Showing posts with label Soundtrack of My Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soundtrack of My Life. Show all posts

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Maybe . . . just maybe

I'm tempted. Really tempted. Is the blog ready for me to once again recycle the same 30-40 songs from 1981-84? Same jokes, same patter, the same half-arsed anecdotes? 

Found this music challenge on twitter (Kiss my arse with your 'X-bollocks', Musk.) Is September a particularly synthy month? I have no idea. It would, however, be nice to breath some much needed life into the blog.



#SynthPopSeptember 

Thursday, May 08, 2008

These Charming Men

A must have for every Smiths devotee out there.

Spinster's Rock has a 'This Charming Man' track for every day of the week (and one left over for just good measure).

The original single version will always be the definitive version for me, but if you love The Smiths that means you are a sad bastard completist. And Spinster's Rock post even includes the only ever official release of Troy Tate's production of 'This Charming Man'.

As I am in New York, I guess I should pass comment on the two extended 'New York' remixes of 'This Charming Man'? Mmm, not necessarily my cup of tea but now you know where the ideas for the Meat Is Murder track, 'Barbarism Begins At Home', came from.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Playing With A Different Set List (The B Sides)

Morphing Into A Music Blog (3)

How many letters are there in the alphabet? I could throw the blog over totally to this sort of stuff. Or at least for the years 1978-1984. Struggling like a bastard with the late eighties and the late nineties, but nice to see that the last few years have seen a re-emergence in good left-field pop music. Even if it's only because of the post-punk reload/revival. The hipsters will no doubt move onto the next fad, but at least they will have left us with a few good albums with the requisite scratchy guitars and oh-so-arch vocals.

Thought I'd start with '78 this time. No point scrambling my brains over the period 71-77 once more. I was struggling the first time. I'd end up having to pick a Bread album at some point, and that wouldn't be right.

Nice to see that there is a tad more variation with the B list. Some people might think I'm taking the piss with the Rachel Stevens album, but it's a hidden gem. Perfect pop and all that. Weird to admit that . . . what with me being a Jo fan from SC7.

Shame to discover that The Sound Team have since broken up. No great claims about them. A quick google search of the album, 'Movie Monster', will reveal that I obviously rated the album more than most, but they're worth checking out. I should have played it safe by listing a Spoon or Shins album instead and I'm sure I'll retract my high opinion of them at a later date. I did the same with The Wendys a few years back.

PS I know the Au Pairs aren't in the list - and with Gang of Four, Orange Juice, Josef K, Elvis Costello, Japan etc etc, they should be - but I love the album cover.

  • 1978 - Parallel Lines, Blondie
  • 1979 - Singles Going Steady, The Buzzcocks
  • 1980 - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, Dexys Midnight Runners
  • 1981 - Dare, The Human League
  • 1982 - New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), Simple Minds
  • 1983 - High Land, Hard Rain, Aztec Camera
  • 1984 - Rattlesnakes, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  • 1985 - Our Favourite Shop, The Style Council
  • 1986 - The Queen is Dead, The Smiths
  • 1987 - Sign o' the Times, Prince
  • 1988 - Sunshine On Leith, The Proclaimers
  • 1989 - Cosmic Thing, The B-52's
  • 1990 - Heaven or Las Vegas, Cocteau Twins
  • 1991 - Bandwagonesque, Teenage Fanclub
  • 1992 - Mexican R'n'B, The Stairs
  • 1993 - Debut, Björk
  • 1994 - Parklife, Blur
  • 1995 - Different Class, Pulp
  • 1996 - Fuzzy Logic, Super Furry Animals
  • 1997 - OK Computer, Radiohead
  • 1998 - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill
  • 1999 - How I Learned to Love the Bootboys, The Auteurs
  • 2000 - Tropical Brainstorm, Kirsty MacColl
  • 2001 - Feminist Sweepstakes, Le Tigre
  • 2002 - Life On Other Planets, Supergrass
  • 2003 - Keep Going, Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time
  • 2004 - Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
  • 2005 - Come And Get It, Rachel Stevens
  • 2006 - Movie Monster, Sound Team
  • 2007 - Once (music from the motion picture), Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
  • The Yorkshire Pudding Stole This Meme From Alkelda the Gleeful, I'm Stealing It Back

    Morphing Into A Music Blog (2)

    Spotted this music meme via Reidski's mate The Yorkshire Pudding . . . mmm, yorkshire puddings, gravy and roast potatoes . . . who mugged it from a Seattle blogger called Alkelda the Gleeful a/k/a Farida Dowler.

