by Jamie Summers
It would be really really easy to make this year seem better than just about every other that's going to be part of this Reeling In The Years shindig. '71 is a sort of sweet spot where you get some of the best of the 60s hangovers blending in with the start of some of the better 70s hard rock, metal, funk, disco, the seeds of hip hop and electronic music being planted. So much goodness! 71 was the year of Master Of Reality, Tago Mago, Blue, There's a Riot Goin On, Maggot Brain, Tapestry, Who's Next, ZOSO, Skull And Bones, Love It To Death AND Killer(!), Tribute To Jack Johnson, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, What's Goin On, Songs Of Love And Hate, Meddle, At Fillmore East, Histoire De Melody Nelson, Electric Warrior, Fragile, Live Evil, Stormcock, Every Picture Tells A Story, Faust and the list goes on. Holy shit. So yes, 1971 could beat whatever year you could come up with (except maybe 1984 - Purple Rain/Let It Be/Zen Arcade/Meat Puppets II OKAY I'LL STOP), so instead of going for obvious stuff or anything from the aforementioned pieces of genius, I decided to go for some personal favourites and fun obscurities. Hopefully you'll enjoy them, for now i'll just highlight a couple of things; the first song from the mostly forgotten Paul Parrish LP Songs, which even as a non religious type is one of the most beautiful things i've ever heard, and also the track i've picked from Bill Fay's The Time Of The Persecution. Not such an unknown name anymore after Jim O'Rourke/David Tibet/Wilco and some others namechecked him a whole lot; but it's still very much underappreciated and it's also possibly my favourite album, and why I picked 1971. Enjoy...
Anne Briggs - Willie O' Winsbury from Anne Briggs
Baby Huey - Hard Times from The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend
Todd Rundgren - Long Flowing Robe from Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo from Les Stances A Sophie
Paul Parrish - Many Years Ago from Songs
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen from 666 (note: features Vangelis and Demis Roussos - this album is insane)
David Crosby - What Are Their Names from If I Could Only Remember My Name
Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues from Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse (Spotify)
Junior Walker & the All-Stars - Way Back Home
Bill Fay - Tell It Like It Is from Time Of The Last Persecution (Spotify)
Master list
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tracklist: Lucky Soul - Into The Night
The last material to be released from the A Coming Of Age sessions, the one new track on the Upon Hilly Fields EP released on iTunes yesterday (listen to the whole thing here), is one of those Dollyfied country ballads that they like to knock off on the side from their bittersweet classic girl pop. Ali Howard has the yearning, heartbroken voice for it, but it's the weeping violin and Grand Ol' Opry slide guitar that make the weight.
04 Into The Night by partisanpr
04 Into The Night by partisanpr
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Shampoo and set
No extravagant pile-up of adjectives needed here, when a Gruff Rhys album becomes available for streaming you've got to jump on it.
And this is the video for Sensations In The Dark:
And this is the video for Sensations In The Dark:
Reeling In The Years: 1996
by Skif (Vanity Project)
1996 was a bit of a pivotal year in terms of my musical taste starting to broaden out from the weekly purchase of Kerrang! and the denim jacket I used to cover in patches. The album cover of Master Of Puppets was one of those patches, if I remember rightly, whilst another, ahem, read simply ‘ZZ Top’.
Regular gigging with college mates at the Wedgewood Rooms and Pyramids in Portsmouth as well as the Joiners in Southampton; a plethora of interesting CD singles snapped up from Pompey HMV for 99p; listening to Radcliffe & Riley each evening; attendance at the wonderfully diverse Phoenix Festival during a red-hot mid July; moving onto University in September, joining the Student Union rag and being given loads of records to review – all of these things played their part in pushing an interest towards an obsession.
Had I allowed myself the luxury of hindsight, I might have included Billy Bragg’s Upfield and Belle & Sebastian’s Dylan In The Movies but having come to these slightly after the fact seems a bit wrong. This, as requested, is a snapshot of 1996 as I lived it then.
Bennet – Someone Always Gets There First
The original single release (it was re-released in 1997 after the relative success of Mum’s Gone To Iceland) and for a young man who genuinely didn’t know where to start when it came to the ladies, this song really spoke to me. Rest assured, I am cringing as I type, not just about finding this tune to be somehow profound, but just about how clueless I was in the romantic arena back in them days. Arguably though, not much has changed.
Cable - Seventy
Saw this lot four times between February and September of 1996 so they must have been doing something right. This quiet/loud/quiet/loud effort, re-released as a single in the February, was certainly one of the highlights of that live show.
China Drum – Can’t Stop These Things
The first single from their superb Goose Fair LP; this was the release which had their cover of Wuthering Heights on the flip. I say ‘flip’; I had it on cassette single, so it probably appeared on the notional ‘A’ side as well.
David Devant & His Spirit Wife – Cookie
I’m always fond of a visual element in a live gig and, in that respect, this lot threw the kitchen sink at it. This was their second single, and was one that came to my attention thanks to it costing just under a pound in HMV.
The Divine Comedy – Something for the Weekend
Probably came to this via Chris Evans if I’m honest. His breakfast show tended to be what woke me up via the clock radio and he got behind this tune in a big way. Whenever I attend karaoke nights, I always check if this is in the song book before anything else. Sadly, most seem to just have National Express, which is nowhere near as good.
Earl Brutus – Life’s Too Long
One of my all time favourites these, discovered thanks to this single being another one of those 99p efforts in a certain high street entertainment retailers. Week of release this, not bargain bin I hasten to add. HMV really did spoil me back in them days. You know, when they used to actually sell music.
The Fall – The Chiselers
Released as a single with versions of various lengths (as opposed to remixes) and, having picked up a copy on the cheap at Focus Sounds in Waterlooville, my first experience of a band I now own about 30 LPs by. 1996 was also the year of my first Fall gig (a beguilingly ramshackle display on the main stage at Phoenix which helped cement my interest) and first LP The Light User Syndrome, from which this was taken. Not an all-time classic LP in the standards of many Fall fans but still my favourite for having been an entry point into not only a huge back-catalogue but a fascinating world.
Puressence – India
In fact it had been the previous year, when they were just jaw-fracturingly incredible at the Wedgewood Rooms despite being third on the bill beneath Marion and Catatonia, when they first came to my attention. Needless to say their self-titled debut LP’s release in 1996 was eagerly awaited. My favourite album of the year I’d say.
