Celebrity Jukebox #124: PF Sloan

You may argue that I’m stretching the definition of “celebrity” today. Still, if you’re famous enough to have a song written about you, you’re a celebrity in my book. You might not be invited on Celebrity Big Brother or Celebrity Wife-Swap or Celebrity Dung Inspectors… whatever’s the latest big celebrity thing to clog up the TV schedules like a rancid fatberg in the sewerage tunnels... but then I've rarely heard of any of the "celebrities" they drag out for these shows anyway... and the ones I have heard of, I generally find objectionable.

Better yet, today's "celebrity" hasn’t had a song written about him by any old Tom, Dick or Harry Styles. He had a song written about him by arguably the greatest songwriter in the history of truly great songwriters. But we’ll get to that…

P.F. Sloan - Raised On Records

Phil “Flip” Sloan was born in New York in 1945. When he was 13, his family moved to Hollywood and his dad bought him a guitar. Legend has it that he met Elvis in the music shop, and wangled his first ever guitar lesson from the King of Rock 'n' Roll. 

A year later, he wrote and released his first single…

Flip Sloan - All I Want Is Loving

Flip Sloan - Little Girl In The Cabin

Sloan soon got a job writing songs for Screen Gems, one of many record companies in the 60s employing teenagers to write songs for their own age group. That's where he met a soon-to-be frequent collaborator, Steve Barri, and together they penned their first minor hit...

Round Robin - Kick That Little Foot, Sally Ann

This led to further success, writing hits for The Turtles, The Searchers and Herman’s Hermits, although Sloan's most known for a tune that became a big Vietnam protest anthem…

Barry Maguire – Eve Of Destruction

Even Bob Dylan liked that one.

PF Sloan also wrote the theme tune to the US version of the Patrick McGoohan show, Danger Man, retitled Secret Agent on American TV. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers, many years later that song cropped up on the first LP I ever bought... 

 

Bruce Willis – Secret Agent Man

Sloan also joined The Wrecking Crew as a session guitarist. While playing with that legendary ensemble, he came up with a particularly fine opening hook…

The Mamas & The Papas – California Dreamin'

(Here's Sloan himself, talking about how that came about.)

P.F. Sloan - Sins Of A Family

Regardless of his success as a songwriter and musician, what Phil Sloan really wanted was to be a star in his own right. But that was not to be, and in the early 70s he abandoned the music industry altogether and spent many years as a recluse, fighting depression and mental illness. Although he enjoyed a brief comeback in the 21st Century, he sadly died of cancer in 2015. 

PF Sloan - Sailover

Now rewind… to the mid-60s, and a lazy day when Sloan agreed to meet a budding junior songwriter and offer him some words of encouragement. When Sloan heard the songs that young man had to play, they brought him to tears. He thought every one of them could be a major hit...

 

The 5th Dimension – Up, Up And Away

Richard Harris – MacArthur Park

Glen Campbell – By The Time I Get To Phoenix

Jimmy Webb never forgot the support he'd received from PF Sloan early in his career. A few years later, he wrote a timeless tribute to his lost hero that goes something like this...

Last time I saw P.F. Sloan

He was summer burned and winter blown

He turned the corner all alone

But he continued singing

Yeah now, listen to him singing

Jimmy Webb – P.F. Sloan

Bruce Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, called PF Sloan "a masterpiece [that] could not be improved upon". Even Billy Bragg has something to say about it. The song was also recorded by The Association, Unicorn and Jennifer Warnes, among others, but the definitive version wouldn’t arrive for another 40 years. 

It doesn’t get any better than this…

My Top 22 of 2022: #5

5. Rumer – B Sides & Rarities Vol. 2

There’s an old line that could well be applied to how I feel about Rumer: “She could sing the telephone directory and make me want to listen”. But do we even have telephone directories any more? Probably time to update that line. “She could sing my twitter feed…” doesn’t really have the same ring, especially now Elon has murdered Twitter. Nothing’s as good as it used to be…

…except maybe Rumer, who ages like a fine wine. But I haven’t drunk wine since the 20^th Century. What else ages well? Certainly not my writing ability.

