Introducing C's guest post yesterday, we had David MacCallum, a one-time Invisible Man. Today, C sent me a lovely photo of Pauline Murray, without her Invisible Girls. And here they are reunited...
In-depth analysis (or random, disconnected musings) of three
more of the songs from the 108th 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.
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.
While my tolerance for many other movie genres has waned over the years, I've never grown out of the thrill of watching horror films. And I hope I never do.
For Halloween week, I figured I'd share as many songs connected to horror films as I could find...
Barbarian is the best horror film I've seen in the last few years. It's one of those flicks where you think you know where it's going, and then... woah, wait a minute, WHAT just happened?
Another strong contender for best horror movie of the past decade is the Aussie movie Talk To Me. Terrific supporting role for Miranda Otto in this too...
One of the best British horror films of the last 20 years (actually, it's almost 20 years old... which just seems wrong) was The Descent. Great ending, though that was slightly undone by the unnecessary sequel...
I like films where the baddies wear creepy masks and you can't see their faces. The original Strangers movie was a pretty scary movie back in 2008, but like a lot of horror films, its impact has been diluted by too many unnecessary sequels...
I'll have more of these later in the week, but we'll close today with a movie that already featured in this week's Snapshots, when I included a song by The Mock Turtles... largely because they were harder to identify than Jarvis & Pulp would have been.
And while I think the original version of The Wicker Man is untouchable, I also have a soft spot for the gonzo 2006 remake starring Nicolas Cage. NOT THE BEES!
I refer you back to my opening comment: I also like a bad horror film.
Pulp's Wickerman is from their final, unjustly overlooked, album, We Love Life. Produced by Scott Walker, it's Jarvis at his best...
In 1992, INXS released their best album, Welcome To Wherever You Are. It contains the somewhat prescient song, Not Enough Time. When I hear this song in my head, it goes "Not enough time for all that I want to do" (although the actual lyrics are slightly different). Those lyrics pop into my head more and more frequently as the clock ticks ever onward... in a similar fashion to the way the lyrics to We Have All The Time In The World fill my mind whenever I'm in a rush to get somewhere and I find myself stuck behind a Louis.
I sometimes wonder if I like too much music. If I'd be better off if my tastes were more niche and not so varied. Because there really is NOT ENOUGH TIME to listen to everything I want to listen to. Every time I visit the tube of you, a new band pops up demanding my attention. On first listen, a lot of them sound intriguing... like this lot, who may well be of some interest to Martin...
Brigitte Calls Me Baby appear to be the latest in a long, long, long line of bands who want to sound like The Smiths. But how many of those ever made it big? Suede? Gene? (Not really.) The Killers? (As soon as they did, they stopped trying to sound like The Smiths.)
Lead singer Wes Leavins (with his enormous Morrissey quiff) claims to be more influenced by Sinatra, Orbison and Presley... ✔, ✔, ✔... but it's The Smiths I hear (and see) in the videos above and below... and that's why they're on the list.
Often, when I hear a song I like on another blog, I'll leave a comment saying "That's going on the list." Similarly, when I hear something interesting on the radio. Like this little beauty from Irish singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon...
I like the folky atmosphere on that, and the idea that if we don't keep the old songs alive (whether they be Raglan Road or Girls Just Wanna Have Fun), they'll fade from our collective consciousness. I used to enjoy listening to the late Desmond Carrington on Radio 2. He'd play a really diverse mix of music, some of it old and forgotten from the 30s, 40s or 50s, alongside more recent or well known choices. I heard things on his show I'd never heard before on the radio, and probably never will again.
As Ultan puts it...
Who's gonna play the old songs when all the old-timers are gone?
Here's an old song I've been playing a lot lately...
See? It's all too much, isn't it? Imagine if I just liked indie music, or rock, or old soul, or country and Americana... if I specialised in power pop or new wave or gentle, acoustic singer-songwritery stuff. Then I'd be able to focus. I'd be able to concentrate on one thing and enjoy it for what it is and not always be worrying about finding the next new thing... or the next old thing... in the hope it might hit me like a chaise longue or gradually unveil its beauty over a half dozen listens like the best of Jason Isbell.