Space – Neighbourhood
Released in April, and re-released in November after Female Of The Species went large. Not a band that has stood the test of time really, but the fact I bought the original release on cassette and then on 2xCD format when it came around again suggests I really was into these scally bastards at the time.
The Sweeney – Why?
Not a chart troubler at all, but made #9 in Peel’s Festive 50. Why? is a giddying, infectious, feel-good tune. Not for everyone, sure and they were then, and remain, largely unknown. For me and my old mucker Steph back then though, well, they were ‘ours’.
Master list
1996 was a bit of a pivotal year in terms of my musical taste starting to broaden out from the weekly purchase of Kerrang! and the denim jacket I used to cover in patches. The album cover of Master Of Puppets was one of those patches, if I remember rightly, whilst another, ahem, read simply ‘ZZ Top’.
Regular gigging with college mates at the Wedgewood Rooms and Pyramids in Portsmouth as well as the Joiners in Southampton; a plethora of interesting CD singles snapped up from Pompey HMV for 99p; listening to Radcliffe & Riley each evening; attendance at the wonderfully diverse Phoenix Festival during a red-hot mid July; moving onto University in September, joining the Student Union rag and being given loads of records to review – all of these things played their part in pushing an interest towards an obsession.
Had I allowed myself the luxury of hindsight, I might have included Billy Bragg’s Upfield and Belle & Sebastian’s Dylan In The Movies but having come to these slightly after the fact seems a bit wrong. This, as requested, is a snapshot of 1996 as I lived it then.
Bennet – Someone Always Gets There First
The original single release (it was re-released in 1997 after the relative success of Mum’s Gone To Iceland) and for a young man who genuinely didn’t know where to start when it came to the ladies, this song really spoke to me. Rest assured, I am cringing as I type, not just about finding this tune to be somehow profound, but just about how clueless I was in the romantic arena back in them days. Arguably though, not much has changed.
Cable - Seventy
Saw this lot four times between February and September of 1996 so they must have been doing something right. This quiet/loud/quiet/loud effort, re-released as a single in the February, was certainly one of the highlights of that live show.
China Drum – Can’t Stop These Things
The first single from their superb Goose Fair LP; this was the release which had their cover of Wuthering Heights on the flip. I say ‘flip’; I had it on cassette single, so it probably appeared on the notional ‘A’ side as well.
David Devant & His Spirit Wife – Cookie
I’m always fond of a visual element in a live gig and, in that respect, this lot threw the kitchen sink at it. This was their second single, and was one that came to my attention thanks to it costing just under a pound in HMV.
The Divine Comedy – Something for the Weekend
Probably came to this via Chris Evans if I’m honest. His breakfast show tended to be what woke me up via the clock radio and he got behind this tune in a big way. Whenever I attend karaoke nights, I always check if this is in the song book before anything else. Sadly, most seem to just have National Express, which is nowhere near as good.
Earl Brutus – Life’s Too Long
One of my all time favourites these, discovered thanks to this single being another one of those 99p efforts in a certain high street entertainment retailers. Week of release this, not bargain bin I hasten to add. HMV really did spoil me back in them days. You know, when they used to actually sell music.
The Fall – The Chiselers
Released as a single with versions of various lengths (as opposed to remixes) and, having picked up a copy on the cheap at Focus Sounds in Waterlooville, my first experience of a band I now own about 30 LPs by. 1996 was also the year of my first Fall gig (a beguilingly ramshackle display on the main stage at Phoenix which helped cement my interest) and first LP The Light User Syndrome, from which this was taken. Not an all-time classic LP in the standards of many Fall fans but still my favourite for having been an entry point into not only a huge back-catalogue but a fascinating world.
Puressence – India
In fact it had been the previous year, when they were just jaw-fracturingly incredible at the Wedgewood Rooms despite being third on the bill beneath Marion and Catatonia, when they first came to my attention. Needless to say their self-titled debut LP’s release in 1996 was eagerly awaited. My favourite album of the year I’d say.
Space – Neighbourhood
Released in April, and re-released in November after Female Of The Species went large. Not a band that has stood the test of time really, but the fact I bought the original release on cassette and then on 2xCD format when it came around again suggests I really was into these scally bastards at the time.
The Sweeney – Why?
Not a chart troubler at all, but made #9 in Peel’s Festive 50. Why? is a giddying, infectious, feel-good tune. Not for everyone, sure and they were then, and remain, largely unknown. For me and my old mucker Steph back then though, well, they were ‘ours’.
Master list
Tracklist: Kidnapper Bell - Falling & Laughing
No, nothing to do with that, or for that matter this, Falling And Laughing, though it does come from fellow Brum dwellers to this Falling And Laughing and features them on the cover. No, this Falling & Laughing is an unstable beast, not that far away from Johnny Foreigner if someone spiked their gin with Ritalin. It's built on sturdily livewire, nearly Kinsellacore, definitely explosively intricate guitar lines, powderkeg drumming, a proper almost poppy chorus hook to counteract all the other stuff and an ever present sense that if they wanted they could really take off into space. Kidnapper Bell have been around for two or three years without ever quite achieving what they're capable of until now, we'd adjudge. A double A-side of this b/w Mouthful Of Pennies is out on 7th March.
Kidnapper Bell - Falling and Laughing by kidnapperbell
Kidnapper Bell - Falling and Laughing by kidnapperbell
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1999
by Chris Brown
Tindersticks - Can We Start Again
Richard Thompson - Bathsheba Smiles
Idlewild - Little Discourage
Bellatrix - Jediwannabe
Subaqwa - I've Seen This Before
Gene - As Good As It Gets
Hefner - I Took Her Love For Granted
Five - If Ya Getting Down
The Fall - Touch Sensitive
Cuban Boys - Oh My God! They Killed Kenny
Spotify playlist
Master list
Tindersticks - Can We Start Again
Richard Thompson - Bathsheba Smiles
Idlewild - Little Discourage
Bellatrix - Jediwannabe
Subaqwa - I've Seen This Before
Gene - As Good As It Gets
Hefner - I Took Her Love For Granted
Five - If Ya Getting Down
The Fall - Touch Sensitive
Cuban Boys - Oh My God! They Killed Kenny
Spotify playlist
Master list
Reeling In The Years: 1993
by James Glazebrook
1993 was my first full year as a teenager, and this chronological playlist soundtracks my coming of age. Looking back, the first half of '93 seems like a six-month summer, when I lay on my bed listening to all the music I could get hold of, with endless enthusiasm and without prejudice. Guided by the charts, cover-mounted compilations and my local library's tape collection, I liked what I liked - even if it was produced by a one-hit wonder (Feed The Tree), even if there were
better songs on the album (Creep), even if it was (whisper it) popular (Are You Gonna Go My Way). By the end of the year, all my rules had changed. I had heard the ambiguous leftfield pop of Depeche Mode and Björk, and my tastes had pushed out into the extremes, both lyrical and musical. Record covers got darker, as did their contents, and steadily my stereo's output descended into the obscure (Triad) and the downright obscene (Method Man). In hindsight, I learned a lot in these 12 short months, even if I have learned a more important lesson since then: how to love pop again.