An album of B-sides and Rarities seems a very 20^th Century notion too, but everything about Rumer is gloriously old-fashioned, so it’s easily forgivable. 

Rumer - Old-Fashioned Girl

I just wanna be there
When you get home
I’ll be your old-fashioned girl
When you get home

And if that didn’t illustrate my point, then try this Bacharach & David cover, a song that champions traditional gender roles so brazenly, it’s sure to give Alanis Morrissette palpitations…

Rumer – Wives and Lovers

Day after day
There are girls at the office
And men will always be men
Don’t send him off
With your hair still in curlers
You may not see him again

That’s one of three Bacharach & David compositions in this collection; no surprise there, Rumer has long favoured their tunes and proved herself more than capable to standing toe to toe with their greatest interpreters: Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Karen Carpenter… and all due respect to Cilla, chuck, but if this isn’t the best version of Anyone Who Has A Heart you’ve ever heard, then it’s time to get some new ears.

Rumer – Anyone Who Had A Heart

The album’s mostly made up of covers, from the likes of Elton, Carly, Van The Man and even Cherry Ghost… and every one of them should feel honoured to get the Rumer treatment. Because it’s beautiful.

One final note – there’s no better album for listening to during a busy commute. Guaranteed to soothe the soul of the stressed-out traveller every time you’re stuck in a motorway snarl-up. She could sing the travel reports and make me want to listen.

Positive Songs For Negative Times #76: Dementia Awareness

A workmate is doing a charity walk for an Alzheimer’s charity. Almost immediately after clicking on her JustGiving page, I heard a song that made me choke up. It’s the third song I’ve heard this year that deals with the subject, so I figured a post was in order. In days gone by, I’d have tried to find another seven similar songs to make a Top Ten, but I realised that would mean limiting the chances of you listening to these three. And they’re all really worthy of your attention… though I feel I ought to offer the caveat that those of you who are currently dealing with this situation first-hand might find these songs a little too close to home. 

I count myself extremely lucky that my own parents, both now well into their 90s, have not been afflicted with any kind of dementia. They have all kinds of other health issues to deal with (a stairlift was fitted last week, and my dad finally got a better hearing aid so I was able to have a proper conversation with him for the first time in ages) but they’re still themselves in their heads. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose a parent (or worse still, a partner) to dementia, though these three songs evoke a great deal of empathy in me.

Hayes Carll is a playful, sometimes acerbic lyricist, so it’s good to hear him treat this subject with such depth and emotion. Written from the perspective of an old man with Alzheimer’s, the song was inspired by personal experiences. Hayes explains, “I was 14 years old and sitting in the passenger seat of my grandfather’s truck in Waco, TX, the town he had lived in for most of his life. He turned to me at a stoplight and asked me where we were. He looked scared. I know I was. I’ve thought a lot since then about what it must feel like to lose the thread of your own story.”

It feels so familiar as I watch you
Walk in the room
And at first, I don't recognize you
But then I damn sure recognize that perfume
 
And you kneel down beside me
And gently take all of my hand
I say, "Baby, I'm scared
And I'm not sure I know who I am"
 
Can you help me remember
Who it is that I used to be?
Can you tell me the story of my family
My hopes and my dreams?
 
Did I try to stand for somethin', would I always fold?
Did I do things when I was young
To be proud of when I was old?
Was I a house on fire or was I just a slow-burning ember?
Could you, please, help me remember?

Possibly the last person you’d expect to find in this post is Nigel Blackwell. It’s rare to find a Half Man Half Biscuit song that isn’t played for laughs (although Blackwell often has a serious point to make), but the penultimate track from the latest HMHB album stopped me in my tracks. The subject of a wife who can no longer care for her dementia-suffering husband on her own is treated with a great deal of respect, made all the more powerful through the use of gentle, observational humour and that special Blackwellian turn of phrase. Pathos and bathos both used to great effect.

As always, I am in debt to the Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project, who debate this song with far greater erudition than I ever could, should you wish to know more.