    'My Life in Music Albums' is a music meme where you simply start from year you were born - in my case 1971 - and year on year, list the album that in your opinion was important for you in that particular year.

    Granted I didn't really start getting into music until the early eighties, so my variation on the meme is that for every year I will try and pick an album that at some point in my life has been in my record/cassette/CD/mp3 collection. Where possible, rather than being a Monday Morning Leninist, I'll try and pick an album that was my favourite for that particular year, rather than opting for an album that I have subsequently discovered.

    I'm taking Alkelda's wise advice by using Wikipedia's Tables of Years in Music as an aide memoire.

  • 1971 - What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
  • 1972 - Saint Dominic's Preview, Van Morrison
  • 1973 - For Your Pleasure, Roxy Music
  • 1974 - Slaughter on 10th Avenue, Mick Ronson
  • 1975 - Between the Lines, Janis Ian
  • 1976 - A New World Record, Electric Light Orchestra
  • 1977 - Pink Flag, Wire
  • 1978 - All Mod Cons, The Jam
  • 1979 - Secondhand Daylight, Magazine
  • 1980 - Sound Affects,The Jam
  • 1981 - Penthouse and Pavement, Heaven 17
  • 1982 - Lexicon of Love, ABC
  • 1983 - The Hurting, Tears For Fears
  • 1984 - The Smiths, The Smiths
  • 1985 - Steve McQueen, Prefab Sprout
  • 1986 - Infected, The The
  • 1987 - Crooked Mile, Microdisney
  • 1988 - Viva Hate, Morrissey
  • 1989 - Stone Roses, Stone Roses
  • 1990 - The La's, The La's
  • 1991 - Don't Try This At Home, Billy Bragg
  • 1992 - It's A Shame About Ray, The Lemonheads
  • 1993 - Giant Steps, Boo Radleys
  • 1994 - Dummy, Portishead
  • 1995 - Grand Prix, Teenage Fanclub
  • 1996 - Everything Must Go, Manic Street Preachers
  • 1997 - Radiator, Super Furry Animals
  • 1998 - This Is Hardcore, Pulp
  • 1999 - Le Tigre, Le Tigre
  • 2000 - The Great Eastern, The Delgados
  • 2001 - Persevere, The Proclaimers
  • 2002 - Redd Blood Cells, White Stripes (with Steven McDonald from Redd Kross)
  • 2003 - Black Cherry, Goldfrapp
  • 2004 - No Cities Left, The Dears
  • 2005 - As Is Now, Paul Weller
  • 2006 - Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
  • 2007 - Yours Truly, Angry Mob, Kaiser Chiefs
  • If I'm being honest, '74 & '75 were the only difficult years to pin down, but the Mick Ronson and Janis Ian albums were honest enough picks. Just don't put me on the spot, and ask me to give you the name of track 3/ side 1 on either of the albums. Also, I couldn't have been listening to a lot of albums in 2002 if I had to plump for Redd Blood Cells, but I do remember loving the album at the time. White Stripes have passed me by ever since.

    Next tagees?

    The usual suspects: Robin Scott; 'Chris' from the Kensington blog; Hogan Ephraim; Tina Fey; Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Reidski; Sarah Silverman.

    Sunday, August 26, 2007

    Sentimental Socialist

    You know when you hear a song for the first time, and you instantly recognise that you are going to love that song for the rest of your life; none of that, three months down the line What the hell was I thinking? cascade of regrets (yes, Maximo Park, that barb is directed at you), but a song that you have to play again and again, and when you do stop listening to it, it's less a case of you edging yourself away from the tune in your head, stereo, iPod and Computer, and more a matter of life getting in the way.

    That's how I'm feeling about the song '1985' right now. It was the opening track off of the Manic Street Preachers 2004 album, 'Lifeblood'. Christ, how did it take me three years to stumble across this song? I guess that must have been during my Delgados period - not period I regret, I hasten to add, btw - but the joy of stumbling across a track you absolutely adore is tinged with the bitter-sweet feeling that you missed out on the track first time round.

    Kara is already sick of the song but, to borrow one of her own lines, I'm "Psyched. 17-year old style."