Belly - Feed The Tree
Radiohead - Creep
The Cranberries - Dreams
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Björk & David Arnold - Play Dead
Cypress Hill - Cock The Hammer
Nirvana - Rape Me
Wu-Tang Clan - Method Man
Pitchshifter - Triad
Spotify playlist
Master list
1993 was my first full year as a teenager, and this chronological playlist soundtracks my coming of age. Looking back, the first half of '93 seems like a six-month summer, when I lay on my bed listening to all the music I could get hold of, with endless enthusiasm and without prejudice. Guided by the charts, cover-mounted compilations and my local library's tape collection, I liked what I liked - even if it was produced by a one-hit wonder (Feed The Tree), even if there were
better songs on the album (Creep), even if it was (whisper it) popular (Are You Gonna Go My Way). By the end of the year, all my rules had changed. I had heard the ambiguous leftfield pop of Depeche Mode and Björk, and my tastes had pushed out into the extremes, both lyrical and musical. Record covers got darker, as did their contents, and steadily my stereo's output descended into the obscure (Triad) and the downright obscene (Method Man). In hindsight, I learned a lot in these 12 short months, even if I have learned a more important lesson since then: how to love pop again.
Belly - Feed The Tree
Radiohead - Creep
The Cranberries - Dreams
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Björk & David Arnold - Play Dead
Cypress Hill - Cock The Hammer
Nirvana - Rape Me
Wu-Tang Clan - Method Man
Pitchshifter - Triad
Spotify playlist
Master list
Tracklist: She Keeps Bees - Saturn Return
If you saw Brooklyn duo She Keeps Bees when they swung by Britain a couple of times in mid-2009 you'll know about their evocation of Cat Power and PJ Harvey at their bluesiest, and also Jessica Larrabee's nervous energy-driven way with TMI between song banter. This first taster from their soon-come third album Dig On isn't too different to what we heard back then but in their hands the raggedly clean guitar, minimal kit and forceful howling post-Janis voice is bottled up to explode in a way many attempt but few truly pull off. There's also a tour: 24/2 London Windmill, 26/2 Oxford Bullingdon, 27/2 Leeds Brudenell, 28/2 Glasgow Captain's Rest.
Saturn Return by She Keeps Bees
Saturn Return by She Keeps Bees
Friday, February 11, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 2004
by Simon Lawson
As a 16 year old NME reader in 2004 these songs may be very much of a time and place, but yeah listening back to some of them now they're still pretty awesome.
The Vines - Animal Machine
I remember Winning Days only getting a 5 out of 10 in the NME. Maybe my first first hand experience of backlash against hype but it was as powerful (if not quite as consistent) a record as their first and I loved it. Animal Machine is a super song.
Tom Vek - If You Want
My girlfriend of the time had Sky TV and importantly MTV2, going over to hers was my first real taste of music television and I remember If You Want was one of the first songs that I heard on there and then went out to buy. New album in 2011 I hear... Lolz
Ben Kweller - I Need You Back
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
People still like The Polyphonic Spree right? I've somehow never seen them play live. Not sure how as they were really active around the same time that I was. This is a fantastic song. Have you heard their cover of Lithium off that EP between this album and their most recent?
The Hives - B Is For Brutus
I could understand some reading this list and thinking I'm picking all these bands 2-3 years after they hit their peak and while past their best but The Hives are brilliant. The chords are always brilliant and the vocal parts are a perfect fit grabbing yr attention just right like they should in a song I feel. The songs never outstayed their welcome either, I mean this is 2:30 and they only ever broke 3 minutes if it was needed.
Adam Green - Emily
Gemstones is a brill collection of croon pop tunes and I'm not quite sure how he got so popular with it amidst all the rocking of the age. Maybe it was the smuttiness...
50 Foot Wave - Clara Bow
I'll admit that I didn't hear this one until a couple of years after it's release but I'd started university and yeah. I never got into Biffy really so maybe 50 Foot Wave were my weird time rock band. More conventional and with a girl singer sounds infinitely better.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Rise Of The Eagles
This has been on maybe a third of the mix tapes I've made since 2004.
Eastern Lane - Saffron
I wrote about this a bit ago. It's still awesome.
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
This got pounded by XFM on it's initial release. The b-side to his next single Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery, Right To Pop, was great as well :D
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
Re-released in 2004 and the album came out here then so it kinda counts. I wrote about this one as well. I maintain that every time I hear this song it's the best 2 minutes of my life ever.
Master list
As a 16 year old NME reader in 2004 these songs may be very much of a time and place, but yeah listening back to some of them now they're still pretty awesome.
The Vines - Animal Machine
I remember Winning Days only getting a 5 out of 10 in the NME. Maybe my first first hand experience of backlash against hype but it was as powerful (if not quite as consistent) a record as their first and I loved it. Animal Machine is a super song.
Tom Vek - If You Want
My girlfriend of the time had Sky TV and importantly MTV2, going over to hers was my first real taste of music television and I remember If You Want was one of the first songs that I heard on there and then went out to buy. New album in 2011 I hear... Lolz
Ben Kweller - I Need You Back
The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now
People still like The Polyphonic Spree right? I've somehow never seen them play live. Not sure how as they were really active around the same time that I was. This is a fantastic song. Have you heard their cover of Lithium off that EP between this album and their most recent?
The Hives - B Is For Brutus
I could understand some reading this list and thinking I'm picking all these bands 2-3 years after they hit their peak and while past their best but The Hives are brilliant. The chords are always brilliant and the vocal parts are a perfect fit grabbing yr attention just right like they should in a song I feel. The songs never outstayed their welcome either, I mean this is 2:30 and they only ever broke 3 minutes if it was needed.
