So*... that's why Peter Gabriel helped launch yesterday's quiz... and why he turned up again this morning with the answers. He knows a thing or two about a Family Snapshot...
Here are 15 songs about relatives...
(*More apologies to CC.)
15. One third of Annabella's band had a typical tempo of 115–130 bpm.
Annabella Lwin was in Bow Wow Wow. A third of that is Bow. House music has a typical tempo of 115–130 bpm. Bow + House =
12. Without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
A quote taken from early on in Genesis. This is later Genesis though... I figured you'd probably prefer them without their heads. Shoot me - I always liked this song.
He's here, and at this week's Number One. The extra F is how bloggers of a certain vintage refer to him... you'll know why if you fell victim to his anti-blog campaign back in the day.
That said, he made some great solo records after leaving the Undertones. And I'd completely forgotten this one... mustn't have heard it in 40 years, but it still sounds good.
4. The name of my first cat. (I realise that's a pretty niche clue, but think of your standard cat names and you might get it.)
My first cat was called Fluffy. We had another one at the same time called Frisky. Remember that in case I ever post a picture of a band with that name.
Here are some more records from this year which I found to be a good distraction from the hollow futility of existence...
15. Scott Lavene - Disneyland In Dagenham
I'm not sure if it was George (in his tribute to Fray Bentos) or John Medd who first tipped me off to the work of Scott Lavene, but then I was fortunate enough to see him play live earlier this year, in support of Craig Finn. Since then, I've spent rather a lot of time listening to his latest album, which is all about how they originally tried to build Eurodisney in Essex, the perils of not being Steve McQueen, and Scott's great love of custard. With the odd tender love song thrown in for good measure... and even a "duet" with Mr. Finn himself. Very enjoyable stuff and nonsense.
Take the bread out of that - it's not a toaster!
14. The Pernice Brothers - Who Will You Believe?
Joe Pernice has slipped off my radar somewhat in recent years, so I was pleased to rediscover his work through the ninth Pernice Brothers album (I remember getting into the first two around the turn of the millennium). It's another collection of shiny indie pop with soaring vocals and heartfelt lyrics. Not a bad song to be heard, though the one that really stopped me in my tracks was the epic closer, The Purple Rain (no connection to the equally epic Prince tune, just half the duration).
If you were here we could hang out all night and wash our rags till they were almost white I stopped there on my way, but it didn't feel right No longer knew a soul No soul knew me I never called you, and you never came I stayed a couple streets away from blame Hole up in a poem made of pith and pain I often read the end before the start
13. The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
On the other hand, here's a band who've never really fallen off my radar. As long as Colin Meloy keeps putting out tragic indie-folk paeans like these, I'll keep lapping them up. Special mention to the 19 minute closing track, Joan In The Garden, which descends around the 10 minute mark into a long section of "unexpectedly sick ambient noise" (to quote Stereogum) before rousing itself for a rocking finale. Despite that, I never want to skip it, the band carry me with them right through to the end.
Oh, Len, come down And meet at the burial ground They undid the aerial Tore down the merry-go-round This world's all wrong So let's go where we belong Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground
When I was a kid, I vividly remember the thrill of watching the old Universal horror movies late Saturday night on BBC2. You'd never see these classics on TV these days, and they're in danger of being airbrushed out of history for anyone other than ardent cinephiles... but we remember them today, starting with Victor (or Henry, as he was known in James Whales' film) Frankenstein and his monster, played by Boris Karloff...
That was the obvious tune, although curiously it only made it to Number 5 in My Top Ten Frankenstein Songs back in 2015...
Before you knew it, the Monster demanded a mate... in the form of Elsa Lanchester.
I couldn't immediately think of a song named after The Bride, but then I discovered New Zealand's Toy Love, who were on Flying Nun, so they had to be worth a listen. Here they are in 1980...
Todd Browning's Dracula was the first of many Universal films featuring the Lord of the Undead (and his family), although it's the only one to feature Bela Lugosi in the title role (unless you count his guest appearance in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). Despite that, Lugosi is the actor most often associated with the Count, even long after his death...