The days she feared are here
The easy years are gone
His ‘best before’ draws near
And warning lights are on
Effort is tiring
But then again
Just for inquiring
She’ll get a free Parker pen
 
The surgery leaflets
Offer advice
But there’s no preparation
For losing him twice
And now he’s washed and dressed and ready
To keep him safe she’ll face the hurt
And if she could hold that needle steady
She could sew his name into his shirt
 
Apart, adrift, alone
Afraid of what’s ahead
She’ll be the evil nurse
And he’ll be underfed
Conduct report
Bound to be mixed
“Lashed out during bingo”
“Said the quiz night was fixed”
Occasional sunshine
Where clarity reigns
And memories are mutual
And we’re back in the lanes
 
Jeanette MacDonald had Nelson Eddy
And Bobby Darin had ‘Mack the Knife’
And she had him to hold her steady
Ah, sweet mystery of life!

Finally, the song that led to this post. Originally recorded by Kathy Mattea, and written by her husband about his own parents, though I wasn’t aware of Kathy’s version when I came across the cover on the sumptuous new collection by Rumer, B Sides & Rarities Vol. 2. It’s one of those story songs that covers a great stretch of time, and its impact can only really be felt by listening to the whole story. Which I encourage you to do. However, this is the verse that caught in my head on first listen, and drove me to delve much deeper.

They'd never spent a night apart,
For sixty years, she heard him snore.
Now they're in a hospital,
In separate beds on different floors.

My Top Twenty of 2020: #11

 

Another two I had to put together, as they both ended up in Nashville this year. 

Erin Moran, A Girl Called Eddy, returned from the wilderness with her first solo album in 16 years, and it was like she’d never been away. 

Meanwhile, Rumer recorded an album of songs by veteran country songwriter Hugh Prestwood, and it was as beautiful as you could imagine.

Two sumptuous records to soothe the unquiet mind. I needed that more than ever this year…

Saturday Snapshots #157 - The Answers

 

Welcome back to the quiz that's always the Bridesmaid, never the bride. Still, I hope you all Wiigured out this week's answers... and there were no Cheetahs.

10. First swinging king lacks staple diet.

King Louis was the king of the swingers in The Jungle Book, and this was his voice. King Louis was also an orangutan whose staple diet would be bananas...

Prima would be the first.

Louis Prima - Yes, We Have No Bananas

9. Hellish tippers, 24 hours later.

"Hellish tippers" was an anagram.

Esther Phillips - What A Difference A Day Makes

8. Kayleigh's bloke starts crying again... cheer up, it's party time!

Kayleigh's bloke was Fish.

An Emotional Fish - Celebrate

7. Wait! The Real Thing can't spell Charlie Brown's pal.

The real thing is the real McCoy.

Charlie Brown's pal was Snoopy.

The McCoys - Hang On, Sloopy

6. Throwing homework on the fire long before Morrissey... this lady has a unique way of walking.

Long before Sheila Take A Bow, in which Morrissey entreated us to throw your homework onto the fire, David Bowie gave a similar exhortation in Kooks...

And if the homework brings you down

Then we'll throw it on the fire

And take the car downtown

The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way

5. A B C D F J K M N O P Q S U V W X Y Z.

(That may be my favourite clue in the history of Saturday Snapshots.)

What's MISSING from the alphabet above? The letters E G H I L R and T. And if you mix those around a bit, you get THE GIRL.

Everything But The Girl - Missing

4. Pardon self-inflicted wounds in Scotch toun.

Note how I said Scotch toun, not Scottish?

Whiskeytown - Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight

3. The Farun Ningily takes an elevator to the meaning of life. 

Wondering what a Famrun Ningily is? It's Running in the middle of Family. FAM-RUNNING-ILY.

42 was the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Level 42 - Running In The Family

2. Unhurried hearsay.

Rumer - Slow

1. Candid landscape painter has not lost his faith.

Turner was a landscape painter, to be frank.

I Still Believe Saturday Snapshots will be back next week...

Cover Me Monday #4: P.F. Sloan

This weekend's Saturday Snapshots featured the Jimmy Webb song P.F. Sloan, a tribute to the man who wrote Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction, as well as many other songs for artists as varied as the Mamas & Papas, Herman's Hermits, The Turtles and Johnny Rivers.

Like many successful songwriters of his era, Sloan wanted to be a solo star in his own right. However, the success of Eve of Destruction, health problems, and a conflict with his record company forced Sloan out of the music scene in the early 70s for many years, leading Jimmy Webb to pen his heartfelt tribute about "seeking P.F. Sloan", another unsung hero of the cut-throat world of pop.

