For our annual Boys' Only Holiday this year, Sam and I visited the West Midlands, spending a lot of time in Dudley, which had more to offer than just the brush fire that got us kicked out of our hotel.
Dudley Castle & Zoo was much more impressive than I'd expected - to be fair, I thought it would be a castle with a few animals outside, but actually the zoo offered a greater range of wildlife than anywhere this side of Chester - lions, tigers, giraffes, wolverines, monkeys... and Sam's favourite, the snow leopards.
I always visit zoos with a heavy heart. I understand the conservation and protection of endangered species, and I've no doubt that they do good work in that regard... but it always makes me sad to see wild animals caged, or away from their natural home.
Equally, if not more impressive - and without the added layer of guilt - was the Black Country Living Museum next door, a real "step back in time" kind of place...
...well, you get the idea. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.
Unable to cope with a Zero edition of the Hot 100 myself, I put the idea out to tender. First to jump at the opportunity was Charity Chic, who spend a large part of his working week compiling the excellent Top Ten below. He didn't supply a Zero band though, so I chose Remy Zero, who once recorded the theme tune to young-Superman-based TV show Smallville. Remy Zero - Save Me I'm running this Guest Post today - rather than on Thursday - because it leads it nicely into the final edition of the Hot 100 tomorrow. Join me then for the full countdown. In the meantime, take it away, Charity Chic...
Top 10 - Zero Songs
By way of
appreciation for Rol’s epic Hot 100 series, I give you a Top 10 of Zero Songs...
Taken from “the
difficult third album “ 1979’s The Fine Art of Surfacing, it pre-dates Band Aid, meaning that St Bob was slightly less annoying than he later became.
TV21 were a post punk
band from Edinburgh. Named after a Gerry Anderson comic. Another
impressive piece of trivia is that guitarist Ally Palmer is responsible
for curating the Scottish football magazine Nutmeg. I suspect Rol
will be aware of the first trivia reference but totally oblivious to the
second. (How right you are. - Rol.)
Yes, there were two.
The original was John Lee Curtis with number two who is featured here being
Alex Miller or Aleck Ford. All very confusing. (Yeah, you lost me. I'm going to ask George to explain that sentence to me. - Rol.)
Nine Below Zero is
also the name of an English Blues band who formed in 1977 and who I saw play on
a couple of occasions at Strathclyde Students Union.
A lovely song from
the album There Is No Other, the first solo album for 14 years from the former
Belle and Sebastian chanteuse and Mark Lanegan collaborator. A welcome return.
The title track from
the 2011 debut solo album by Paisley lass and former Speedway frontwoman Jill
Jackson, an artist who I know that Rol has a bit of a soft spot for. (Indeed. - Rol.)
A splendid racket and
a splendid diatribe by Public Enemy from their seminal album It takes a Nation
of Millions to Hold Us Back. As topical now as it was on its release in 1988.
A seriously
underrated artist . A track from her eponymous 3rd album from 1976 which also
contains the brilliant Love and Affection. The compilation album Track Record
is an ideal introduction to her work.
No shocks, no
surprises. None of the others come close.
I suspect that from
the get go most of you would have had this down as the number one
The 1977 debut single
from the debut album My Aim is True which introduced the world to the
prodigious talent that is Elvis Costello.
Thanks for taking up the baton, CC. You get no argument from me on any of those, especially not the worthy (and only!) Number One. Of course, that's not to stop anyone else coming up with a second list of Zero Songs, if they think they've got 'em. The doors are always open...
I told you way back in 52 That I would never go with you
C wondered who did the original of that. RD replied that it was Smiley Lewis... and that if you listen carefully to the instrumental break, Dave gives a shout out to him, along with Huey 'Piano' Smith (who played piano on the original version), Fats Domino (who also covered it) and Chuck Berry (who doesn't appear to have recorded it at all, but maybe he played it live?).
RD then offered the controversial opinion that the cover versions by Ben Folds Five and Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club were both better than Trevor Horn's original. I'm not sure I agree with that - there's something about the original that just sends a shiver down my spine (in a good way) although they're both fine covers. I'd add the version by Presidents of the United States of America to the list of cracking covers.
