My electricity's been off most of the weekend after Storm Malik knocked over a power pole near our house and plunged us into darkness. This helpfully occurred on the very weekend Louise was going out with friends on Saturday night, and I'd been looking forward to having sole custody of the remote control. Instead, I spent the evening watching a tiny video on my phone in the cold, by candlelight, before the power briefly blipped back on, then it cut out again and stayed off for most of Sunday. It's amazing the things you take for granted, like heat and a kettle and warm food & water... I couldn't even do my ironing.
As I write this, late Sunday night, the power is back on... but Storm Corrie is currently raging outside. No offence to people called Malik or Corrie, but you'll know they've run out of names when Storm Rol rolls into town.
Bill 'Smog' Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy made a record together late last year, and it's a huge 19 track affair with guest contributions from a bunch of other people, most of whom I've never heard of... though as long as Mr. Callahan is involved, I'm happy.
Here they are together with Bill Mackay and a sublime take on Steely Dan's Deacon Blues. The video clocks in at 4:50; the album version adds another two and a half minutes, but they could have carried on all day for me...
Reach out and touch faith - it's your own personal answers to Saturday Snapshots. It was just A Question of Time.
Alyson took the Early Bird trophy this week, ably assisted by Chris, Charity Chic, Rigid Digit and a last minute save, all the way from Dubai (thanks, Jim). C took issue with the Siouxsie & The Banshees photo which turned out to be Siouxsie and a bunch of non-Banshees, for which I apologise... but it was the least recognisable Siouxsie photo I could find on the interweb. She has a pretty iconic look.
Even if you only got one of them right this week, remember... Everything Counts!
My explanations will be brief this week due to an impending visit from Ofsted. (Yes, they know check music blogs too. Not much chance of this one getting Outstanding.)
I feel almost the victim of peer pressure this week. The song everyone thinks should be the obvious winner isn't one of my favourites from the gentleman in question, but really... can anything else challenge it?
The Swede suggested Sixty-One, the b-side of Sixty Minute Man by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy... wonder if that'll make a return visit next week?
Not bad. But could The Levellers ever stand in the same ring as the Patron Saint of Zimmerframes?
In the end then, it seemed inevitable... until the South Western Correspondent made a rare venture north to suggest an alternative take on the same song. Far be it from me to steal an idea from Charity Chic, but as he's not using it at the moment... you can decide which version of Highway 61 Revisited you prefer this week.
For me, Polly Jean might just be edging it...
Next week... number 60! Any ideas will be gratefully received...
peer pressure might well be ignored.
It's not only soap operas that fill our Christmases with death, suicide and murder. The festive season can be the deadliest time of year in the world of pop too...
Nothing to do with poisoning Delia Smith's Christmas cake.
Although
the lyrics don't make direct reference to it, the real life crime that
inspired this classic murder ballad took place on Christmas Eve 1900. In
the video Johnny Cash recorded for the American
Recordings sessions, Delia is played by Kate Moss. Johnny ties her to a
chair, shoots her in the side, and buries her in a shallow grave. A
smashing Christmas present to anyone who thinks she's a pointless stick.
She was low down and trifling
And she was cold and mean
Kind of evil make me want to
Grab my sub machine
Delia's gone, one more round
Delia's gone
Another
murder ballad inspired by a grim Christmas crime. This is what happens
when you're forced to spend too much time with your family over the
festive season...
I think you can probably guess where this one ends up... but you'd be wrong. Howie Gelb makes the most of a pile-up on the interstate by using it as an excuse to stay the night with his new lady...
Meanwhile, Glasvegas spend the festive season getting all bent out of shape by bitter memories of an ex-lover. Good will to all men and women... unless they dumped you during the preceding year.
Remember it when,
You promised me how,
This time this Christmas things would be different by now...
All I wanted was to be,
Where your heart is,
But that's all changed now,
Now you're dead to me
In which Paul and Art bring yuletide cheer to all by mixing a sweet performance of the timeless carol with 70s news reports of war, assassination and mass murder. The old funsters.
The best new Christmas single I've heard this year... although it's actually a cover of an old Everly Brothers tearjerker. The message appears to be: if that hitchhiker you don't stop to pick up when you're driving back to your loved ones in the snow on Christmas Eve doesn't make it home alive... you'll be to blame.
Of course, if you do stop to pick him up, he'll probably turn out to be a serial killer. But maybe that's next year's song.
1. The Killers - Don't Shoot Me, Santa
The Killers release a new Christmas song every year, but this is my favourite. And Brandon Flowers' Christmas jumper is tops!
So, you survived my Christmas killing spree... but what's your fatal festive favourite?