Most of you will know that I hold Jimmy Webb in very high regard, and not just because he composed the greatest song ever written. I've seen Webb live and he's an excellent performer, warm and witty raconteur and genuinely decent bloke. But I also know he'd be the first to admit that his songs often sound better when performed by others. Curiously though - despite how damned catchy that chorus is - P.F. Sloan was never recorded by Glen Campbell or any of Webb's other more famous collaborators.

Dig deep and you can find versions by The Association, Unicorn (me neither) and Jennifer Warnes, but up until a few years ago Webb's own recording went unchallenged. (Webb also re-recorded the song a few years back as a duet with Jackson Browne, but I still prefer the original.)

This, though... this trumps them all. Ironically, Rumer is another artist who claims to have suffered greatly at the hands of the music industry; the pressure of her debut album led her to being diagnosed both bipolar and PTSD. She has the voice of an an angel though, and is considered by many to be the closest thing we've got these days to Karen Carpenter...



While researching this post, I discovered a couple more nice videos.

Firstly, here's Jimmy and Rumer duetting the song in 2013... with Jimmy explaining more about the genesis of the tune.

Secondly, one year later, here's Rumer performing the song live with P.F. Sloan himself. Sadly, Sloan would die of cancer within 18 months of this recording, but I like to think his immortality is guaranteed, thanks not least to Barry McGuire, Jimmy Webb and Rumer.

My Top Ten Songs About Aretha Franklin

Following on from my Top Ten Aretha Songs... here's ten songs that namecheck the Queen of Soul and pay tribute...


10. Okkervil River - Famous Tracheotomies

The opening track to the new Okkervil River album does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a  song about famous people who've had tracheotomies. No, wait, it's a hell of a lot better than that sounds!

No, Aretha never had a tracheotomy. However...

Mary Wells, she was known as Motown's Queen

But laryngeal cancer left her unable to sing

They tried radiation, multiple surgeries

But she didn't have insurance and lost almost everything

Poor thing

But Diana Ross helped with her bills

Aretha Franklin tried her very best to help out Mary Wells

And Dionne Warwick did all she could do

And Mary Wells, she pulled through

For one more year or two

9. Le Tigre - Hot Topic

A song about all the different artists who inspired Le Tigre. Aretha shares some pretty offbeat company in these lyrics...

Gertrude Stein, Marlon Riggs, Billie Jean King, Ut, DJ Cuttin Candy, David Wojnarowicz, Melissa York, Nina Simone, Ann Peebles, Tammy Hart, The Slits, Hanin Elias, Hazel Dickens, Cathy Sissler, Shirley Muldowney, Urvashi Vaid, Valie Export, Cathy Opie, James Baldwin, Diane Dimassa, Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett, Mia X, Krystal Wakem, Kara Walker, Justin Bond, Bridget Irish, Juliana Lueking, Cecilia Dougherty, Ariel Skrag, The Need, Vaginal Creme Davis, Alice Gerard, Billy Tipton, Julie Doucet, Yayoi Kusama, Eileen Myles

8. Parliament - Chocolate City

In which George Clinton plans his ideal government...

And don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House

Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasury

Richard Pryor, Minister of Education

Stevie Wonder, Secretary of fine arts

And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady

7. Dar Williams - Midnight Radio

Here's to Patti

And Tina

And Yoko

Aretha

And Nona

And Nico

And me

And all the strange rock and rollers

You know you're doing alright

So hold on to each other

You gotta hold on tonight

6. Drive-By Truckers - Ronnie & Neil

A song about Muscle Shoals, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, Otis Redding... and Aretha.

The history of Southern music in one 5 minute song.

5. Graham Parker - Obsessed With Aretha

You get a lot of girl singers obsessed with Aretha

You get a lot of little swingers wishin' they could be her

Some of those sisters can rock and roll

All god's children gotta little bit of soul

But not that much... no no no, not that much

4. Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)

Each time I go to bed I pray like Aretha Franklin

I never understood how exactly that made one a Wood Beez. Or what exactly a Wood Beez was.