Adam Green - Emily
Gemstones is a brill collection of croon pop tunes and I'm not quite sure how he got so popular with it amidst all the rocking of the age. Maybe it was the smuttiness...
50 Foot Wave - Clara Bow
I'll admit that I didn't hear this one until a couple of years after it's release but I'd started university and yeah. I never got into Biffy really so maybe 50 Foot Wave were my weird time rock band. More conventional and with a girl singer sounds infinitely better.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Rise Of The Eagles
This has been on maybe a third of the mix tapes I've made since 2004.
Eastern Lane - Saffron
I wrote about this a bit ago. It's still awesome.
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
This got pounded by XFM on it's initial release. The b-side to his next single Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery, Right To Pop, was great as well :D
The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
Re-released in 2004 and the album came out here then so it kinda counts. I wrote about this one as well. I maintain that every time I hear this song it's the best 2 minutes of my life ever.
Master list
Celebrity Playlist: Fixers
Fixers are from Oxford and know about Arthur Russell and experimental beats, thus they're part of the burgeoning Blessing Force collective. Taking cues from Brian Wilson harmonic acid surf and freak-psychedelic ethereality while still approachable enough to have done a Jo Whiley session, from tomorrow they're involved in the BF#1 two day takeover of a warehouse space (Old Book Binders, Oxford) into an installation-cum-happening and gig area also featuring the likes of Jonquil, Pet Moon, Rhosyn, Chad Valley, Ute and Sisterland, and on the 21st issue a 7" that sounds like this. Their Playlist is as spacily eclectic as expected, including one band Google seems to know less about than last.fm.
The Beach Boys - Cuddle Up
Arvo Part - Spiegel Im Spiegel
Blossoming Aquatic Meadows - zZzleepy Dress
Bruce Haack - African Lullaby
Drexciya - Aqua Worm Hole
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSound
Arthur Russell - Let's Go Swimming
Kate Bush - Rubberband Girl
Iijima Mari - BLUEBERRY JAM
Wham! - Battlestations
The Beach Boys - Cuddle Up
Arvo Part - Spiegel Im Spiegel
Blossoming Aquatic Meadows - zZzleepy Dress
Bruce Haack - African Lullaby
Drexciya - Aqua Worm Hole
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSound
Arthur Russell - Let's Go Swimming
Kate Bush - Rubberband Girl
Iijima Mari - BLUEBERRY JAM
Wham! - Battlestations
Tracklist: The Mountain Goats - Damn These Vampires
A very John Darnielle title, you have to say, with his love of death metal and scenarios that end badly. The first cut from All Eternals Deck, out 4th April over here (on Tomlab, curiously, after a fruitful partnership with 4AD), plays with all manner of horror touchstones as metaphors for the usual, a story of people attempt to find their place through their imagined death. It's one of his piano songs, so bad luck, cassette hiss fans.
The Mountain Goats - Damn These Vampires by Indiespot
The Mountain Goats - Damn These Vampires by Indiespot
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 2001
by Thomas Blatchford
Coldcut & The Guilty Party - Re:Volution
Released on the day of the general election - we nearly had William Hague in government, imagine that - Coldcut quietly pushed things forward for veejaying and made the most successful record since Tackhead's 'Hard Left' at turning political soundbites into a gargantuan party 'anfum'.
Ikara Colt - One Note
NME called it an excellent lesson in economy, considering the song only uses one note as implied; if so, minimalism never sounded so riotous and urgent. Many pointed out their similarity to The Fall and Sonic Youth, but if either of those bands had a rhythm section like Clare Ingram and Dominic Young their songs would be rattled through within about ninety seconds and MES/Thurston would have a heart attack.
Super Furry Animals - Sidewalk Serfer Girl
As keen as I am on plucky indie labels, it's great that Epic's financial backing gave Super Furry Animals the chance to realise their creativity in ways that they'd only previously hinted at. One of the occasional sweet love songs on an album brimming with apocalyptic paranoia, Sidewalk Serfer Girl is one of many moments where Rings Around The World seems to better the sum of its myriad influences (Beach Boys, Aphex Twin, Status Quo etc). Shame the pioneering idea of a synchronised CD and DVD album didn't quite take off.
Hefner - Peppermint Taste
It's rarely hailed as Hefner's classic album, but closing statement Dead Media does more than stand up with the rest of 'em and at times pre-empts the electronicly-inclined offerings as The French. As a quirky pop tune that documents bittersweet feelings of love gone unrealised, 'Peppermint Taste' makes you believe Darren Hayman could have written 'Disco 2000' or even 'Last Christmas' if someone else hadn't got there first.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Bob Wilson Anchorman
I'd like to meet Faraday and buy him a beer.
The Avalanches - Tonight
The singles were more of a standout within Since I Left You's rollercoaster narrative, but 'Tonight' is a melancholic detail of skewed exotica that counters the album's bombast beautifully. Lounge bricolage, if you will.
The Beta Band - Broke
With the arrival of 'Hot Shots II' the High Fidelity-endorsed "Bayta Band" suddenly announced they were "no longer shit". A bit too dismissive of their previous form, but they were never better before or since.
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
From a flawless slew of chart hits and a superlative album that is still Timbaland's crowning moment, Aaliyah's angsty message of relationship woes was delivered in such an unusual, measured and beguiling way she might as well have been a mermaid or a martian or something. Along with the sass of Miss E...So Addictive and the impact of Stankonia still resonating heavily, Aaliyah cemented the feeling of 2001 being a vintage year for groundbreaking Rn'B; such a shame we'd never get to see what she'd do next.
Bearsuit - The Gazumper
In the same year they released debut single Hey Charlie Hey Chuck, Bearsuit's Hallowe'en split single with Aqua Vista was also an early triumph. Despite buzzsaw guitars and daring the listener to summon the devil, it still sounds like the twee-est rendering of the apocalypse ever.
Mclusky - Whoyouknow
As the first disc of Mcluskyism proves, Mclusky were one of the greatest 'singles bands' of the last decade, (as well as one of the most superior 'album' ones too of course, but you know what I mean). A year later it would herald the bit where you have to fast forward to the hidden track on Mclusky Do Dallas, but in 2001 it was the rabid, raging single that you couldn't play to death because it sounded invincible.
