be shot dead on sight.
Crazy times.
i was thinking that too, reading various message boards. you got some bloodthirsty folk over there!
I read much the same in the Guardian, that these riots are driven by a lust for “trainers” than anything else. Bananas.
You couldn’t make this stuff up. Baseball bat sales on Amazon UK up 6,500%, police-style batons up 4,200%. Oh, and a ‘Bronx’ style bat up 3,200%.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/movers-and-shakers/sports/
By the time they are delivered it will all be over. Maybe it’s time I signed up for Amazon Prime. :)
What, no cricket bats? How unpatriotic.
Slate is on the case
A day late and a dollar short. And no reason for it, since I am still on vacation at home.
1. Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
A staple of 80’s mix tapes. I still find this song appealing but the more interesting question is how did this band squander their success?? They had the world by the tail at one point in the 80’s and for reasons unknown just disappeared after this album.
2. Joe Jackson – Steppin Out
Hmmmm….haven’t heard this one in ages. I’m not the hugest Jackson fan but this is a nice little song. Sort of jazzy and sort of synthpoppy. I always thought Jackson’s early output in the late 70’s early 80’s is what Steely Dan would have sounded like had they started a decade later. Or I may be crazy.
3. Public Image LTD – Home
Wicked track from PIL from maybe their best album, and maybe their best assembled band, with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Ginger Baker, Tony Williams and Steve Vai. I find PIL a little hit and miss at times but return to this album and the first one time and again.
4. Sarah McLachlan – Building a Mystery
Maybe her biggest hit and I like it. I’ve always liked her voice and this has a really nice melody. I also like the guitar part that winds through the whole song.
5. Tears for Fears Pale Shelter
I think at one point in the 80’s I thought this was the greatest song ever made and that Tears for Fears were the ultimate band. Probably not the first or last song and band I thought that about but that is what being a teenager is all about. This is world class synthpop though, and I still love this song. Awful video though.
Media Monkey seems to be in a retro mood. 5 songs and nary an American to be heard. If you didn’t know any better you would never guess that I grew up in the 80’s in the middle of Iowa, USA.
That’s a great observation!
Simmering down. Rain forecast. Anarchists beware!
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
The only Joy Division song I actually like, even though I am a massive New Order fan. Go figure. Great track that I never tire of hearing. Ian Curtis’ voice might not be everyone’s cup of tea though. Love the guitar in this track but the drums are that typical early-80s compressed nonsense that does date this tune.
The Datsuns – Harmonic Generator
Antipodean Led-Zep wannabees The Datsuns released a thoroughly enjoyable self-titled album back in 2002 and haven’t been heard of much since. I was working at home a lot at the time and seem to remember playing this tune quite a lot – at volume – when I was really getting into the C++ STL. Template metaprogramming sucks kids – the code can end up unreadable and hard to debug, even though it boosts your ego when you finally work out what the fucking error messages mean and the bastard compiles – don’t try it!
Franz Ferdinand – This Fire
From their awesome self-titled debut released in 2004, this is a typical Franz track – spunky and spiky. They have a great art-school sound of their own perhaps borrowing a little from early-80s New Wave and The Fall – maybe even a smattering of Talking Heads. They have released more albums since but none as good as this. If you only even listen to one Franz Ferdinand album make sure it’s this one.
John Squire – Joe Louis
John Squire was the guitarist in The Stone Roses who were quite a big deal here in the UK back in the late 80s. They split in the mid-90s and this album was released in 2002 when his other band The Seahorses fell apart. He hasn’t got a great voice but he is a superb axe-man and, as it turns out, a rather good artist. Every year there is talk of a Stone Roses reunion but I doubt it will ever happen. This track isn’t particularly remarkable and he hasn’t bothered with recording since to my knowledge.
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition – Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In)
I bought this track because it featured on of my favourite films ‘The Big Lebowski’. It’s just dripping with class. Buy it now Cleekers and party like you’re on LSD in 1968.
London’s no longer burning. Woohoo!