Other songs I found that referenced 1952 included...
There are, of course, 52 weeks in a year, so I thought I might find loads of references to that. However, the only ones that leapt out at me were these...
However, I have to agree with both Lynchie and Rigid Digit that there was one very clear winner this week. It was the song that introduced me to this particular artist and established him in my mind as both a lyricist and guitar player of great note...
Said James, "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world Beats a '52 Vincent and a Redheaded girl. Now Nortons and Indians and Greavses won't do. Oh, they don't have a Soul like a Vincent '52
If that doesn't break your heart by the end of the song, then you've got granite in your chest...
51 next week... anyone got anything that can challenge The Swede's obvious suggestion?
Don't Ask Me Why Saturday Snapshots has become the most clicked-on post on this blog. Probably because there's much less of me wittering on than on all the other posts and far more top tunes.
This week there was a photo-finish between Lynchie & Rigid Digit, both on 3 points, both typing the words "Joe Walsh" at 8:58 on the dot, but RD took the crown by a nose. Nailbiting stuff, though Charity Chic had to drop by and identify the song in question later.
Anyway, here are this week's answers... Would I Lie To You?
Karen O believes in gender equality when it comes to insults...
Boy, you just a stupid bitch, And girl, you just a no good dick
Not to be confused with Black Tongue by Mastodon which makes Karen's lyrics sound like a Hallmark card... or Silver Tongue by Zulu Winter, who (like many bands) steal their best video ideas from David Lynch and the Coens.
Mary regrets getting caught up in the moment and saying something she didn't quite mean...
When I said, "I love you" It was a slip of the tongue Love is more than a feeling It's a way of living everyday It's the hardest thing I ever gave away
Don't remember this being released as a single - but Monster had so many great tracks. The rule with Michael Stipe lyrics is that I don't even try to tell you what they're about. Just go with the organtastic groove.
In which Jack White auditions for a guest spot on Jerry Springer. He can talk that trash with the best of them (and Karen O).
Oh well, your mama was a bastard
Had your plastered face all over the scene
You got hassled by your daddy
Always pushing, trying to make you come clean
Apparently the video was directed by Gary Oldman... but as it's a live performance, I guess he didn't have to do much more than show up and tell Jack to get on with it.
One of the great lost bands of Britpop, and this was only a b-side, so I was extra pleased to find it on youtube. I wish Britpop was remembered more for bands in the literate/glam Pulp/Suede vein, like MLS, rather than the poshboy pretenders and northern neanderthals...
David Byrne cops off with his neighbour and she performs various acts of a metaphorically culinary nature that get him so excited he asks his friends round to watch.
The divine Ms. Lewis finds herself faced with a sleazy chat-up line as this song begins - from a shoe repairman at that!
I went to a cobbler
To fix a hole in my shoe
He took one look at my face and said
"I can fix that hole in you."
Luckily, she's more than capable of dealing with this creepy cordwainer and goes on to deliver another classic story song about dropping acid in Dixie and meeting a man with soft hands (unlike, presumably, the cobbler) to soothe her pain.
To be lonely is a habit
Like smoking or taking drugs
And I've quit them both
But man, was it rough
So... which one makes you stick your tongue out like Gene Simmons?
A single from possibly the last truly great Costello album - When I Was Cruel - though I do keep trying to find the time to give his later offerings a reappraisal. It's tough, because he was one of my favourite songwriters throughout the 90s, but his insistence on paring down the lyrical barbs in favour of a purer, more universal kind of songwriting following this album left me largely cold. Doll Revolution still carries plenty of the infamous Costello spite though... and was covered later by The Bangles in an attempt to get back to their own rock 'n' roll basics.
From the magnificent 69 Love Songs, the only truly essential triple album in my record collection, this is Stephin Merritt at his camp and catty best... this guy knows how to extend a metaphor till it crackles!
Well my heart's runnin' round like a chicken with it's head cut off All around the barn yard falling in and out of love Poor thing's blind as a bat Gettin' up, fallin' down, gettin' up Who'd fall in love with a chicken with its head cut off?
