Listening Post #10: Hann, Solo

No, no that one. But any excuse, etc.

It was Khayem who introduced me a few months back to Manchester lass Hannah Fitzpatrick, who makes music with her Dad, Neil, under the name Hann. Since then, I've been really enjoying her kitchen sink tales of bad romance, poor finances and nicking your Dad's drugs. She clearly samples her Dad's record collection too as there are obvious nods to Morrissey's witty Northern lyricism (there's a line about running through every hedge in Alderley Edge, for example) and even Julian Cope in the opening lyric below...

Bless my polycotton socks, I'm in the nude...

  

There's also an admirable degree of self-awareness at work here. The aforementioned Northern miserablist could do with taking notes...

My mum just came in and shut the window

Said, "the message that you're sending out is wrong

Why don't you get a job, a car, a real boyfriend

And stop going out with imaginary ones in songs?

The only real bit is that you've eaten seven packets of crisps

Why can't the policeman be the hero?

Sometimes things don't end in a kiss, kid

The chorus is catchy though..."

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #116: The Curse Of Growing Old

BJ Barham's band American Aquarium are back with a new album, The Fear of Standing Still, and as has become customary, he's not pulling any punches...

I watched my father put his father in the ground

Without a single solitary tear falling down

On the car ride home I remember asking why

He said, "It's simple, son, you're born, you live a little, then you die

Crying ain't gonna bring them back, it's just a waste of time"

My grandmother made it all the way to 93

She saw countless wars, electric cars and colour TV

But then I start to think about all the family and friends

She lost, and how lonely it must have been there at the end

And that's one race to the finish, I'm betting no one wants to win

And the curse of growing old

Is watching everything you love and know

Bloom, die and fade away

The only thing more terrifying

Than coming face to face with dying

Is learning there's a price we all must pay for another day

So the only time I ever saw my father cry

Daytona 01, the day that Senior died*

It's safe to say that was the day that he finally saw

That no star burns forever, eventually they must fall

Raise hell, praise Dale, death is coming for us all

And the curse of growing old

Is watching everything you love and know

Bloom, die and fade away

The only thing more terrifying

Than coming face to face with dying

Is learning there's a price we all must pay for another day

That price is change

Unavoidable change

(*Senior is American stock car racing driver Dale Earnhardt who died in a crash on February 18, 2001. It's not necessary to know that to be affected by this song, but I had the question and now I know the answer.)

Namesakes #107: The Intruders

Nobody wants to encounter an intruder in their home, but today I'm inviting loads of them in. Which ones can stay, and which ones make you want to call the cops?

THE INTRUDERS #1

Let's start with some food-obsessed (they also had a tune called Frankfurters And Sauerkraut) New Jersey rock 'n' rollers from the late 50s, on the ironically named Fame record label.

The Intruders - Fried Eggs

THE INTRUDERS #2

Forgotten lights of the Philly soul sound, these guys started as a doo wop band in 1960 but went on to become the first group to score hits with songs written and produced by the superstar team of Gamble & Huff. This was their biggest hit, from 1968...

The Intruders - Cowboys To Girls

THE INTRUDERS #3

1963 surf instrumental from a bunch of Intruders who also acted as the backing band for one Jackie Powers... Austin's cousin, presumably.

The Intruders - Trambone

That's not how I'd spell trombone.

THE INTRUDERS #4

High school students from Schenectady (bless you) in 1964...

The Intruders - What Kind Of Girl Are You?

THE INTRUDERS #5

More rad surfer dudes from 1965...

The Intruders - The Intruder

THE INTRUDERS #6

I'm starting to sense a theme here...

The Intruders - Intrudin'

THE INTRUDERS #7

Mid-60s US pop act from Tucson, Arizona who went on to become The Dearly Beloved...

The Intruders - Let Me Stay

THE INTRUDERS #8

Garage rockers from St. Louis who met while working together as file clerks in the local hospital. Here they are in 1966...

The Intruders - Total Raunch 

THE INTRUDERS #9

Meanwhile, over in Illinois, around the same time the last lot were raunching it up, these guys were poised for greatness... until most of them were drafted to Vietnam in 1967.

The Intruders - Now That You Know

THE INTRUDERS #10

Also from Illinois, also in 1966, here's a different bunch of Intruders who counted among their members one Richard "Frog" Hull. He wasn't a real frog.

The Intruders - Bringin' Me Down

THE INTRUDERS #11

Reggae band from 1968, also known as The Crashers. Here, they're helped along by the Blenders and legendary Jaimaican producer Joe Gibbs...

