Hot on the heels of last week's collaborative results these are my five favourite songs without singing. This turned out to be much harder than I expected. The collaborative vote is brilliant for flagging up tunes I've forgotten but in this instance highlighted just how many essential instrumentals exist. For every entry in my final top five there's another song I agonised about leaving out.
5. "Moya" Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Fifth place was a shoot out between two of my favourite bands, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai. Canadian post-rock collective versus Glaswegian post-rock punks. Both bands specialise in instrumental music which only made it harder for me to pick a stand out tune. Moya has long been my favourite GYBE track though and I really couldn't leave it out. Thanks to Wikipedia I've just found out it's a reworking of Polish composer Henryk Górecki's Third Symphony, which means I probably ought to track that down too.
4. "The Great Skua" British Sea Power - Originally a track from BSP's 2008 Mercury Music Prize nominated album Do You Like Rock Music?, it was then reworked as part of the band's soundtrack for the re-release of 1934 fictional documentary film Man of Aran. It's a soaring tune that works brilliantly with the black & white visuals and is simply magnificent live.
3. "Green Onions" Booker T & The MGs - This comfortably claimed the number one spot in the joint poll and rightly so. I got to know Booker T & the MGs via the Blues Brothers film and have loved them ever since. During the 60s & 70s they were the Stax Records house band and backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave & Carla Thomas on a string of hit records. At some point during the late eighties or early nineties I saw them play live, at the Town & Country Club, under the Blues Brothers Band banner. Incredibly Booker T & Steve Cropper are still active.
2. "Theme from Midnight Cowboy" John Barry - As a child of the seventies who grew up in thrall to James Bond films, I was bound to include something by John Barry in this list. As with most of these artists it was hard to pick a favourite but this theme for John Schlesinger's 1969 drama is immaculate. I'm particularly fond of Toots Thielemans' haunting harmonica though, apparently, John Barry did not feel the same way.
1. "Rumble" Link Wray - 1958 this was first released. Take a listen to that guitar sound. It's so big & powerful no wonder it was banned. Link Wray has been credited with pioneering the sound that would later form the foundation of heavy rock and it's easy to hear why.
I could comfortably have included two other Link Wray tunes in this top five, Ace of Spades came close, but I particularly enjoy Jack The Ripper so here's a bit of added Link for good luck.
An epic vote with loads of contributions for which I can only say thank you. I wasn't expecting there to be a clear top 5 as it seemed that every top 5 included a completely different set of songs. This wasn't the end of the world though as I knew I'd still have a brilliant playlist of excellent Instrumentals.
The Shadows, Brian Eno, David Bowie & Mogwai all scored four entries each but failed to make the top 5 with an indivdual song, while the list spans music as diverse as 808 State, Bert Jansch, Rush and Duran Duran. I also have to mention the best named tune by Thee Cee Cees who provide the topically titled Iain Duncan Smiths Weeping Hemorrhoids. There's a link to a Spotify playlist lower down with more than 230 tunes on it. It's a fine soundtrack and I'd have been happy if that was the only outcome of this vote.
As it turned out, there were tunes that enough people voted for to provide a worthy top five. The top three were comfortably clear of the rest, whilst below 12th place there was very little to split the songs apart.
5. Ride "Grasshopper" - Originally the b-side for single Leave Them All Behind then the title track of a Japanese EP. This is an 11 minute tour de force.
4. Durutti Column "Sketch for Summer" - The most popular of three contenders from Vini Reilly's Manchester based band. This is the lead track for The Return of the Durutti Column, the band's debut studio album released in January 1990. I have to admit to little knowledge about this band but this has enticed me to investigate further.
3. Link Wray "Rumble" - Link Wray's notorious debut single, banned in 1958 for fear it might incite a riot. Link had two other entries in the list (Jack The Ripper & Ace of Spades) and they're just as good. Anyone who can get an instrumental tracked banned has to worth a listen.
2. New Order "Elegia" - Originally released on the band's third album, Low-Life, this was written in memory of former band mate Ian Curtis. The seventeen and a half minute full length version eventually came to light on a retrospective compilation.
1. Booker T and the MG's "Green Onions" - Debut single from the Stax house band, number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 (despite having originally been put on the b-side of Behave Yourself).