Master list
Coldcut & The Guilty Party - Re:Volution
Released on the day of the general election - we nearly had William Hague in government, imagine that - Coldcut quietly pushed things forward for veejaying and made the most successful record since Tackhead's 'Hard Left' at turning political soundbites into a gargantuan party 'anfum'.
Ikara Colt - One Note
NME called it an excellent lesson in economy, considering the song only uses one note as implied; if so, minimalism never sounded so riotous and urgent. Many pointed out their similarity to The Fall and Sonic Youth, but if either of those bands had a rhythm section like Clare Ingram and Dominic Young their songs would be rattled through within about ninety seconds and MES/Thurston would have a heart attack.
Super Furry Animals - Sidewalk Serfer Girl
As keen as I am on plucky indie labels, it's great that Epic's financial backing gave Super Furry Animals the chance to realise their creativity in ways that they'd only previously hinted at. One of the occasional sweet love songs on an album brimming with apocalyptic paranoia, Sidewalk Serfer Girl is one of many moments where Rings Around The World seems to better the sum of its myriad influences (Beach Boys, Aphex Twin, Status Quo etc). Shame the pioneering idea of a synchronised CD and DVD album didn't quite take off.
Hefner - Peppermint Taste
It's rarely hailed as Hefner's classic album, but closing statement Dead Media does more than stand up with the rest of 'em and at times pre-empts the electronicly-inclined offerings as The French. As a quirky pop tune that documents bittersweet feelings of love gone unrealised, 'Peppermint Taste' makes you believe Darren Hayman could have written 'Disco 2000' or even 'Last Christmas' if someone else hadn't got there first.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Bob Wilson Anchorman
I'd like to meet Faraday and buy him a beer.
The Avalanches - Tonight
The singles were more of a standout within Since I Left You's rollercoaster narrative, but 'Tonight' is a melancholic detail of skewed exotica that counters the album's bombast beautifully. Lounge bricolage, if you will.
The Beta Band - Broke
With the arrival of 'Hot Shots II' the High Fidelity-endorsed "Bayta Band" suddenly announced they were "no longer shit". A bit too dismissive of their previous form, but they were never better before or since.
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
From a flawless slew of chart hits and a superlative album that is still Timbaland's crowning moment, Aaliyah's angsty message of relationship woes was delivered in such an unusual, measured and beguiling way she might as well have been a mermaid or a martian or something. Along with the sass of Miss E...So Addictive and the impact of Stankonia still resonating heavily, Aaliyah cemented the feeling of 2001 being a vintage year for groundbreaking Rn'B; such a shame we'd never get to see what she'd do next.
Bearsuit - The Gazumper
In the same year they released debut single Hey Charlie Hey Chuck, Bearsuit's Hallowe'en split single with Aqua Vista was also an early triumph. Despite buzzsaw guitars and daring the listener to summon the devil, it still sounds like the twee-est rendering of the apocalypse ever.
Mclusky - Whoyouknow
As the first disc of Mcluskyism proves, Mclusky were one of the greatest 'singles bands' of the last decade, (as well as one of the most superior 'album' ones too of course, but you know what I mean). A year later it would herald the bit where you have to fast forward to the hidden track on Mclusky Do Dallas, but in 2001 it was the rabid, raging single that you couldn't play to death because it sounded invincible.
Master list
Tracklist: Trophy Wife - The Quiet Earth
Formerly half of Jonquil, the sort of sentence introduction that makes the follow-up qualifier "part of Blessing Force" redundant, Trophy Wife's second single, which comes under the all-seeing aegis of Moshi Moshi (out on the 28th), sends their peculiar refracted pop through the prism of their former running mates' latter day interest in skewed Afropop. Around it is something of their own, a bubbling beat that earths the Baltic summer house haze to the sort of drifting, shimmering melody that American bloggers would sell their mothers for. As we wrote with previous single Microlite, they're closer to a British Notwist than just 'another set of Foals' dropout mates'. Though they may well be that too.
Trophy Wife - The Quiet Earth by Anorak London
Trophy Wife - The Quiet Earth by Anorak London
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Reeling In The Years: 1995
by Bamos
Herein, 1995 as I saw it, lived it and enjoyed it. I've left out 'The Big 2' (as no-one calls them) because, well, the songs were shit then and they're shit now. Some would argue that a lot of this is shit; I would call those people 'wrong'.
The Bluetones - Bluetonic
My Drug Hell - Girl At The Bus Stop
Animals That Swim - Pink Carnations
Marion - Sleep
Blameless - Don't Say You're Sorry
Whipping Boy - We Don't Need Nobody Else
Weezer - Say It Ain't So
The Offspring - Self Esteem
The Verve - History
Tricky - Black Steel
Josh Wink - Higher State of Consciousness
Master list
Herein, 1995 as I saw it, lived it and enjoyed it. I've left out 'The Big 2' (as no-one calls them) because, well, the songs were shit then and they're shit now. Some would argue that a lot of this is shit; I would call those people 'wrong'.
The Bluetones - Bluetonic
My Drug Hell - Girl At The Bus Stop
Animals That Swim - Pink Carnations
Marion - Sleep
Blameless - Don't Say You're Sorry
Whipping Boy - We Don't Need Nobody Else
Weezer - Say It Ain't So
The Offspring - Self Esteem
The Verve - History
Tricky - Black Steel
Josh Wink - Higher State of Consciousness
Master list
Tracklist: Echo Lake - Young Silence
After yesterday's capitulation, more fuzzy garage rock. We're music bloggers alright. Apart from The Line Of Best Fit, where they're praised about every thirty seconds, people don't really seem to have noticed this London band even though they tick all manner of boxes - shoegaze-ish noise over the guitars, reverberated female vocals, submerged poppy melodies and a conciseness that appeals. Maybe think Slowdive in a wind tunnel. Out on the 14th, it comes with a video made with MAGIC PAARS.
Young Silence by Echo Lake
Echo Lake - Young Silence from Dan Nixon on Vimeo.
Young Silence by Echo Lake
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Take my problem to the United Nations: some collected thoughts on PJ Harvey's Let England Shake
We're aware there are reviews beginning to circulate, one big notable one in particular, but these notes are made in isolation of those so if any points get repeated from elsewhere it's pure coincidence.