The Intruders - Hurry Come Up

(JP McCLAIN &) THE INTRUDERS #12

Classy power-popper from the late 70s / early 80s by the sound of it (hard to get an exact date as I can only find their songs on re-issued compilation albums). The lead singer went on to rescue Nakatomi Plaza from terrorists.

JP McClain & The Intruders - Baby Don't Laugh

INTRUDERS #13

Hilarious hair metal dudes from Fresno in 1986. The first 30 seconds of male voice choir is not representative of the rest of their act...

Intruders - Baa Baa

THE INTRUDERS #14

Dutch country band from 1986... though they appear to have still been going in '94 when this was recorded...

The Intruders - No Idea What The Song's Called

(MARKY RAMONE &) THE INTRUDERS #15

The man who replaced original drummer Tommy Ramone in... erm... The Ramones also had his own band of Intruders. Here they are in 1996, and they're thirsty...

Marky Ramone & The Intruders - I Wants My Beer 

INTRUDERS #16

Tokyo punks from 2009...

Intruders - Cream Of The Crop (No Choice)

THE INTRUDERS #17

French Intruders from 2014. Sounds like the lead singer was a bad lad at school.

The Intruders - Eleven

THE INTRUDERSS #18

Noisy Eastern Europeans from a decade or so ago. It's only two minutes long, but it may be the longest two minutes of your life. I'm guessing the SS wasn't accidental...

The Intruderss - 7 Miliard

THE INTRUDERS #19

Much more palatable, here's some "dallamos punk-rock Mezőhegyesről!" That's melodic punk-rock from Mezőhegyes. (Hungary, 2021.)

The Intruders - Okos V​í​rus

INTRUDERS! #20

And finally, some jangly indie Intruders from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Not Bowie or the Jam, but not bad.

Intruders! - Absolute Beginners

Many other Intruders were identified, but not deemed worthy of further investigation.

Any take your fancy?

Listening Post #9: Purple Rain (not that one!)

Like many people, I tried to take a photo of last week's Northern Lights display... though all I really got on film was Steve. Bloody Steve, hogging the twilight...

The Pernice Brothers released their 9th studio album earlier this year, and it's a real slow burn grower. Favourite tracks so far include December In Her Eyes, the Neko Case duet I Don't Need That Anymore, and the title track, Who Will You Believe?

However, it's the epic closing track which I've become most obsessed with over the past few weeks, despite its titular similarity to an equally epic Prince tune...

Prince - Purple Rain

Joe Pernice's Purple Rain is a completely different proposition, differentiated by the addition of the definite article... which almost seems cheeky, under the circumstances. As I say, they're both epic tunes... but hats off to Joe for making his epic clock in at just over 3 minutes (unlike Prince's, which doesn't give you much change from 10). And he still manages to throw in a brass band and full choir along the way...

Snapshots #365 - A Top Ten Songs About Metals

If anyone wants to take me to task that Metal Mickey isn't holding a camera in the above image (as is customary for this feature), I have but one retort: he has an in-built camera, of course!

Here are ten songs featuring precious, and not-so-precious, metals. 

 

10. Spotted in a thirty centimetre X-ray.

Yhirty centimetre X-ray.

T-Rex - Think Zinc

9. Nine carat or less.

That's pretty low quality gold.

Lowgold - Mercury

8. In later years, he would go live with the rabbits.

In a Hutch.

David Soul - Silver Lady

7. Enjoys Welsh foxglove with her muffins.

Welsh foxglove is Ffion. Martha had her Muffins.

Martha Ffion - Lead Balloon

6. Never had a daily show.

Jon Stewart was the host of the Daily Show. Not John Stewart.

John Stewart - Gold 

I know many of you would have preferred Spandau Ballet, but that would have been too easy.

5. Could be a gutted diva. 

"A gutted diva" was an anagram...

David Guetta - Titanium

4. Shrunken heads.

Small Faces - Tin Soldier

3. Introducing...

Prelude - Platinum Blonde

2. Everything gets confused when a twit perishes.

"Twit perishes" was another anagram.

White Stripes - Aluminum

I think you're missing the second i there, Jack.

1.  Red lynx cat meets naughty dog. 

A red lynx would be a bobcat. Marley was a naughty dog in Marley & Me... with a sad end.

(This was actually a photo of Bob and a couple of the future Wailers in their first band, The Teenagers. But you try to find a photo of Bob Marley that isn't instantly recognisable!)

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Iron Lion Zion

Snapshots will be back next Saturday. I'm not taking the Mickey!