Here's the Top 12;
1 Booker T and the MG's "Green Onions"
2 New Order "Elegia"
3 Link Wray "Rumble"
4 Durutti Column "Sketch for Summer"
5 Ride "Grasshopper"
6 Dick Dale "Miserlou"
7 Brian Eno "An Ending (Ascent)"
8 Rush "La Villa Strangiato"
9 British Sea Power "The Great Skua"
10 The Smiths "Oscillate Wildly"
11 Edgar Winter Group "Frankenstein"
12 The Tornadoes "Telstar"
Here's a Spotify playlist with most of the contenders;
Here's the full list in (more or less) alphabetical order;
808 State - Pacific State
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Atomos VI
Adebisi Shank - Sensation
Aimee Mann - Nothing is good enough
Air - Ce Matin La
Air - La Femme D'Argent
Alasdair Roberts - Kilmahog Saturday Afternoon
Allman Bros - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
Andrew Poppy - The Object is a Hungry Wolf
Aphex Twin - Ageispolis
Aswad - Warrior Charge
B. Bumple & The Stingers - Nut Rocker
Beach Boys - Let's Go Away For A While
Beastie Boys - Namaste
Beastie Boys - Sabrosa
Bentley Rhythm Ace - Bentleys Gonna Sort You Out
Bernard Herrmann - Taxidriver (Main Theme)
Bert Jansch - Angie
Beta Band - Rhododendron
Billy Joel - Root Beer Rag
Blondie - Europa
Bluetones, The - Blood Bubble
Blur - Intermission
Boards of Canada - Reach For The Dead
Boards of Canada - Roygbiv
Bob Mould - Sunspots
Bombskare - Fistful Of Dynamite
Booker T and the MG's - Green Onions
Booker T and the MG's - Time Is Tight
Boots Randolph - Yakety Sax
Brand X - Deadly Nightshade
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Brian Eno - Deep Blue Day
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
British Sea Power - Man of Aran
British Sea Power - The Great Skua
Brubeck - Take 5
Buzzcocks - Late for the train
Byrds - Stranger in a Strange Land
Cabaret Voltaire - Yashar
Camel - Lunar Sea
Captain Beefheart - Suction Prints
Chakachas - Jungle Fever
Champs, The - Tequila
Chantays, The - Pipeline
Charlatans - Theme from Wish
Chris Thile - The Beekeper
Clark - Banjo
Colourbox - The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme
Corduroy - Harry Palmer
David Bowie - A New Career In A New Town
David Bowie - Speed of Life
David Bowie - Neukoln
David Bowie - Warszawa
Death in Vegas - Dirge
Deep Purple - Wring That Neck
Depeche Mode - Nothing to Fear
Depeche Mode - Pimpf
Derek & Ray - Interplay
Dick Dale - Miserlou
Dirty Three - I Remember A Time When Once You Used To Love Me
Doves - Firesuite
Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn Theme
Duane Eddy - Shazam
Dubliners - Col Fraser & O'Rourke's Reel
Duran Duran - Tel Aviv
Duran Duran - Tiger Tiger
Durutti Column - All That Love & Maths Can Do
Durutti Column - Conduct
Durutti Column - Sketch for Summer
Eat Lights Become Lights - La Kraut III
Eddie Angel - Thunder
Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein
Eels - Theme from Blinking Lights
EL&P - Fanfare for Command Man
Elton John - Funeral For A Friend
Ennio Morricone - Deborah's Theme ['Il Vizio di Uccidere']
Ennio Morricone - The Ecstasy of Gold
Explosions in the Sky - Your hand in mine
Faith No More - Woodpecker from Mars
Fantastic Something - 1000 Guitars of St. Dominiques
Felt - Buried wild blind
Felt - Textile Ranch
Field Mice - Tilting at windmills
Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
Fleetwood Mac - Underway
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Focus - Sylvia
Frank Zappa - Peaches en Regalia
Frazier Chorus - Spoonhead
Freddie King - Hideaway
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Galaxie 500 - Instrumental
Genesis - Los Endos
Genesis - The Brazilian
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Gathering Storm
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Moya
Goldfrapp - Oompa Radar
Gorky's Zygotic Mynky - Christmas Eve
Hank C Burnette - Spinning Rock Boogie
Hans Zimmer - You're so cool
Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F
Harry J & The Allstars - Liquidator
Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner
Herb Alpert - Lollipops & Roses
Inspiral Carpets - Memories Of You
Jackdaw With Crowbar - Scrape
Jakatta - American Dream
Jan Hammer - Miami Vice theme
Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene
Jean-Michel Jarre - Fourth Rendez-vous
Jeff Wayne - The Eve of War
John Barry - Midnight Cowboy
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - Hideaway
John Williams - Jurassic Park
John Williams - Star Wars Cantina