But I don't just like one thing. I like all kinds of different things, and being able to switch genres and keep it fresh is essential in my listening. But then I also like digging back into the archives too. Except when do I have the time? I mentioned at the top of the page that Welcome To Wherever You Are is the best album INXS ever made. And yet I'm making that assessment safe in the knowledge that I haven't listened to it all the way through in 30 years. But The List keeps growing, and it's growing from all sides. New things, old things that are new to me, old things that I know but I haven't listened to in ages... and on and on and on...
Take that lot, for instance. Life are from Hull. Let's not hold that against them, because on the evidence of the track above... they're excellent. Bear in mind that they released that two years ago and this is the first time I've come across them, but they already appear to have released three albums. What if they're all as good as that song? I ought to drop everything else this instance and devote the next three weeks to familiarising myself with their back catalogue... but I haven't got the time because I also have to check out these guys...
L.A. Edwards come from... erm, Los Angeles... although the LA doesn't stand for what you think - it's lead singer Luke Andrew's initials. They supported Lucinda Williams last weekend and as soon as I heard them, I knew I wanted to hear more. So they've gone on The List.
There's so much music out there waiting to be discovered, it's a truly daunting prospect. Because what if I never hear that one song that changes my life forever? It's out there somewhere, I know it is. That's why I have The List...
I was only there for 8 and a bit months and I spent it all crying so it couldn't have been that good.
They must have been tears of joy.
The Hoff bringing down the wall, Tyson winning a fight, all joyous.
Just tested positive for Covid!
Oh shit. Sorry, man. How you feeling?
I always feel shit, so no change really.
The joke is good. The font, awful.
I thought that too.
It looks like it belongs on some late 90s/early 00s branding.
Like groovy chick or whatever it was called.
I'm not a big expert on fonts.
I still like Comic Sans.
Which I know is abhorrent to font purists
It's a personal thing. I think the comic sans hatred is a bit of a shit bandwagon.
It's not my favourite, but I accept it's usefulness.
I dislike Times New Roman but some stuff I write has to be sent in it. I usually write in Calibri first.
Then send as TNR.
Or Ariel depending on what they want.
If I'm feeling quirky, I write in Tahoma.
Not all the time, otherwise it'd lose the fun, obviously.
Which font is this?
I think it's Varsity?
What about this?
Not sure. It could be Ariel bold?
Probably not. There's not enough identifiable about it that makes it unique
It's definitely not Ariel
The kerning is all wrong.
This?
Not sure.
I could carry this on all night, but I'm wary of driving the joke into the ground.
What joke?
Still, I expected a better punchline than "not sure".
I aim to disappoint.
Sam asked me today "how do you know Ben?"
I said, "He used to be a teacher, like me."
Sam asked, "What is he now?"
I had to think for a long time...
Eventually I said, "an intellectual".
Sociologist.
That came out before I was born, grandad.
I am aware of it, though.
Point is still valid.
Hey, go blame Durkheim, the French bastard named it!
That's the intellectual response.
I thought the intellectual response would be to go on about the term -ology and how it's applied?
Either way you'd lose me.
What did Sam understand by "intellectual"?
More than he would have done about sociologist.
Although when he asked, "an intellectual in what?", I was stuffed.
It completely falls apart when you dig deeper but the simple explanation is that a biologist studies and tries to understand the natural world, a sociologist studies and tries to understand the behaviour and actions of groups of people, societies and the way they interact.
I'm feeling more typically covid now.
I still don't have 100% taste back.
Not really hit my taste, but I don't have much appetite.
Yeah, when I had it, I found dates and peanut butter were best for energy.
You can just have a few teaspoons of peanut butter or a few dates.
Good energy without really eating.
I'd rather have a few teaspoons of horseshit.
Have some dates at least.
I'm not sure I'm allowed to go dating at the moment
I'm sorry. I thought were cultured enough to know it's also a fruit.
It's a berry that tastes like caramel.
Just don't support the Israeli state by buying theirs.
I also can't go out to buy anything.
I'll send you some dates.
Just looked and I can only send you a kilo of them.
No good.
My taste & smell officially went AWOL today. Not sure why it took them so long.
Frank's Hot Sauce became my lifeline to flavour.
It's a mild one.
That's quite vinegary.
But it was the only thing I could taste.
Kept me sane during a month or so of nothing else.
You feeling alright other than that? Not got worse?
No worse. Just think it's weird taste & smell has been fine for the past 5 days then disappears late today.
It's such an odd thing anyway.
I've got a colleague who's not had any taste for the past 8 months.
Yeah, but is that just because he refuses to listen to your Manchester Orchestra records?
