The Legend of CD108: Part 7

And so we reach the end of our trawl through the tracks on my son’s supposedly favourite in-car CD… just as I was finally forced to consign those precious discs to the annals of history. But wait… all is not lost!

Keep reading to discover the saviour of our in-car entertainment!

First though, the final four songs on CD108…

 

Track 20: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Shop Around

Smokey’s first big Motown hit, Shop Around betrays his doo wop roots far more than the polished soul standards he’d soon be celebrated for. The track was originally credited to "The Miracles featuring Bill 'Smokey' Robinson" – and thus a legend was born. It was also the first Motown record to be released in the UK (on Decca) – it wasn’t a hit though; Smokey would have to wait another seven years before he was allowed into the UK charts.

According to Casey “Shaggy” Kasem via iffypedia, Motown boss Berry Gordon rejected the first hundred songs Smokey wrote for him as “garbage” before finally agreeing to take #101. I dunno, it strikes me that pop stars worked a helluva lot harder back in the day.

Some may claim that Shop Around displays a rather sexist attitude to finding a life partner – I’m not offering it up to the Cancel Culture Club committee though, because – let’s face it, the advice comes from Smokey’s mum. Better yet, here’s an answer record from Debbie Dean, the first white artist signed to Motown, released not long after Smokey’s hit.

Debbie Dean - Don't Let Him Shop Around

 

Track 21: Del Amitri - When You Were Young

Another case of the old “after 108 CDs, I’d run out of the obvious tracks by X”. When You Were Young was the fourth single to be released from the third Del Amitri album in 1993. It still made the Top 20 – amazing considering that its two predecessors (Just Like A Man and the wonderfully dour Be MyDownfall) both only scraped into the Top 30.

This is also a case of a song I don’t expect Sam gets at all – I doubt I appreciated its lyrics when I bought the album in my 21^st year on the planet. I do now…

The disappointment of success
Hangs from your shoulders like a hand-me-down dress
And down nostalgia's rocky road
You watch your former lovers growing old

So look into the mirror
Do you recognise someone?
Is it who you always hoped you would become
When you were young?

Justin Currie wasn’t even 30 when he wrote that (though he did have some amazing sideburns). He’s always been a Grumpy Old Man.

 

Track 22: Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want

The original, but not the version most people will be familiar with, since it was Desmond Dekker who took this track (almost) to the top of the UK singles chart in 1970. To be honest, I reckon most people (with the possible exception of Ernie) would be hard pressed to spot the difference. They’re even the same length.

Great tune, whoever’s singing it.

 

Track 23: Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun

Another of those big US ska-punk hits from the late 90s. Iffypedia tells me this was written in response to the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots. In that, I guess it channels the same themes of many of the classic 2-Tone hits from 20 years earlier.

Smash Mouth came from California, and this (their biggest hit?) comes from their debut LP, Fush Yu Mang (see what they did there?). If you were listening to the radio at all in 1997, you’ll easily recall it… and probably their follow-up single, All Star, as well. Anyway, I’m pleased to read that they’re still out there, smashing mouths, thirty years later.

And so we end our review of this particular CD. But despite not having a CD player in my new car, the Sam CDs will live on. I discovered that as well as the slot for a USB (from which I listen to 2+ hours of my own new music every day as part of the commute), there's also a slot for an SD card. And I thought they went out with digital cameras! (Yes, I'm sure people still use digital cameras. But you know what I mean.) So I uploaded Sam CD174 - the latest edition - onto that... but you'll be pleased to know that I also burnt it to an actual CD, for old time's sake.

Anyway, I've enjoy going through this CD and writing about the songs... so I thought maybe I'd try it with another one. But rather than pick a CD myself - I'm throwing it open to you guys. Give me a number between 20 and 150, and I'll reveal which songs were on that CD. (Nothing before 20, as the songs will all be really obvious... and nothing too recent because there's probably stuff on those that I've featured here in the last year or so.) If nobody gives me a number, I'll just use a random number generator. Or draw straws...

The Legend of CD108: Part 6

Nearly finished going through the tracks on Sam's favourite in-car CD... and as my new car doesn't have a CD player, I'm wondering if we'll ever listen to this again...

Track 17: George Michael - Outside

I'd lost touch with George Michael by the mid-90s, swept away from pop music in the surge of Britpop. So I only really revisited his late-90s output once I'd grown up and realised pop music wasn't so bad after all.