John Williams (Guitarist) - Cavatina (Theme from Deerhunter)
Johnny Harris - Paint it Black
Karma To Burn - 20
Karma To Burn - 34
Keith Jarrett & Jan Garbarek - Luminessence
King Curtis - Harlem Nocturne
Labradford - S
Led Zepplin - Moby Dick
Lilys - Everything Wrong is Imaginary
Link Wray - Ace of Spades
Link Wray - Jack the Ripper
Link Wray - Rumble
Lou Reed - Dorita
Louis Clark & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Hooked on Classics
Man or Astroman? - Evil Plans of Planet Spectra
Man Or Astroman? - Eric Estrotica
Manual - Keeps Coming Back
Meat Puppets - Maiden's Milk
Metallica - Orion
Miles Davis - Spanish Key
Mmoss - War Sux
Mogwai - Christmas Steps
Mogwai - Hungry Face
Mogwai - Mogwai fear Satan
Mogwai - Summer
Monochrome Set - Andiamo
Monty Norman - James Bond Theme (John Barry arrangement)
Mr Bloe - Groovin With Mr Bloe
Neu! - Hallogallo
Neutral Milk Hotel - Untitled (1998)
New Order - Elegia
Nice - Theme from Nice
Nik Colk Void - Gold 'E
Nils Frahm - Says
Oasis - The Swamp Song
Orbital - Remind
OXES - Kaz Hayashi '01
Paco de Lucia - Entre dos Aguas
Pell Mell - Blacktop
Penguin Café Orchestra - Prelude & yodel
Penguin Café Orchestra - Silver Star Of Bologna
Percy Faith - Theme From a Summer Place
Pernice Bros - Discover a Lovelier You
Phil Upchurch - You can't sit down
Pink Floyd - Any Colour You Like
Pink Floyd - Pow R Toc H
Pixies - Cecilia Ann
Plank! - King Rat I, II, III
Prong - Intermenstrual DSB
Punch Brothers - Kid A
PWEI - Pwei vs Dirty Harry
Rain Tree Crow - Big Wheels In Shanty Town
Rainbow - Weiss Heim
Real Estate - April's Song
REM - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
Ride - Grasshopper
Righteous Brothers Band - Rat Race
Rob D - Clubbed To Death
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Hanuman
Roni Size - Bite The Bullet
Rush - La Villa Strangiato
Rush - The Main Monkey Business
Rush - YYZ
Ry Cooder - Dark End of the Street
Ry Cooder - Maria Elena
Santo & Johnny - Sleepwalk
Shadows, The - Apache
Shadows, The - Scotch on the Socks
Shadows, The - Stars Fell on Stockton
Shadows, The - Foot Tapper
Silver Jews - The Right To Remain Silent
Simon Park - Eye Level
Simple Minds - Theme For Great Cities
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Quarterdrawing Of The Dog
Slowdive - Avalyn 2
Small Faces - Almost Grown
Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness
Smiths, The - Oscillate Wildly
Smiths, The - The Draize Train
Sonic Stealth Orchestra - A Design for Life
Steeleye Span - Robbery With Violins
Stephen Jones - Black Ice Cream
Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint I-III
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Riviera Paradise
Stiff Little Fingers - go for it
Sub Sub (Doves) - Space Face
Surfaris - Waikiki Run
Surfaris - Wipe Out
Swanks - Ghost Train
Teenage Fanclub - Is This Music ?
The Beatles - 12 Bar Original
The Beatles - Flying
The Beta Band - Monolith
The Breeders - Flipside
The Busters - Bust Out
The Charlatans - Area 51
The Divine Comedy - Europe By Train
The Fall - Mansion
The Flower Kings - The Man Who Walked With Kings
The Go! Team - Everyone's a VIP to Someone
The Go! Team - Feelgood By Numbers
The Grifters - Fixed In The Sky
The Imprints - Free Ourselves
Smiths, The - Money Changes Everything.
The Wake - Brit Mix
Thee Cee Cees - Iain Duncan Smiths Weeping Hemorrhoids
Thee Milkshakes - Red Monkey
Tindersticks - Piano Music
Tired Arms - Ursa Minor
Tommy McCook - Starry Night
Tornadoes, The - Telstar
Van Halen - Eruption
Vangelis - Rachel's Song
Ventures - Little Green Bag
Ventures - Walk Don't Run
Willie Nelson - Bandera
Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'Un Autre Été: L'Après Midi
Young Marble Giants - Clicktalk
Zombi - DE3
BBC 6music have been running a series of programmes about Rock 'n' Roll. Jim Jones did an excellent show sitting in for Guy Garvey which covered a really broad spectrum of artists from Eddie Cochrane and Jerry Lee Lewis to Tom Waits and The Stooges.
However, this top 5 gained it's inspiration from Gideon Coe's show The Best Rock 'n' Roll Songs About Rock 'n' Roll. As Gid said at the time, this was always going to be tricky to nail (especially in a one hour show) so he asked the listeners what they thought and picked the best. Despite Gid's modesty I think he nailed it. The tracklist on the BBC website is wrong so I've provided the full list below - I might add this lot to a Spotify playlist if I get the time.