- There's something intrinsically instructive about that title, never mind the contents that back it up. For most of her now ten album career, if you count the two John Parish collaborations (and he's an ever present here), Polly's been an openly American-facing songwriter, whether overtly on the NYC love travelogue Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea or implied through the cleaving to influences - Beefheart, art-blues, Albini, fashion glam. Yet this is her second album to be fixed, and fixated, within her homeland, not so much audibly as with White Chalk's landscapes of dark ghostliness but, as she admits herself, because she felt it was time to look outwardly and deduce how her home nation stands in the world rather than mine her bleak soul.
- Oddly for an album many assume to be opening up modern war wounds there's a lot of references to the Gallipoli/Dardanelles campaign of 1916, until you clock that this was an ultimately failed front. "The mounds of Bolton's Ridge", named in the clanging, limpid air overseeing of a mass death scene All And Everyone, was a main landing point for the Anzac forces, who dug their trenches on Battleship Hill (On Battleship Hill) as referenced in The Colour Of The Earth by vocals from Mick Harvey, on a Harvey album for the first time since Stories From The City... And, viewers of that famous Andrew Marr Show clip will note, Gallipoli is a key Turkish outpost on the road to, as it would have been then, Constantinople (not Istanbul). Written On The Forehead ("war is here in our beloved city"), which samples Niney The Observer's apocalyptic reggae classic Blood And Fire, relocates us to the Persian Gulf, with references to date palms and "throwing dinars at the belly-dancers". It may be an album contemplative of its place, but that place is often only inhabited by the British rather than located there.
- There's possibly deliberate musical touches of Polly's last decade - Bitter Branches recalls Stories From The City..., Hanging In The Wire and some recursion of her highest register vocalising suggests White Chalk, The Last Living Rose is like a demastered Uh Huh Her - but there's plenty of new stuff. Autoharps in various tunings lead many tracks, subtle waves of Cocteaus guitar, melodies pressed into abstract ways.
- The Glorious Land seems intended to sound like an evocation of Soviet poster declarations, what with the references to "iron ploughs" and the marching repetitive rhythm, but overlaid with very US military Reveilles and call and response accusations. Then it ends with as cutting a set of couplets as anyone will produce. The Words That Maketh Murder, a more direct outlining of the horrors of battle all the more for how light Polly's vocal is in comparison, has a neat reappropriation too, and England has what seems to be a muezzin under the intro. All very telling and the sort of response that justifies tackling such an emotive subject with so much water under the bridge since the artistic snap judgement stage passed.
- With an impending TV On The Radio album announced yesterday, three former STN album of the year winners are set to release albums this year (the others being Okkervil River and Los Campesinos!), not to mention all the other previously outlined releases to come, it's going to be a busy year. Let England Shake has just set it all a hell of a high water mark.
Let England Shake is released on Monday, Valentine's Day for an album where all isn't fair in love (f)or war. Stream it here.
- There's something intrinsically instructive about that title, never mind the contents that back it up. For most of her now ten album career, if you count the two John Parish collaborations (and he's an ever present here), Polly's been an openly American-facing songwriter, whether overtly on the NYC love travelogue Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea or implied through the cleaving to influences - Beefheart, art-blues, Albini, fashion glam. Yet this is her second album to be fixed, and fixated, within her homeland, not so much audibly as with White Chalk's landscapes of dark ghostliness but, as she admits herself, because she felt it was time to look outwardly and deduce how her home nation stands in the world rather than mine her bleak soul.
- Oddly for an album many assume to be opening up modern war wounds there's a lot of references to the Gallipoli/Dardanelles campaign of 1916, until you clock that this was an ultimately failed front. "The mounds of Bolton's Ridge", named in the clanging, limpid air overseeing of a mass death scene All And Everyone, was a main landing point for the Anzac forces, who dug their trenches on Battleship Hill (On Battleship Hill) as referenced in The Colour Of The Earth by vocals from Mick Harvey, on a Harvey album for the first time since Stories From The City... And, viewers of that famous Andrew Marr Show clip will note, Gallipoli is a key Turkish outpost on the road to, as it would have been then, Constantinople (not Istanbul). Written On The Forehead ("war is here in our beloved city"), which samples Niney The Observer's apocalyptic reggae classic Blood And Fire, relocates us to the Persian Gulf, with references to date palms and "throwing dinars at the belly-dancers". It may be an album contemplative of its place, but that place is often only inhabited by the British rather than located there.
- There's possibly deliberate musical touches of Polly's last decade - Bitter Branches recalls Stories From The City..., Hanging In The Wire and some recursion of her highest register vocalising suggests White Chalk, The Last Living Rose is like a demastered Uh Huh Her - but there's plenty of new stuff. Autoharps in various tunings lead many tracks, subtle waves of Cocteaus guitar, melodies pressed into abstract ways.
- The Glorious Land seems intended to sound like an evocation of Soviet poster declarations, what with the references to "iron ploughs" and the marching repetitive rhythm, but overlaid with very US military Reveilles and call and response accusations. Then it ends with as cutting a set of couplets as anyone will produce. The Words That Maketh Murder, a more direct outlining of the horrors of battle all the more for how light Polly's vocal is in comparison, has a neat reappropriation too, and England has what seems to be a muezzin under the intro. All very telling and the sort of response that justifies tackling such an emotive subject with so much water under the bridge since the artistic snap judgement stage passed.
- With an impending TV On The Radio album announced yesterday, three former STN album of the year winners are set to release albums this year (the others being Okkervil River and Los Campesinos!), not to mention all the other previously outlined releases to come, it's going to be a busy year. Let England Shake has just set it all a hell of a high water mark.
Let England Shake is released on Monday, Valentine's Day for an album where all isn't fair in love (f)or war. Stream it here.
Reeling In The Years: 1985
by Folly of Youth
The 1985 that wasn’t Live Aid and “We Are The World”. Some songs, small ‘p’ political, that are nostalgic, confused, angry and cynical. And finishing with big ’P’ political: "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine”.
If ever there was a ‘cause’ song to be remembered from the 80s it should be this potent declaration of solidarity. Little Steven van Zandt bringing together Run DMC, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Joey Ramone, David Ruffin, Hall and Oates, Darlene Love, Afrika Bambaataa, Bob Dylan, Kurtis Blow, Lou Reed and many others to condemn apartheid and those who support it by playing the whites-only pleasure resort. Queen, Elton John and all those who broke the United Nations cultural boycott should still be hanging their heads in shame 25 years later.