Outside was famous as the record in which George took a scandal from his private life, grabbed it with both hands, and made a top pop tune (and video) which resolutely stuck two fingers up at the tabloid press that was hounding him. 

 It's wonderful.

Track 18: Idlewild - You Held The World In Your Arms

Was this a football anthem? It sounds like one... only better than most of them. Their only top ten hit, although I'd been following Idlewild since the early days. It's not my favourite, but I loved the big wide-screen stab at glory that this album represented, just as much as I'd loved the more esoteric art-rock of When I Argue I See Shapes three years earlier. 

I think Sam likes this one because it definitely sounds like a football anthem...

Track 19: White Plains - My Baby Loves Lovin'

Just to prove that you can't beat a cheesy late-60s pop hit... here's one that never grows old. 

If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have guessed that White Plains were from the USA - not that they were an off-shoot of the Flowerpot Men. Then again, where did the Flowerpot Men want to go? They were obviously Americaphiles. A Greenaway & Cooke production, so it was always going to sound a cut above... although there is some debate about who's actually singing. Some liner notes, quoted on iffypedia, reveal...

"Contrary to popular myth, we are assured that the lead vocals were performed by Ricky Wolff, with Tony Burrows doubling him on the chorus". But "due to Wolff's unavailability to promote the record, it would be singer-songwriter Roger Greenaway who appeared as the main lead singer on the promotional material and TV performances."

Bands were weird in the 60s. I love this video though...

Only four songs left on the CD.

What then?

The Legend of CD #108: Part 5

More songs from Sam's favourite in-car CD.

Circumstances are forcing me to part with my current car at the end of this week. I might tell you about that some other time, once I'm past the trauma of it all. But the newer car I'm having to get will not have a CD player. Is this the end of our in-car CDs...?

Track 14: Jackie Wilson - I Get The Sweetest Feeling

Where do you start if you’re going to write about Jackie Wilson? The Van Morrison song that immortalised him? The Dexys cover than indelibly linked him to darts player Jockey Wilson in the minds of a generation, thanks to an accidental / mischievously deliberate* (*delete as appropriate, depending on what you believe) miscredited image on TOTP? That awful / vaguely racist plasticine video that propelled Reet Petite back to the top of the UK charts in 1986 (a Christmas Number One to boot, so it must have sold a shedload), almost 30 years after it was originally recorded? 

Wilson was two years gone by then, having died at the age of just 49 in 1984, nine years after suffering a massive heart attack that he never properly recovered from. He was on stage when that struck, collapsing just after singing the line, "My heart is crying" in the song Lonely Teardrops. The audience thought it was part of the act. It was later suggested that the heart attack had been brought on by the salt tablets the singer took to make him sweat while performing because, "The chicks love it."

There’s a lot more to the Jackie Wilson story, but let’s cut to the chase: I Get The Sweetest Feeling. A hit three times in the UK chart – firstly when it reached #9 in the year of my birth, then three years later when it returned to the Top 30 in 1975, and finally, following the success of the Reet Petite re-issue, a top three hit in 1987. The video, directed by the same team that did the now-controversial Reet Petite promo, was a lot more acceptable…

Track 15: Teenage Fanclub - Ain't That Enough

Possibly my favourite Teenage Fanclub song, from the excellent Songs From Northern Britain. As I’ve just been obsessing over chart placings on the previous track, it’s worth pointing out that this was their highest placing album, and Ain’t That Enough was their biggest hit in the UK singles chart… although a measly #17 in 1997, making it their only Top 20 hit.

This, like a lot of Britpop tunes from that year, always reminds me of a particularly fine summer. I was 25 on the calendar, but I felt more like an 18 year old… probably because I’d missed out on feeling like one seven years earlier. I grew up slowly, I guess.

Ain’t That Enough was written by Gerard Love who left the band in 2018, allegedly because he doesn’t like flying anymore. I’m not sure if there’s more to it than that, because the remaining members no longer play any of his songs in concert – which explains my disappointment at not hearing this one when they performed at my local village hall last year.