I'll dedicate this one to my old pal JC, The Vinyl Villain, who came back from a terrible tragedy last year when his original blog (years of work) was merciless destroyed by the Blog Police. Many bloggers would have called it a day after that, but JC came back fighting with a new TVV - still one of the best blogs on the internet.(And he was kind enough to give me a plug the other day, so I thought I'd return the favour.)
Over the years, JC has introduced me to many fine records and bands - Frightened Rabbit are one of his very best recommendations. And this song's kind of apt as a tribute, as it's all about not giving up.
When my blood stops, Someone else's will not. When my head rolls off, Someone else's will turn. And while I'm alive, I'll make tiny changes to earth.
Here's to you, JC... I'm sure you'll be horrified by my #1.
I've had this one as an earworm a lot lately, a stand-out track from Zevon's outstanding Excitable Boy album. It's the grimly hilarious story of a Norwegian mercenary targeted by the CIA who becomes a vengeful ghost with a submachine gun that just keeps shooting.
Tragically, this was the last song Zevon ever performed live, on the David Letterman show in America, shortly before his death in 2003.
1. Queen - Don't Lose Your Head
The album A Kind of Magic wasn't particular well-received with the critics, being largely a soundtrack to the (not-very-good - sorry, 80s fans, but it isn't) movie Highlander. And this isn't even one of the best songs on that album. So why do I love it, why do I give it Number One above all the excellent records that preceded it on this list?
Because it's very special to me. Although Queen's Greatest Hits was the first LP I bought (or I might have asked for it as a Christmas present), A Kind of Magic was the first of their studio albums I got into. I'd have been about 15 or 16 (so a couple of years after it's release, but I was a late developer in all things musical... I've been making up for that ever since) and I often spent my evenings baby-sitting for my sister or brother, both of whom are a good sight older than me, married young, and had kids (my nephews) who ended up being just a few years younger than their Uncle Rol. Much of that time I'd spend listening to their record collections, and I think both of them had copies of A Kind of Magic on vinyl... it was probably one of the few albums their collections had in common. I wore the grooves off this record, and eventually bought my own copy on which to do the same.
Don't Lose Your Head, then, isn't one of the great Queen songs. It's an average Roger Taylor album track (hence the drums are more prominent than any other instrument), distinguished slightly by Joan Aramatrading on guest vocals. But it's one of my formative musical experiences and, thus, irreplaceable.
Those were my headless chickens. Which is your Marie Antoinette?
Neil Hannon updates Noel Coward for the Miss Whiplash era.
So chain me, restrain me and teach me to kneel Bind me and grind me beneath your high heels Crack goes the whip and if someone should tell Bang goes the knighthood, as well
Written by the late Mr. Bono (Sonny, not the other one... he's not late... and I don't want him ever to die because I don't think I'd be able to stomach the fawning obits) and originally a hit for his ex-missus. But Nancy's version edges that one out, for me... it's just that little bit more tragic.
I'll admit it: my love of Art Brut is disproportionate to all the other, more famous artists in the history of pop music. Perhaps because I have a sneaking suspicion that if I'd ever had the guts to form a band, they've have sounded a lot like Eddie Argos and his motley crew. (They'd certainly have sounded more like Art Brut than they would Mötley Crüe.)
I don't want a girl that's with the band I just want a girl that's gonna hold my hand No more songs about sex and drugs and Rock and Roll It's boring!
That said, I don't share Eddie's apparent disregard for The Velvet Underground.
We Are Scientists do an amazing cover of this track too... so good, it sounds like an actual rock song!
According to Iffypedia, this was REM's most successful single since Shiny Happy People and they've not had a more successful record since. I find that a little hard to believe considering that makes it "more successful" than Man On The Moon, Drive, The Great Beyond, What's The Frequency, Kenneth? and Everybody Hurts (among others). Perhaps it was a much bigger hit in the rest of the world than it was in the UK? Anyway, it's a good song... but not as good as the ones mentioned above.
1. The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
From the opening hi-hat tickles to the euphoric chorus, this could well be the Roses' finest moment: it describes the way we feel. (If only we felt that way more often!) And while many might balk at the idea of kissing Ian Brown where the sun don't shine, you can't fault his choice of breakfast: passionfruit and holy bread. Yum.