The Long Ryders – Looking For Lewis & Clark
Miracle Legion - The Backyard
The Replacements – Left of the Dial
Husker Du – Makes No Sense At All
The Mekons – Hard To Be Human Again
Microdisney - Genius
The Woodentops – Well Well Well
Jesus & Mary Chain – Never Understand
The Housemartins – Flag Day
Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City
Mixcloud
Master list
The 1985 that wasn’t Live Aid and “We Are The World”. Some songs, small ‘p’ political, that are nostalgic, confused, angry and cynical. And finishing with big ’P’ political: "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine”.
If ever there was a ‘cause’ song to be remembered from the 80s it should be this potent declaration of solidarity. Little Steven van Zandt bringing together Run DMC, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Joey Ramone, David Ruffin, Hall and Oates, Darlene Love, Afrika Bambaataa, Bob Dylan, Kurtis Blow, Lou Reed and many others to condemn apartheid and those who support it by playing the whites-only pleasure resort. Queen, Elton John and all those who broke the United Nations cultural boycott should still be hanging their heads in shame 25 years later.
The Long Ryders – Looking For Lewis & Clark
Miracle Legion - The Backyard
The Replacements – Left of the Dial
Husker Du – Makes No Sense At All
The Mekons – Hard To Be Human Again
Microdisney - Genius
The Woodentops – Well Well Well
Jesus & Mary Chain – Never Understand
The Housemartins – Flag Day
Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City
Mixcloud
Master list
Tracklist: Vivian Girls - I Heard You Say
Truth be told we've always flip-flopped, mostly floppage ensuing, on this whole cadre of lo-fi girl groups with guitars and bite and offhand harmonies and surf garage uncleanliness. There's just too many of them doing the same thing and there should be a law reducing their output. What would be good is if this were the benchmark, the reconvening of the Vivians (no, hang on, there's already been a band called that. Or was that Vyvyan?) from their million side projects that were all much the same for the first release from April's Share The Joy. It's a bit cleaner and comes with a proper swing, concise guitar work, little stuff going on in the background and for once a sense that it has to be doing this out of fuzzbomb destiny rather than rote. Download for free, or if that's too much trouble here's a half-inched Soundcloud stream.
Vvn Grls - I Heard You Say by Pretty Much Amazing
Vvn Grls - I Heard You Say by Pretty Much Amazing
Monday, February 07, 2011
Call a Kab
Well, The Kabeedies isn't an easy name to get anything punning out of without judicious editing, is it? This is an APB that Norwich's most exuberant have a new free single out today. It's called Santiago, which sounds like this...
The Kabeedies - Santiago by Sainted PR
...and you can download it from Bandcamp. You could of course wait until 11th April and pay for it should you be thus inclined It sounds like the Kabeedies, all mixed sex harmonies, groove-ish guitar pop and busy drumming, but with a horn section and a slowed down bridge. They have dates impending - London Monarch on Wednesday, Norwich Waterfront on 20th April, and then a tour in May, most of these dates with the broodingly brittle fellow children of Norfolk These Ghosts.
4/5 Reading Oakford
5/5 Brighton Latest Music Bar
6/5 London Amersham
7/5 Bristol Mother's Ruin
8/5 Cardiff Undertone
9/5 Coventry Kasbah
10/5 Cambridge Cornerhouse
11/5 Birmingham Rainbow
12/5 Leeds Milo
13/5 Leicester Firebug
14/5 Manchester Night & Day
15/5 Chester Laugh Inn
The Kabeedies - Santiago by Sainted PR
...and you can download it from Bandcamp. You could of course wait until 11th April and pay for it should you be thus inclined It sounds like the Kabeedies, all mixed sex harmonies, groove-ish guitar pop and busy drumming, but with a horn section and a slowed down bridge. They have dates impending - London Monarch on Wednesday, Norwich Waterfront on 20th April, and then a tour in May, most of these dates with the broodingly brittle fellow children of Norfolk These Ghosts.
4/5 Reading Oakford
5/5 Brighton Latest Music Bar
6/5 London Amersham
7/5 Bristol Mother's Ruin
8/5 Cardiff Undertone
9/5 Coventry Kasbah
10/5 Cambridge Cornerhouse
11/5 Birmingham Rainbow
12/5 Leeds Milo
13/5 Leicester Firebug
14/5 Manchester Night & Day
15/5 Chester Laugh Inn
Reeling In The Years: 1983
by Robin Seamer
1983. The year of the Rubik’s Cube, neon coloured socks, yuppies and when real men didn’t eat quiche. The synthesiser and bad haircuts were everywhere, more often than not in tandem and I LOVED IT. Forget Enid Blyton because the real famous five were the all singing, all dancing New York High School for the Performing Arts dudes known as Danny, Lydia, Coco, Bruno and Leroy - the Kids From Fame – like an 80’s Glee except cooler, more lycra and original songs. 1983 was when new wave, new romantic and pure pop all collided in a sexy explosion of colour and decadence before pop stars got a conscience and formed Band Aid in 1984. This is a snapshot of 10 of the songs that sound tracked my wayward experiments with wearing berets and buying my first pair of Doctor Marten boots. The finest of times.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
Most people will remember this as a hit from 1984 but technically it belongs to 1983 having been released in November of that year. Possibly the most controversial but successful single of the decade, producer Trevor Horn took the original version of the bands song and completely re-recorded it himself with a session keyboard player, the only presence of the band being that of Holly Johnson’s recognisable vocal and the orgasm noise which was created by recording the band jumping in a swimming pool. Who could forget the iconic image of dancer Paul Rutherford dressed in a sailor hat and leather vest, Johnson in rubber gloves with shaved head and the phrase ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN accompanying the shot? Relax was the soundtrack to many a teenage boys fumblings at Blue Nun fuelled parties with both boys and girls. Play it now and it still sounds stonkingly good.
Orange Juice – Rip It Up
The Scottish post-punk band that got the funk, Rip It Up was the bands only top 40 hit, although they had a wealth of other brilliant songs. For non-pop historians, even if you don’t recognise him in the video you may recognise his dulcet croon – for this was the band that Edwyn Collins was in before his solo career.