 

Track 16: Spencer Davis Group - Somebody Help Me

Another song I feel I ought to preface by saying – hey, this is CD108, clearly I’d already featured Keep On Running and Gimme Some Loving LONG before this. Until researching this post, I had no idea that Somebody Help Me was just as big a hit as the twin titans mentioned above (bigger than GSL, which only reached #2)… because it doesn’t feel half as epic. The Spencer Davis Group burned brightly for a very brief period in the mid-60s before going off and doing their own thing, most notably becoming Steve Winwood, who always seemed to be in the charts or on the radio during my teenage years, despite relatively few actual hits (and even the two that did make it big, didn’t actually make it as big as I remember). I don’t know why I’m talking so much about the charts today – the rest of this blog is largely unbothered by such things… but I guess the purpose of these CDs was always to familiarise Sam with the music that preceded him, and the charts were the places to start.

Somebody Help Me and Keep On Running were both written by Jamaican musician Jackie Edwards who worked for Chris Blackwell when he first set up Island Records. Apparently the song was also used as the theme tune to ITV drama series The Royal from 2003 – 2011, but as Edwards died in 1992, he sadly never saw any of that money.

Personally, I think Somebody Help Me pales in comparison to Keep On Running, Gimme Some Lovin’ and I’m A Man, but it’s a good enough pop song and I have no qualms about its inclusion here.

The Legend of CD108: Part 4

More tracks from Sam's inexplicably favourite in-car CD...

Track 11: Pat Benatar – Heartbreaker

Not one of Pat Benatar’s UK hits, I first heard this on the soundtrack to the movie Nobody in which Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk realises his action hero side as a mild-mannered office schlub who used to be a John Wick style badass in a previous life. You can guess the rest.

Anyway, soundtracks can often breathe new life into old songs, and this was certainly the case here. It’s not a Benatar original – all her biggest hits were written by other people – and the song was originally recorded back in 1978 by West Midlands rock chick Jenny Darren. She appears slightly miffed that Benatar was the one who used it as a springboard to fame and fortune.

Track 12: Squeeze - Pullin' Mussels From A Shell

I remember when I was compiling this CD for Sam, I had a slight reservation over whether to include this track. I guess by this point I’d already used all the obvious Squeeze singles (Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Labelled With Love, Hourglass) and this seemed the next obvious one on the list, even though it never actually cracked the UK Top 40. BUT… is it a suitable for little kids? The singalong title / chorus is a huge, mucky innuendo, isn’t it? Oh yes, it is. Although I guess the only way you’re going to know that is if someone tells you. If you’re reading this and you never knew that “Pullin' Mussels From A Shell” was Chris Difford’s clumsy/genius* (*delete as appropriate) metaphor for “the use of fingers to stimulate the female sexual organs”… then I’m really sorry if that’s ruined the song for you. Despite this, and the song’s lack of chart success (Were the two linked? Was radio hesitant because of the innuendo?), iffypedia claims Pullin’ Mussels is one of the band’s catchiest and most popular tunes. And who can argue with that? It’s a high point on this compilation.

Track 13: Liam Frost - The City Is At A Standstill

While I have listened to more songs by Jake Bugg in the hope of finding something as strong as Lightning Bolt, I can honestly say I’ve never made a similar effort with Liam Frost… and maybe I ought to. As of this writing, this is the only song I know from this Manchester lad, but it’s a belter.

I know this world is vicious darling lets make tracks now
Black out all the city lights and drink till we both grown numb
And lay down to sleep I feel like I ran all day

Liam doesn’t appear to have released anything new since 2019, so I wonder if he’s packed it all in and found a day job? Shame if he has, and I blame myself for not paying more attention. That's right: his entire career was dependent on whether I bought a couple of his records.

The Legend of CD108: Part 3

More tracks from Sam's favourite in-car compilation... 

Track 7: Jake Bugg - Lightning Bolt

In my head, Jake Bugg is a bit of a one hit wonder, yet it seems he’s been ploughing away in the trenches ever since this song made a minor splash back in 2012. I liked the young-Dylan energy and wordplay of Lightning Bolt, but nothing I’ve heard since has really matched up. Maybe I should investigate further, but – so many artists, so little time. I have on occasion used lyrics from the song in English lessons as they’re ripe for basic analysis in terms of language techniques and connotations.

 

Track 8: The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me

I wrote about this one back when I featured bands name after Human Beings in Namesakes, about how a sales exec I used to work with ripped the song off for a radio advertising jingle, and blah blah blah. I like the song well enough, but it’s not a huge favourite… I think I chose to include it on the CD because of its catchy “No no no no no” chorus, which I thought Sam would like.

