Hot 100 Countdown #87

Not many takers for Number 87 on my countdown... in fact only Rigid Digit dared make any suggestions...

David Bowie - '87 and Cry

Is Never Let Me Down Bowie's worst album? It certainly hasn't aged very well. Still, this was in consideration for a little while.

Bouncing Souls - 87

Never heard this one before, but I wouldn't turn it off if it came on the wireless.

Hank Williams III - 87 Southbound

This was also briefly in contention as it does live in the deepest southern reaches of my record collection.

Other possibilities...

Hayes Carll - Highway 87

Hayes passes Hank going in the opposite direction.

Fred Thomas - Expo '87

I get so hung up high on expectations

I get so sick at restaurants and on family vacations

And I leave every situation invariably feeling dumb

But you’ve got to be a little bit dumb

Otherwise you never get anything done

And you’ve gotta be kinda hit

Otherwise you spend your time smiling entirely too much

Wincing while you’re waiting

For that next soft punch

Ah, Fred... you can't half put your finger on it.


But after listening to every 87 song in my collection, I had to crown this one the winner. From Canadian indie-folksters, The Rural Alberta Advantage, the song creates a love story amidst an infamous 1987 tornado that tore through Edmonton in Alberta.

Be warned: the video is seriously creepy!


Next... 86? Could offer some interesting contenders...

2017 Latecomers: Get Malled By Fred

Ooh look, another new feature. Well, not that new: I did something similar last year. Basically, good albums from the year just gone which may well have featured in My Top 17 of 2017... if I'd heard them in time. Let's see how many I discover this year...

Back in the early 00s when my indie cred was at its highest (not very) and I could easily have written a blog that would have been respected and lauded by the cool muso blogosphere (yeah, right), rather than laughed at and shunned (I did still like Billy Joel back then, I just kept quiet about it), I was quite into Fred Thomas's lofi indie soul band, Saturday Looks Good To Me. I'm sure you'll remember them if you were cool back in 2000. (Typically, this was about 6 years before I started my first blog. Always too late.)

Since then, the band and their lead singer have rather slipped off my radar... until my still much-cooler pal Steve recommended Fred's latest offering, Changer. It's an interesting change of direction (though there's probably been a gradual evolution while I've been away) to a more guitar led sound reminiscent in places of Green-era REM, Pavement, Jonathan Richman... maybe even a little Kozelek. I dunno, it probably sounds like a bunch of other things entirely to you. But it's worth a listen. Love the way the guitar really kicks in around the 50 second mark.

Oh, and it's another great mid-life crisis song too...

Does something feel slower?
Or is this just the same daydreamed death where you see yourself lowered
Into the cold, greedy ground as your parents and plagiarists lose their shit
Sobbing over your casket
And you broadcast it every couple of hours
When you’re not busy with customers
Selling cell phone cases and cords at that kiosk in the middle of the mall
Air-conditioned days in this insufferable summer
And at night you watch your friends dance around
Feeling weird about fucking each other
And you wonder “Do I even need to be here?” and “Why does this hurt?”

The rest of the album's not bad either. Listen and like.