The direct sequel to Lugosi's Dracula featured Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula's Daughter. Which leads us nicely to Colin Meloy and co....
More bandages were wrapped around Claude Rains in 1933... although when he took them off, he disappeared completely. There's loads of Invisible Man songs to choose from (see here), but this was the obvious choice, still one of Declan's finest album tracks...
Ben: I saw my next door neighbour having a full blown conversation with the people on the other side of their house and it annoyed me. We don't talk like that. But I don't want to talk to him that much, I like being left alone. But I'm annoyed that he talks to them and not me.
Rol responds with a picture...
Ben: Well. Funnily enough, Mrs. Ben has been calling me Larry David because of it. I've also had a few Curb moments with them previously...
Rol: Respect.
It comes to us all in the end.
I am kind of right to be annoyed though, right?
It's definitely a judgement against you. But you have to balance that with the fact that you really don't want to be his buddy. It's the Happy Bench again.
Not that I'm suggesting you piss on his doorstep.
Misanthropy is complicated when it's mixed with low self-worth. Take it from an expert.
Also, he's probably worried you'd steer the conversation towards Marxism.
He doesn't know that.
You just look the type who would.
I haven't had long enough a conversation to bring that up. And I hope I never will.
And therein lies the crushing tragedy of your dilemma.
He watches a lot of sport.
Like every sport.
I hear him cheering in an evening and weekend.
You're better off out of it then.
Not in a yobbish way
But still, sporty.
The number of partners of Louise's friends / dads of Sam's mates that I am unable to communicate with, due to not knowing one side of a football pitch from the other, is frightening.
I'll watch the tennis when it's on, and snooker.
But I don't know much about complexities in it or remember people beyond the big ones.
I now know the name of every Formula 1 driver for the last 60 years. Because Sam tells me them every day.
I don't understand being the best at going fast.
Because you're not 7.
What I don't understand is watching cars go round and round the same track for two hours. And the one with the best car ALWAYS wins. Seriously. Lewis Hamilton wins every single time not because he has any great skill, but because he has the best car. It's like watching round after round after round of Iron Man fighting the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz and being surprised when Tony Stark wins every time.
I have a friend who watches it and they go to see it live. It's so expensive.
And on Now TV I keep getting told to, "add F1 TV for only £25 a month".
Why the fuck would I pay that much?
That's £300 a year for nothing.
Jesus. I'd pay £300 a year to not have to watch it.
And that's just the C4 highlights.
Why is sports so expensive to get on a TV package?
I wouldn't ever get it, but I don't understand why it's so expensive.
Because: suckers.
I don't get it.
"Paul. Your new album needs to come out soon as part of your record deal."
"Oh yeah? I'll put some songs together."
"Nice one, Paul. What are you gonna call it?"
"Fuck it. It's me sixteenth, does it even matter anymore? I'll call it..."
I have less interest every time Paul Weller announces a new record.
He has produced the new Declan O'Rourke album though, and everything I've heard from that is amazing.
He's an odd one, isn't he? It's either great or toss, there's no in-between from him.
I haven't heard anything that has wowed me in 20 years or so, but then I haven't been arsed to listen to most of them.
Think it was shortly after that when Steve Craddock left his band.
I think Craddock was on 21 Dreams.
Was that the concept album?
Yes. The bad one.
I just never understood why he stopped writing about beer, fags and getting murdered on the tube.
I like that he did, though.
I like that he went, fuck it. I'm stopping this whilst we're on top.
Having said that, they really struggled sales wise for most of their career.
They're remembered a lot more fondly than they sold at the time.
And All Mod Cons was the last one that was critically well received at the time as well.
I reckon the Style Council was better received by critics. Because all the kids who grew up listening to The Jam lauded his every move once they finally got to work for the NME.
Also, the Jam had a helluva lot more top 10 hits than TSC.