3. Cat Power - Aretha, Sing One For Me

Me and my baby, we had a big fight

We ended our romance the same night

In an angry mood, he walked out the door

I said this song's going to an Aretha Franklin show

Hey, Aretha, sing one for me

Let him know our life's in misery

Will you sing a song that will touch his heart

And make him sorry that we are apart

2. Eric Burdon & The Animals - River Deep Mountain High

In which Eric and the lads rework Phil Spector's classic into a psychedelic monster, changing one specific line in the process...

I love you baby, like Aretha Franklin needs to sing

1. Rumer - Aretha

Possibly the most gorgeous tribute song ever written?

Saturday Snapshots #2: The Answers

Answers, please!

I think I beat you on a couple of these this week: at least identifying the song, anyway. Which is good, because I don't like them to be too easy. That said, the clues in question were particularly obscure. And on one, I didn't give you enough info...


10. This reluctant replacement is more suited to a crown than a flat cap...

Prince - I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

9. MK, darling, you'll find Sidekick Psycho hard to accept when he takes a stroll with The Bangles.

Batman's Sidekick = Robin... or Robyn.

Psycho = Hitchcock.

The Bangles walked like an Egyptian.

MK = Ultra (CIA mind-control programme from the 50s: look it up.)

"hard to accept" - Unbelievable

darling = love.

Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Ultra Unbelievable Love

Phew. I told you that one was was torture.

8. Message received: he sweeps up for 2 hours just to purchase a poky place.

Message received = Roger.

Two hours of pushing broom buys and 8x12 4 bit room...

Roger Miller - King of the Road

7. Don't pay the ferryman: being seen coming out of one of their gigs takes the biscuit.

Damn it: I edited the original clue down and dropped the bit that referred to the actual song so both clues only refer to the band. In which case, you all get 10 bonus points for my stupidity.

The clue originally began: Please believe that it's true...

(Second mistake in two weeks. Must try harder in future.)

Yes, Charon was Ferryman of the river Styx into Hades. A coin was placed in your dead mouth to pay him.

Styx - Babe

The second half of the clue depends upon you being familiar with this. If you're not, you should be.

Sorry, Alyson, the Chris DeBurgh bit was a deliberate red herring. Hope you're feeling better.

6. Look on the bright side and thiscrowd will always let you down.

Yes, that is Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The Swede had no problem spotting her.

Theaudience - A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

5. If you're still around in another 500 years, zese two will be waiting for you.

Zese two = Z(ager) & E(vans)

Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525

Well done, George.

4. Superman's mum knows: the Duke & Big Lips never did it this good.

Superman = Christopher Reeves.

Superman's mum = Martha Kent.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street

The Duke & Big Lips? These two clowns. (I don't care what you say: that video still cracks me up.)

3. They have an answer for the Old King... but it may be an illusion.

Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

Old King Cole? This song was Camera Obscura's answer to this.

2. Bananarama had been listening to her, like $100 Benjamin.

Banarama sang I Heard A Rumour.

Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 note. Congrats to CC, taking a break from his holiday to grab the points for that one.

Rumer - Aretha

1. In pop's parallel universe...they were desperately seeking a home.

Mark 'E' Everett's dad, Hugh Everett II, was the American physicist who came up with the notion of parallel universes, the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics.

Desperately Seeking Susan, of course.

A combined effort from C & The Swede: teamwork pays off.




More image-based insanity next Saturday.

My Top Ten (Late) Albums of 2016: Number 9

9. Rumer - This Girl's In Love

I know a lot of people (even cool bloggers and muso critics) praise Adele for her undeniably excellent achievements in the field of current chart pop (i.e. not being unlistenable when so many of her peers are). However, whenever anyone starts banging on about what a great voice she has, I always want to shout back: what about Rumer? Truly the most beautiful voice of her generation; it's a voice which echoes back to the golden age of pop (hence the frequent Karen Carpenter comparisons) and is more at home singing classics from that era than on more modern compositions (although occasionally, as on her debut hit Aretha, she somehow manages to do both).