 

Track 9: Split Enz - I Got You

I always find it hard to believe that these spiky, weirdly-costumed New Zealand New Wave oddballs would eventually morph into the far more serious and sensitive band Crowded House. Much as I appreciate some of their later work, I generally find Split Enz to be a lot more fun. This is their towering achievement, the “I don't know why sometimes I get frightened” hook never fails to get me singing along.

 

Track 10: George Benson - Never Give Up On A Good Thing

George Benson had a string of excellent pop-soul hits in the early 80s, and in my head this is the biggest one (although the charts tell a different story). By that time, he’d been singing songs for almost 30 years – he debuted back in 1954 when he was 9 years old, releasing records as “Lil' Georgie Benson”.

Anything that was in the charts pre:1987 is pretty much fair game for these compilations; it was only when I turned 15 that I started to become more discerning in my tastes.

More tracks from CD 108 soon.

The Legend of CD 108: Part 2

In-depth analysis (or random, disconnected musings) of three more of the songs from the 108^th in-car CD I made for my son, Sam – the CD that has passed into legend as the one to beat in his eyes/ears… although I’m not quite sure why.

 

Track 4: INXS - Devil Inside

INXS are one of those bands who appear to have completely disappeared off everyone’s radar. There was a point in the late-80s / early-90s when it seemed like they were poised for world-conquering greatness – an Australian U2, but without the big God Complex eedjit and his dumb-ass cronies… and with far better tunes (Baby Don’t Cry must surely make Bono weep buckets every time he hears it). 

Then, of course, it all went wrong. First there was the rather duff 1997 “comeback” record Elegantly Wasted, followed soon after Michael Hutchence's sudden death. There’s nothing to be gained from rehashing all that, but I can’t help wondering what might have been. The band soldiered on without their frontman, trying out a variety of new vocalists (including Terence Trent D’Arby) and even putting themselves through the humiliation of an X-Factor-style talent show as part of the auditions. But for many fans, the idea of INXS without Michael was like Queen without Freddie or The Doors without Jim. Sometimes it’s better to just call it a day.

Anyway, Devil Inside is by no means my favourite INXS song. It wasn’t even a hit in the UK, unlike four of the other singles from Kick. Personally, I’d choose anything from their creative zenith, the outstanding disc Welcome to Wherever You Are. But it’s a good enough tune, I suppose, and keeps the CD moving along nicely. Momentum is important in a compilation.

 

Track 5: The Byrds - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better

Also not a hit in the UK, and not really one of their better-known tunes, but I always like a good anti-love song… although there’s much debate in Byrding Circles about whether this is a plain old diss track or a more complex ode to indecision. They key word that suggests the latter is the fact that Gene Clark sings, “I’ll probably feel a whole lot better when you’re gone”. Because sometimes when we end a relationship, we’re left with a nagging doubt over whether we’ve done the right thing.

Tom Petty does a cracking cover, but that goes without saying.

There’s no reason why this tune should appeal to a 12 year old who likes Juice WRLD, Alex Warren and Imagine Dragons… any more than thousands of other songs I’ve introduced him to through these CDs. I doubt it’s directly responsible for CD108’s legendary status… but it fits nicely into the mix.

Track 6: Ocean Colour Scene - Huckleberry Grove

I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better started life in 1965 as the B-side to All I Really Want to Do. And that leads us nicely onto another B-side, or maybe even D-side, since it was track 4 on the CD single release of Ocean Colour Scene’s first UK Top Ten hit, You've Got It Bad in 1996. Despite its ignoble birth, Huckleberry Grove went on to become one of the band’s most-loved songs, first when it was given pride of place as Track 1 on their ragtag off-cuts compilation, B-sides, Seasides and Freerides, and then later when it popped up on their Greatest Hits collection alongside all the big hits. It’s the very definition of the Little Engine That Could.

Now I know what many of you think about OCS – that they somehow represent Britpop at its Satanic, nostalgia-inducing, Weller-shagging worst – and I’m not about to change your mind about that here. But it’s a lovely little tune if you can get past all that, and arguably much better than the single it was initially bolted onto as a throwaway bonus track. (That particular single has yet to make it onto one of Sam's compilations. But I might add it to the next one.)

