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Writing that Earworms post for Swiss Toni the other week got me thinking that I should write more often about the music I'm listening to...
Wonder how many people just clicked 'Read Next Blog' or its equivalent? Sorry, folks. More chickens tomorrow. Or something. In the meantime, here's a random sampling...
The Real Tuesday Weld - The Day Before You Came
From a CD given away with Word Magazine a couple of months ago, these are possibly the best lyrics Benny and Bjorn ever wrote. It's a complete short story in song. Blancmange already covered it back in the 80's, but The Real Tuesday Weld bring an almost - dare I say it? - jazzy interpretation that's both wry and sympathetic. Lovely.
The Pearlfishers - Up With The Larks
It must really grate the Pearlfishers that every reference to their band I can find on the internet comes as some kind of comparison with Paddy McAloon and Prefab Sprout. Still, I can think of far worse company to be in. Big, heartfelt, romantic,* and life-affirming songs like this don't come along very often...
"Our love was made in November
In a wind chill of minus five
Tied ourselves up in knots and ribbons
Trying to stay alive
And we were the toast of the lost and lonely
Keepers of dread and doom
Till somebody spiked our tears with joy
Stood back to watch us swoon
Ordinary days of dreary weather
Seemed like some amazing thing
Suddenly the haze was lifting and we could sing
Up with the larks on a cold spring morning
Feeling so real and true
Up with the larks heading out to the summer
Baby, I begin and end with you..."
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Apparently they're on Jonathan Ross's TV show this week, so they hardly need me to big them up. This remains one of the catchiest songs I've heard all year, and I've begun using the Oxford comma a lot more in my lists as a result. Power to the punctuation!
The Indelicates - Stars
I first became aware of The Indelicates last year from their song 'Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die', which for obvious reasons I loved before I even heard. Their new album, 'American Demo', contains a few other examples of titular genius, including 'We Hate The Kids', 'If Jeff Buckley Had Lived' and 'The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock n Roll'. While 'Stars' might not compete, it does offer a contender for Best Opening Line of the Year...
"I'm in love with the boy next door
He treats me like a filthy whore
I give him everything he wants
For nothing in return."
Yes, but what do they sound like? I dunno, kind of folky, upbeat pop, with a angelic-voiced girl singer (on this track) and a slightly-less-angelic-voiced bloke on many of the others. A bit like Camera Obscura is they had a bloke sing most of their songs. Which probably doesn't help you at all.
Murray Head - One Night In Bankok
I was about to start screaming that I can't believe I'm including an Andrew Lloyd Weber composition... then I found out that this is actually the Abba boys again, with Tim Rice on lyrics. So I feel a little less grubby about admitting how much I love this song now. Someone gave me a Murray Head Greatest Hits CD (as, I can only presume, a joke) and this is the only song I downloaded to my music player. And now... I can't take it off.
"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!"
Please, if you've got a few minutes, check out the really bad 80's video.
The Dead 60's - Stand Up
Saw this bunch a few months ago supporting Ash. It was a mixed set - though they did have the benefit of being on after The Ting Tings, so they could have set fire to each other's testicles on stage and still been more enjoyable than that lot. This track, kind of The Clash meets Tom Petty, was the highlight for me.
Adam Green - Morning After Midnight
Adam, and to a greater extent his former Moldy Peach cohort, Kimya Dawson, have come to prominence recently following their involvement in the Juno soundtrack. He's got a great big 60's voice that makes me think of Tom Jones at his best or Tony Orlando,* or even a less melancholic Bryan Ferry. This song doesn't so much rock as swing and swoon. I can see him playing Vegas very soon.
Lloyd Cole - Famous Blue Raincoat
Sometimes I can be very dumb. Like it just hadn't clicked why Lloyd Cole might like covering so many Leonard Cohen tracks, beyond their obvious similarities in outlook and tone. I've seen him do 'Chelsea Hotel Room' live on a number of occasions, but never this particular letter of loss. Even when he sings the bitter sign off, 'Sincerely, LC'... I still don't make the connection...
The The - The Beat(en) Generation
Could The The be another of those bands I go out of my way to ignore while they're around, and then twenty years later I decide... actually, they weren't half bad? I'll have to investigate this further. (Plus, you know - Johnny Marr.)
(*Oxford comma, see.)
13 rants and reactions:
Strangely, I've been humming that very The The track over the last week. I think its because I found a The The CD in a box of stuff that I'm getting shot of. I would have thought you would have listened to them back in the day.
"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!"
Ahh... I can remember the first time I heard One Night In Bangkok I was able to listen to it and not pick up on any innuendo at all. So innocent, I was then. Not sure when it all started going wrong...
Steve I: I never listened to anybody I should have been listening to back in the day. Not even The Smiths.
Steve II: You mean there's innuendo in that line? Trust you to pick that out, Steve!
Never thought of Bryan Ferry as being miserable! Sometimes melancholic, but I'm wracking my brain, now, wondering which track/s left you with that impression of him!!
You're right, 'miserable' was the wrong word. Perhaps 'mournful'? 'Melancholic', exactly. Even on the more upbeat songs, I've always found his voice to have an almost Scott Walker-esque quality. I shall edit accordingly!
Nope, for The The it still has to be "Uncertain Smile". (Hurrah, finally a song I'm not ashamed to have on my lips for the rest of the day...) Did anybody ever see "Chess"? Was it ever on? Wasn't "I Know Heeeeem So Well" from it too?
I've been playing One Night In Bangkok, despite the threats of a serious glassing, on my Wednesday night social for the last few weeks since I bought a "101 hits of the 80s" cd from Tesco. Yes, I know it's wrong and Eddie Argos wouldn't be happy but the same CD was twice the price in HMV.
You missed the most blatant innuendo in there
"I'd let you watch, I would invte you but the queens we use would not excite you"
Who says musicals aren't gay?
Lucy - you're right, IKHSW is also from Chess... that's another one I can now reassess, safe in the knowledge it's not been tainted by the stench of Lloyd-Webfoot.
Tim Rice always seems like a very nice bloke.
Davey - 101 Hits Of The 80's? God, I bet there was some glorious tat on that.
By the way - Eddie Argos - go search out his new venture, Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now on myspace. It's excellent as always. My favourite is the song written from the perspective of Jimmy Mack - "no, I'm not coming back!"
Oh Rol, I love The The. I used to play them endlessly as a teenager.
I thought you made interesting choices there. I liked the The Real Tuesday Weld version of the Abba song and I also rather liked that Dead 60's track. In fact they were all good except the Murray Head one which I don't like at all - never have. I love exploring other people's record/cd collections.
But I actually like Pete Doherty. Albion is the best love song of this century so far I reckon! Perhaps I'll leave now eh???
Good grief; Murray Head! I found my copy of "Chess" recently and still remembered every bloody word! Scary!
RB - there are some Libertines songs I can happily listen to... but I still think Doherty himself is a waste of space.
One Night In Bangkok - the most exciting 40 second intro ever? As a ten year old it was all rather exciting like something out of a lost Indiana Jones adventure.
I never did get the reference to Queens back then.
The thing is, that intro belongs on a completely different song.
Nowadays, radio would just cut that off and start the song where the beat comes in... if they played it at all.
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