To date, Rumer's greatest achievement was her stunning 2012 collection Boys Don't Cry, featuring reinterpretations of lost classics by the cream of male singer songwriters from the 60s and 70s, including Jimmy Webb, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Clifford T. Ward, Stephen Bishop, Hall & Oates, even Neil Young. Most were as good, if not better than the original recordings. When I heard that her new record returned to that era, but focused on two composers only (the untouchable kings of easy listening: Bacharach & David), I wasn't sure what to think. It seemed almost too obvious: yes, Rumer's voice was made to sing these songs, and the fact that her producer-husband Rob Shirakbari had worked with Bacharach many times seemed like a match made in heaven. I knew the songs would sound great, but I worried I'd miss the variety that Boys Don't Cry offered... that it'd all end up sounding a bit samey.

After a few listens, those fears were put to rest. The selection is impeccable, as is the ordering of the tracks. Rumer switches effortlessly from the obvious classics like the title track, The Look of Love and You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart) to less well-known Bacharach & David compositions such as the 5th Dimension's One Less Bell To Answer and Luther Vandross's A House Is Not A Home. Along the way she takes on Dionne, Dusty, and, yes, Karen Carpenter, and gives as good as they deserve. Her cover of (They Long To Be) Close To You is equal to the Carpenters version yet not identical. Rumer's phrasing is different in places, turning the song from a bittersweet love song into something else. She made me hear the lyrics in a slightly different way. When I do my Top Ten Songs For Conceited Oafs, this will now be a strong contender.

If you've ever been a fan of the Bacharach & David songbook, I urge you to seek this one out. It's as sumptuous and perfect as these compositions deserve. It could have been released any time between 1965 and 1975... but it certainly doesn't sound like 2016. That's probably why it appealed to an old fart like me right now. I'm just so sick of the present. I wish I could go back and live in the past...

That said, there's one song in the collection which is as timely now as when Jackie DeShannon recorded it back in 1965. If not more so.

My Top Ten Songs About Songwriters

Songwriting is an art form, but some of its most famous artists are more well known for the songs they wrote for other people. Which is why there are no songs in this list about John Lennon, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, et al. Just in case you were wondering...

Someone will still suggest a song about Lennon, you can guarantee it.


10. Nosferatu D2 - I Killed Burt Bacharach

I don't approve of the sentiment, but I love Ben Parker's songwriting, both here and in The Superman Revenge Squad.

9. A - I Love Lake Tahoe

Yeah, the trees are pretty wide
That's where Sonny Bono died.

A - not a great name for band, though I suppose it got them first place in the Bands section of the Yellow Pages.

8. Mercury Rev - Tonite It Shows

This gets in because it's the only song I can think of to mention Cole Porter in its lyrics. (There must be more.) Plus it's much better than Dinner With Gershwin by Donna Summer.

Don't get me wrong: I like Donna Summer, but having watched the video for that, my eyeballs have been scorched by some awful 80s dancing.

See also The Coal Porters, obviously. 

7. Super Furry Animals - The Very Best Of Neil Diamond

Long before the rhinestone-collared shirts and treacly voice made him a household name, Neil Diamond was just a jobbing songwriter in the Brill Building. There he wrote I'm A Believer for The Monkees, among many other gems.

6. The Boo Radleys - Jimmy Webb Is God

You won't get any argument from me on that one, Boos... which is why this isn't the last song about God in this Top Ten.

Wipe away this tear from my eye
Wash away this sadness from my heart
I'm not even fit to tune your guitar
Oh, Jimmy, make me happy...

5. Pulp - Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down)

Jarvis pays homage to the Elusive Butterfly of 60s folk.

When you think you're treading water, but you're just learning how to drown.
And a song comes on the radio telling you that "The Only Way is Down".
You're out of luck, you're out of time, get out of here.
Your lover just traded you in for the very same model but a much more recent year.
It will not stop, it will get worse from day to day 'til you admit that you're a fuck-up; like the rest of us.

4. Prefab Sprout - The Songs of Danny Galway

From one of the best albums of 2013; and their career. Being a bit dim, I didn't realise that this was written about Jimmy until Miller pointed it out to me.