 

Where will this CD go next? Find out soon… as if you care.

The Legend of CD 108 – Part 1

Over at The Vinyl Villain, JC recently started a series about the legendary C86 cassette, and very entertaining I’m sure it will be. In response, I thought I’d look at a CD compilation that has proven very popular here at Top Ten Towers… SAMCD 108.

A little background for those of you who haven’t been paying attention…

Since he was very small, I have been compiling in-car CD compilations to be played whenever I’m driving my son to school / football / holidays / social engagements etc. The idea has always been to expose him to the widest range of pop music possible – not just my favourites. We started with all the big, kid-friendly singalong songs (The Monkees, Beach Boys, Sweet Caroline) but as time as has gone these CDs have become more and more diverse. As with any good compilation, I like to mix big tunes with forgotten gems, and crash through the genres like I’m in a mad HMV trolley dash. I’ve been doing this since Sam was a baby and I’m just putting the finishing touches onto SAMCD 176. When we get fed up of the latest disc, it goes in a folder with all the old ones, and as well as introducing new CDs every few weeks, we also work our way through the back catalogue in numerical order.

For months now, Sam has been very excited about hearing CD 108 again. I’ve insisted we work our way towards it – 101, 102, 103, etc – but he’s kept wanting to jump ahead. CD 108 was the best in his memory. To be honest, I think he’d built it up so much that when we did finally listen to it again, it probably wasn’t as good as he remembered… but he claims it lived up to his expectations, and who am I to call my son a liar. (But he’s 12 going on 16 now… lying to your parents is becoming a daily occurrence, I’m sure.)

To cut a long story ever-so-slightly shorter then, here’s a new series in which I work my way through the tracks on SAM CD 108 and try to work out why this particular set of tunes was so memorable. It’s just another excuse to write about songs.

Track 1: The Cure – Friday I’m In Love

Well, you’ve got to start with a belter, haven’t you? I’m frankly shocked that I managed to do 107 CDs before this one and not include Friday I’m In Love. But there’s a randomness to my selection process and it’ll often depend on what I’ve heard on the radio or seen on TV or featured on the blog as “What’s the biggest hit by this artist?” The Cure will have featured on Sam’s CDs prior to this – I have got a spreadsheet somewhere, but it’s not to hand. Still, it’s hard to believe I got this far without thinking of The Cure’s poppiest radio hit.

So far then, this CD is shaping up to be a belter.

Track 2: Brad Paisley – Last Time For Everything

And though you might not think it, this one maintains the high standard… and not just because it features David Hasslehoff in the video.

I find myself shocked again though – because a quick glance at the streaming service, expecting this to be one of the most-streamed Brad Paisley tunes, reveals that it’s actually way down the list. What’s wrong with people? I’m a huge fan of Brad’s brand of cheerful, tongue-in-cheek Stetson-and-a-smile country, and I reckon this is without doubt his finest hour. It’s a song that works like a big reassuring hug, a song that says, ‘Hey, we’re all growing older, and growing older is about saying goodbye to things we love… and the only consolation that I can offer is that we’re all in it together’. That might sound cheesy, but this sort of music is inherently cheesy… it doesn’t mean it can’t bring a tear to your eye (as this song invariably does) if you put your cynicism up on the shelf for a while.

I didn’t want Sam to grow up with a bias against country music, and songs like this have helped him appreciate it in a way most of the kids I went to school with never could. He’s even introduced me to a couple of cool country-crossover songs in recent years, like Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (with Billy Ray Cyrus!) and A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey. Job done.

Track 3: Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster (Jammin’)

Stevie in the 70s is, of course, untouchable, and his tribute to Bob Marley is another stone cold classic… but hold up, this is from 1980? When did it all start going downhill? It’s OK, I reckon you can go as far as 1982. And even after that song, you know, the “Is she in a coma?” one, there’s Part-Time Lover, which is a late era belter. After that… I dunno, you tell me? Did Stevie Wonder do anything else worth listening to after 1985? I don’t want to discriminate.

Unless you tell me otherwise, Sam’s knowledge of Stevie Wonder will finish then.

Personally, I don’t think CD108 maintains the standard set by the first three tracks… but let’s be honest, what compilation does? You always front-load the juicy stuff, just to get people to give it a shot.

Three more tracks next week.