Howard Jones – New Song
“I don’t want to be hip and cool,” sang the solo-synth wizard with the haircut that looked like some sort of electrified parrot, whilst Jed, his bald chained-up gimp of a mime dancer busted some moves. Any similarity to Peter Gabriel’s Salisbury Hill is entirely coincidental of course. Over twenty five years later this song would be one of the highlights of a one off performance at the ultra-hip Bestival, for which this author was partly responsible for the booking. New Song would also soundtrack an episode of teen-TV drama Skins. Be careful for what you don’t want in your lyrics Howard.
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Everything about this song was perfect. The icy synth line juxtaposed with the soulful vocal of Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart’s detachedness and Lennox’s short cropped orange hair. La Roux – watch and learn.
The Belle Stars – Sign of the Times
It was a sign of the times that an all-girl band could have a huge hit single without removing their clothes. They had amazing wide brimmed hats and Sign of the Times was one of the most hummable tunes of the year. Radio was kissed - no argument it was better than Prince’s song of the same title.
New Order – Blue Monday
Do I really need to say anything? John Peel Festive 50 number 1 1983. One of the biggest selling twelve inch singles of all time. Throbbing synth bass, dead pan vocals. Incredible. Indie dance was born.
Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter
The title of the song is a reference to "Pale Shelter Scene", a 1941 drawing by British sculptor Henry Moore. A hit when re-released, in part thanks to the eleven (yes eleven) picture disc and coloured vinyl versions of the song that were available to collect.
The Alarm – 68 Guns
It wasn’t all synths and shiny pop in 1983. Welsh rockers still had the obligatory big hair, but 68 Guns was a chest-thumping anthem that they never bettered. The group’s stadium rocking attempts were never as commercially successful as their peers U2, Big Country or later day Simple Minds though.
Haysi Fantayzee – Shiny Shiny
Probably the only song that people remember Haysi Fantayzee for is John Wayne is Big Leggy, but Shiny Shiny was actually a quirky nursery-rhyme hit in 1983 getting to number 16 in the charts. The bands ragamuffin thrift-shop styling was a precursor to that of Boy George from Culture Club who the duo accused of stealing their fashion ideas.
The Cure – Love Cats
Pick any year between 1981 and 1992 and you can pick a great song by The Cure. One of their biggest pop hits, it’s still an indie disco favourite now. Everyone knows and loves The Love Cats. The end. No arguments.
Master list
1983. The year of the Rubik’s Cube, neon coloured socks, yuppies and when real men didn’t eat quiche. The synthesiser and bad haircuts were everywhere, more often than not in tandem and I LOVED IT. Forget Enid Blyton because the real famous five were the all singing, all dancing New York High School for the Performing Arts dudes known as Danny, Lydia, Coco, Bruno and Leroy - the Kids From Fame – like an 80’s Glee except cooler, more lycra and original songs. 1983 was when new wave, new romantic and pure pop all collided in a sexy explosion of colour and decadence before pop stars got a conscience and formed Band Aid in 1984. This is a snapshot of 10 of the songs that sound tracked my wayward experiments with wearing berets and buying my first pair of Doctor Marten boots. The finest of times.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
Most people will remember this as a hit from 1984 but technically it belongs to 1983 having been released in November of that year. Possibly the most controversial but successful single of the decade, producer Trevor Horn took the original version of the bands song and completely re-recorded it himself with a session keyboard player, the only presence of the band being that of Holly Johnson’s recognisable vocal and the orgasm noise which was created by recording the band jumping in a swimming pool. Who could forget the iconic image of dancer Paul Rutherford dressed in a sailor hat and leather vest, Johnson in rubber gloves with shaved head and the phrase ALL THE NICE BOYS LOVE SEA MEN accompanying the shot? Relax was the soundtrack to many a teenage boys fumblings at Blue Nun fuelled parties with both boys and girls. Play it now and it still sounds stonkingly good.
Orange Juice – Rip It Up
The Scottish post-punk band that got the funk, Rip It Up was the bands only top 40 hit, although they had a wealth of other brilliant songs. For non-pop historians, even if you don’t recognise him in the video you may recognise his dulcet croon – for this was the band that Edwyn Collins was in before his solo career.
Howard Jones – New Song
“I don’t want to be hip and cool,” sang the solo-synth wizard with the haircut that looked like some sort of electrified parrot, whilst Jed, his bald chained-up gimp of a mime dancer busted some moves. Any similarity to Peter Gabriel’s Salisbury Hill is entirely coincidental of course. Over twenty five years later this song would be one of the highlights of a one off performance at the ultra-hip Bestival, for which this author was partly responsible for the booking. New Song would also soundtrack an episode of teen-TV drama Skins. Be careful for what you don’t want in your lyrics Howard.
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Everything about this song was perfect. The icy synth line juxtaposed with the soulful vocal of Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart’s detachedness and Lennox’s short cropped orange hair. La Roux – watch and learn.
The Belle Stars – Sign of the Times
It was a sign of the times that an all-girl band could have a huge hit single without removing their clothes. They had amazing wide brimmed hats and Sign of the Times was one of the most hummable tunes of the year. Radio was kissed - no argument it was better than Prince’s song of the same title.
New Order – Blue Monday
Do I really need to say anything? John Peel Festive 50 number 1 1983. One of the biggest selling twelve inch singles of all time. Throbbing synth bass, dead pan vocals. Incredible. Indie dance was born.
Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter
The title of the song is a reference to "Pale Shelter Scene", a 1941 drawing by British sculptor Henry Moore. A hit when re-released, in part thanks to the eleven (yes eleven) picture disc and coloured vinyl versions of the song that were available to collect.
The Alarm – 68 Guns
It wasn’t all synths and shiny pop in 1983. Welsh rockers still had the obligatory big hair, but 68 Guns was a chest-thumping anthem that they never bettered. The group’s stadium rocking attempts were never as commercially successful as their peers U2, Big Country or later day Simple Minds though.
Haysi Fantayzee – Shiny Shiny
Probably the only song that people remember Haysi Fantayzee for is John Wayne is Big Leggy, but Shiny Shiny was actually a quirky nursery-rhyme hit in 1983 getting to number 16 in the charts. The bands ragamuffin thrift-shop styling was a precursor to that of Boy George from Culture Club who the duo accused of stealing their fashion ideas.
The Cure – Love Cats
Pick any year between 1981 and 1992 and you can pick a great song by The Cure. One of their biggest pop hits, it’s still an indie disco favourite now. Everyone knows and loves The Love Cats. The end. No arguments.
Master list
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