His melodies inspire whims, his chord changes like Baptist hymns
They lift your spirit til it soars, til you forget that spirit's yours
Sound and word in sweet communion, echoes of a better world
Where chivalry's not dead, we'll look for it instead in the songs of Danny Galway

3. Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears

No, Levi Stubbs wasn't a songwriter: he was the lead singer of The Four Tops. Which is probably the only reason this track doesn't get to Number One with a bullet... in most other Top Tens, Billy's heartbreaking Motown tribute would be unstoppable.

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make right everything that's wrong
Holland & Holland, Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all OK with you

2. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Doc Pomus

Ben & Nick pay tribute to one half of the classic Pomus/Shuman songwriting team. This song made me want to read more about Doc Pomus's life. Stricken by polio as a young boy, Pomus refused to be "one of those happy cripples", pouring his heartache directly into the hits...

And out they pour
The hits and the misses
'Turn Me Loose', 'Lonely Avenue'
And down in Nashville, Elvis sings 'Suspicion':
Pomus / Shuman 1962

1. Rumer - P.F. Sloan

And so we return again, inevitably, to Jimmy Webb, with a classic example of his own songwriting, in tribute to a songwriting hero from his early days. Webb's recording of this record is beautiful... but Rumer took it to another level.

Yes, Jimmy Webb is god.



They wrote the songs that made the whole world sing. Which song gets you singing about songwriters?

My Top Ten Albums Of 2012

OK, yesterday I did #20 - 11. Before we get to the Top Ten though, I'd like to take a moment to mention a record that would have made this chart, had my copy not arrived earlier this week, after my Top Twenty had been put to bed. (I ordered it ages ago, but the postman obviously nicked the first one as it never arrived... something that's happened quite a lot this Christmas.)

Anyway, The North Sea Scrolls is a collaboration between "The Legend That Is" Luke Haines, former Fatima Mansion Cathal Coughlan, and author / Blazing Zoo frontman Andrew Mueller. The Scrolls tell a secret, semi-hidden history of the British Isles in which Ian Ball (from Gomez) is replaced by Ian Ball (the attempted kidnapper of Princess Anne in 1974), Arthur Scargill becomes the Witchfinder General, the obscure bit-part actor Tony Allen is revealed to be "...the hidden hand behind the paintings of Sir Francis Bacon, the secret lover of Sid James, a patient of R.D. Laing, an assiduous curator of Northern Soul, and the probable catalyst for the least tedious stretches of the career of Fleetwood Mac", Enoch Powell is made Poet Laureate (as well as joining Steve Hillage in Gong), and the DJ Chris Evans is burnt at the stake, only to subsequently become a martyr.

"He said 'Cry no more for Jimmy Five-Bellies
Save your tears for Billie'.
Hospital radio to the breakfast show
The flames kissed my golden curls - and I kissed a thousand girls
Oh, I was a sinful man... when I was a kissogram."

Frankly, it's a work of genius (a horrifically over-used word, even on this blog, but rarely more accurately applied) and it might easily have slipped its way into my Top Three of 2012 had I not already unveiled #11 - 20. I'd recommend you purchase a copy of the limited edition 2 disc CD before they're all gone (I think there's a few still left on Amazon, after that it'll be available by download only).

"...however, as the album in question... is a suite of obtusely satirical songs linked by whimsical spoken word sequences... absolutely nobody pays any attention."

10. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Because he's still The Boss and he's still got plenty to say. And because seeing him live again this summer was a highlight of my year.

Recommended tracks: Death To My Hometown, Wrecking Ball.

9. Ben Folds Five - The Sound of the Life of the Mind

Still not sure why Ben felt the need to get his old band back together, particularly as the resultant album sounds no different to the material he's been releasing solo since the Five split 12 years ago. While not quite as earth-shatteringly brilliant as his recent collaboration with Nick Hornby (though one track is a leftover Hornby co-composition from those sessions), the album does feature a song which advises, "If you can't draw a crowd, draw dicks on a wall" and a video featuring Fraggle Rock. What else do you need to know?

Sara already knows pretty soon she'll be leaving
Well, she's hoovered up whatever she can find
But she doesn't want to hear about
Pregnancies, foam fights, TV, take-outs, have sex, weddings
The sound of the life she'll leave behind

Recommended tracks: Do It Anyway, The Sound of the Life of the Mind.  