There's a Jam record called Extras that's like odds and sods from the studio. Some early demos, some alternative takes and some songs that never made it onto records. There's a great cover of And Your Bird Can Sing where Weller shows how much better than Lennon he his. There's also a version of Solid Gold Bond that the Jam did. It doesn't quite work so ending that band was necessary for that sort of music to come through fully formed.
Four number ones! In the 80s! When you really had to go some to top the chart. The Jam sold a shitload.
I think Weller was disillusioned by the fact that the singles did better critically than the albums. He was definitely a control freak and just got wound up that he couldn't replicate it all the time.
But they always wanted singles to be non album tracks to give fans more bang for their buck.
Like another famous band of that era.
Yeah, they modelled that on the Clash.
Piss off.
I knew that would get you.
Their merch used to be sold at cost value.
Oh, here we go...
No, nothing like that.
Red Wedge.
To quote Weller "I'm not sure what the fuck that was about. Billy asked me, and he was a mate."
Extra points there.
I was a full on Mod at 12-14.
Scooter?
No scooter as was too young. Used to wear peacoats and parkas. Had sideburns. And wore suits.
A couple of years after I stopped, the whole mod revival thing came back. That's the reason I know all the sales stuff. I read a lot of Jam biographies at the time.
I had a parka. Because I wanted to look like Han Solo on Hoth.
Do you know who didn't come back, though? Nine Below Zero.
They should have been back.
You ought to be a 50 something blogger.
I don't have the time.
Or the patience.
TWO DAYS LATER...
Oh. I just got your Nine Below Zero joke. You were feeding me a punchline I didn't pick up on...
D12 (which stands for Dirty Dozen) was the rap band Eminem was in before he became famous. He got the old gang back together a few years later, notably for the song below...
Those of you with better memories than me (or The Swede) may remember that that song won #35 on the Hot 100 Countdown, and at the time I remarked: "don't expect it to show up again at number 12. I can easily think of a dozen songs that would come before it." Which may have been an exaggeration on my part, but I have to stick to my word.
That was obviously a popular suggestion with Alyson, who says: it was one of my first singles. I also had a Donny pillowcase and a Donny Cap (not a euphemism for a form of contraception as I was only aged 12 - apt).
Well, I suppose that's less embarrassing than Respect Yourself by Bruce Willis. Sadly, the only version I own of that song comes from this fellow...
Speaking of welcome returns, after my plea last week, Douglas McLaren returned to explain where he's been recently... and it seems as though life is pretty unpleasant for teachers in Canada... as I can attest it is in the UK. His explanation below sounds very familiar to these ears...
...our entire school system has moved during these times to an online platform, as we figure out how to get teenagers to do work from home while they are stressed and concerned about what is going on in the world beyond their doors. And that has meant trying g to figure out how to upload video lectures, hold virtual office hours online, screencasting, web-textbooks, and a whole lot of other insanely time consuming nonsense for an old dinosaur of the classroom like me to learn.
You have my sympathy, Douglas, as all this has nearly broken me over the past few weeks, not to mention the fact that Louise is also supposed to be working from home and we've got to home-school Sam while we're doing it. If I read one more article about "how to spend your free time" or "what to watch on Netflix now we're all at home, taking it east", I'm going to scream.
Anyway, here's Douglas to tell us about his suggestion for this week...
Great Big Sea are from Newfoundland on Canada's east coast, with their lyrical and folksy "Come And I Will Sing You (The Twelve Apostles)", which I think is worth the listen.
This week's winner though. Alyson got it, but first to name it was Martin who normally spreads his bets over a whole load of tracks but this week was so certain of a win, he piled all his chips onto one bet. And guess what? It paid off...
Makes you wonder why they weren't huge... although I guess a band that size had to sell a heck of a lot of records to break even...
Next week, eleven. After that, things get really tricky. I might need to come up with some new rules...
If you're going out celebrating tonight, take care and have a good one. If, like me, you'll be asleep long before the clock strikes in the new year... enjoy that too.
Thanks for reading this dribble throughout 2018. See you in 2019.
Lest we forget, there is a dangerous, deluded psychopath in charge of the most powerful country in the world. And on top of that, Donald Trump's still the President of the USA. But while very few songwriters are expressing their concerns about Putin through lyrics, many have been getting very angry about Donald J. Here's ten of the best from 2018...
Apparently this is Trent Reznor's response to the man he called "a vulgar, grotesque dope" and “a complete fucking moron”. Trent is angry. But isn't he always?
Based on an experience Escovedo had in the 80s when he encountered a racist Texas ranger at a wedding; the character in this song is also based on an Arizona sheriff accused of violating the rights of Latinos as part of his tyrannical immigration policy... a man latterly pardoned by the 47th President of the USA.
Up until this year, a new Frank Turner release had been pretty much guaranteed a place in my year end countdown. His latest album felt like he was trying too hard to be all things for all listeners, and there were times when his trademark optimism verged on naivety. Make America Great Again is a good example of that. Frank's heart is in the right place, but...
"Well, it’s inspired a little bit by the guy who’s currently in the White House. I think it was written initially during the campaign, before the election, just sort of exploring that tone of voice that he was taking. The character in the song, the first-person character, is a demagogue, absolutely, so it was an exploration of, “What is demagoguery, and where does it come from?” as we were seeing this very public figure express these kind of insane and incredible sentiments in public. Of course, I think the song took on a different life once he was actually elected. But yeah, it’s sort of an exploration of the voice of a demagogue, and so hopefully people will find it reviling. I can only hope."
Just in case you're easily offended, I used asterisks. Then again, if I were really worried about causing offence, I'd probably need to write this post about D***** T****.
All the girls think you're a stud Even though your hands are covered in blood And they're turned on by your cover-ups
The highest compliment is being feared I bet that you don't even think that's weird You don't care who your deeds corrupt
Well another group of kids in a high school, dead But you're still at your golf course teein' off at nine People marchin' in the streets tryin' to find a little peace You sit around spoutin' more bullshit online
Oh and I don't believe in the devil But you might make me go and change my mind You could see this whole damn world get leveled And not even lose track of time Inside your gilded walls that shine
And that's not the only track on this album to take aim at the bloated POTUS. But more on that soon...
1. Karine Polwart - I Burn, But I Am Not Consumed
As previously discussed on my United Kingdom of Song feature, Donald Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, comes from the Isle of Lewis. Edinburgh's Karine Polwart has much to say about that on this exceptional talky song from her latest album...
Suddenly it's April and I haven't written about any music from 2018 yet. What will be on my year end countdown come December? Here's the first of the contenders, and appropriately enough it's...
Erm... Morrissey?
"What?" you say. "I didn't know Morrissey had a new album out."
Well, he must have... I mean, where else would you find song titles such as Everything Is Awful, We All Die Young, Severed...? Even Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes has a Morrissey sound to it.
Look a little further at the tracks that don't immediately leap off the page as Mozzer-esque and you'll find Sucker's Prayer, with the chorus...
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I've been so long lonely and it's getting me down
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
Or what about the opener, Once In My Life? No Stevie Wonder here, folks - just a "joyful" rewrite of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, one of M&M's finest. (That's Morrissey & Marr, not Marshall Mathers.) Don't believe me?
Oh look, it turns out this isn't the sudden return of the original Pope of Mope after all... it's just long time Moz-afficiando and beardy folk hipster Colin Meloy and his band...
1. The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl
Apparently, Donald Trump's 2016 election victory sent Colin (or do they pronounce it Col-an in America - like Colin Powell?) over the edge, inspiring his most miserable record yet. And with typically perverse Mozzer-esque glee, he backed some of his most "Woe is me and woe is the world!" lyrics ever with jaunty upbeat folk pop tunes... even branching out to experiment with electronica (on Severed) and glam (We All Die Young). Could this be The Decemberists' best album yet... or has Meloy become the Moz it's still cool to admit to liking? You decide. I'll report back at the end of the year.
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