8. Dexys - One Day I'm Going To Soar

27 years after their last album (god, that makes me feel old), Kevin Rowland drags back a couple of his old collaborators, adds a couple of new ones, and unleashes a monster only he could have created. An autobiographical concept album that won't be for everyone... but if you get it, you'll love it.

Recommended tracks: I'm Always Going To Love You followed immediately by Incapable of Love. (You have to listen to them in that order.)
 
7. Jack White - Blunderbuss

Of course, Jack White's first solo album doesn't sound any different to The White Stripes - he even rips off his most famous guitar riff on one track. That said, in places this records sounds both ultra-contemporary and fabulously retro. There are very few artists who can straddle 60 years of rock 'n' roll so effortlessly. Plus, I'm a sucker for the Noo Yoik accent Jack adopts on I'm Shaking. "You got me noivous."

Recommended tracks: Freedom At 21, I'm Shakin'.

6. Fun. - Some Nights

See, the charts aren't all bad these days. Fun. do exactly what it says on the tin - huge indie-tinged pop anthems that owe as much to Queen as they do The Killers (in an ideal world, perhaps they should have called themselves Killer Queen). We Are Young succeeded because of its epic chorus, yet it's the unpredictable verse I found most interesting, in a curious, Franz Ferdinand fashion.

Recommended Tracks: We Are Young, Some Nights. 

5. Martin Rossiter - The Defenestration of St Martin

Someone else who's been away far too long. The last Gene album was released in 2001: Martin's been threatening a solo assault ever since. The Defenestration... wasn't entirely what we'd expected, a subdued affair made up largely of piano and vocals (cheekily, he throws in an electric guitar in the final fade out), yet it's as beautiful and devastating as the best of his Gene work and an intensely personal statement besides. A record everyone should hear, though I doubt they will.

Recommended tracks: Drop Anchor, I Want To Choose When I Sleep Alone. (But I only chose them because they were the best quality tracks on youtube.)

4. Rumer - Boys Don't Cry

An album of covers written by the cream of 70s singer-songwriters (including Gilbert O'Sullivan, Clifford T. Ward and Neil Young), from the most angelic voice in contemporary music. Rumer, dear, you had me as soon as I heard your beautiful version of Jimmy Webb's PF Sloan. I don't think I'll ever tire of listening to this record. 

Recommended tracks: PF Sloan, Home Thoughts From Abroad, A Man Needs A Maid. 

3. Ultrasound - Play For Today

And finally in our "Where The Hell Have You Been?" category: Wakefield's own Ultrasound. Back in 1999, Tiny and co. released one epic rock album, Everything Picture, and a handful of classic singles (that Kurt Russell was only ever a b-side is a testament to the quality - and bizarre choices - that characterised their previous output) before splitting up and calling it a day. And then, perhaps because everybody had given up hope of ever hearing their like again, they returned late in 2011 with one of the best singles of last year, followed by one of the best albums of this. Stick around a bit longer this time, please.

Recommended tracks: Welfare State, Nonsense.

2. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

I was tempted to drop this down a few places purely because of the enormous success Ms. Del Rey has enjoyed this year. Since when were my year end picks so populist? But I can't deny it: I've listened to this record more than just about any other this year. OK, in places, it does sound very similar to Like A Prayer era Madonna - but that was Madonna at her best. And yes, the hip hop Nancy Sinatra act will soon get tired. The record company's milking Born To Die for all it's got... which makes you wonder if Lana will ever match it. Whatever - no other record says 2012 for me like this. Whether I'll still be listening to it in 20 years is another question. When was the last time I listened to Like A Prayer?

Recommended tracks: Video Games, Radio.

1. Mystery Jets - Radlands

With their fourth album, the Mystery Jets stepped up from being just another fun little indie band to become serious contenders (just like Noah & The Whale did last year). Wearing their influences on their sleeves (blatantly on the excellent "dividing up our record collection" lead single Greatest Hits), they delivered a record steeped in 70s Americana, all the way from Twickenham.

Recommended tracks: The Hale Bop, You Had Me At Hello... or any of the other 9 songs on this unswitchoffable collection.




So, those were the albums that made my year. Go buy them all now and enrich your record collection. Then tell me yours...