The Best Rock 'n' Roll Songs About Rock 'n' Roll - Tracklist Side 1 Chuck Berry"Rock & Roll Music" Ramones"Rock & Roll Radio" Jesus & Mary Chain"I Love Rock & Roll" AC/DC"It's A Long Way To Top If You Wanna Rock & Roll" Led Zeppelin"Rock & Roll" David Bowie"Ziggy Stardust" Warren Smith"Rock & Roll Ruby" Andy Partridge"History of Rock" Little Feat"Rock & Roll Doctor" Side 2 Little Richard"Tutti Frutti" Creedence Clearwater Revival"Travellin' Band" The Byrds"So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star?" Ian Dury & The Blockheads"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" Matthew E White"Rock & Roll is Cold" Mott the Hoople"The Golden Age of Rock & Roll" Black Rebel Motorcycle Club"Whatever Happened To Our Rock & Roll?" The Velvet Underground"Rock & Roll"
This obviously led me to consider my own favourites and that's this weeks' top five topic which proved Gid did miss a couple of my personnel favourites.
1. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts "I Love Rock & Roll" - I found out during my "research" for this top five that this was actually a cover, the original being by Arrows and first released in 1975. Jett first recorded the song, as a B-side to "You Don't Own Me", in 1979 with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols. It didn't become a huge hit until 1981 when Joan re-recorded it with the Blackhearts and it went on to be Billboard number one for seven weeks.
2. Ramones "Rock & Roll Radio" - This is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. From the Phil Spector produced End Of The Century album. Working with Spector had it's well documented ups and downs but this is a fabulous song that blends the absolute best elements of both band and producer.
3. AC/DC "It's A Long Way To Top If You Wanna Rock & Roll" - Can't have a list about rock 'n' roll without AC/DC in it. This is one of my favourite of their songs too.
4. Chuck Berry "Rock & Roll Music" - I had to include a genuine Rock 'n' Roll originator in here and Chuck has been a huge influence on many of my favourite bands. This is a corker of a tune.
5. Argent "God Gave Rock & Roll To You" - So, I do know this song best for the KISS cover but Argent's original is great and I felt they deserved the nod (the KISS version is pretty much a carbon copy). One of those songs I just can't help but sing along to.
There's not many things I enjoy better than someone sending me a top five out of the blue, and this is one of those. Tony has had to put up with me discussing my latest top five down the pub for a number of years and finally decided to give it a go himself. It's a corker too, enjoy.
In no particular order, these are my top five songs from my teens which feature drums in some way and which probably influenced my musical taste for ever. I can’t play the drums myself (or indeed any musical instrument) but I have always enjoyed watching and listening to good drummers – especially if they are in a heavy rock ‘n’ roll band!
1. “Dreaming” Blondie - I bought this on 7 inch single (1979 I think) after I first heard it on Capital Radio (never really liked Radio 1). My brother and I shared a bedroom and he had a record player and I used to play it over and over again until he finally snapped and demanded that I use headphones. This meant that I could turn it up (to 11) and I properly got addicted to loud music from that point on. The drumming on this song is simply brilliant. There are a couple of videos on You Tube where the drumming is mimed, but there is one version where I’m sure he’s (Clem Burke?) hitting the skins as ‘live’. Mesmerizing.
2. “Overkill” Motörhead - To be honest the first time I heard this was in 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon when I saw Motörhead on the Iron Fist tour. I had a few of their albums but not Overkill and seeing/hearing the double bass drum crescendo of Philthy Animal Taylor really did blow me away. After the show I got hold of the album and the 12 inch single and played them to death. When No Sleep Til Hammersmith came out, the live version of Overkill got played so often that I scratched the vinyl at the beginning and end of the song!
3. “Bad Boy Boogie” AC/DC - Although the brilliant If You Want Blood live album came out in 1978, I probably got my hands on it a couple of years later. The third track, Bad Boy Boogie really demonstrates the amazing teamwork of drummer Phil Rudd and Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar. The song itself is dominated by Angus Young’s guitar solo but for me the sound of the drums makes the hair on the back of the neck stand on end!
4. “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Led Zeppelin - I don’t remember when I got hold of The Song Remains The Same album, but I do remember going up to Soho to watch the film in 1982 (in a dodgy cinema that usually showed more adult type films!). The live version of Rock ‘n’ Roll on this album is a classic – I only have to hear the ‘Okay lets go’ at the beginning of the track and I have to put my life on hold for the next 4 minutes. Jon Bonham - one of the best drummers, if not the best, of all time.
5. “In The Air Tonight” Phil Collins - I’m gonna get slaughtered for having this in the list but I absolutely loved it at the time. It’s more famous these days for having a gorilla play the drums but there’s no escaping the fact that it has great drums on it. It was either this one, or ELO’s Mr Blue Sky.
It's been a long time since I had a guest post on here and this one is nicked directly from my friend Justin's blog. Over at Station to Station Justin has all sorts of music votes in progress which I've been contributing too (never one to pass up the chance of putting things into some sort of order) and his readers recently picked "Doolittle" by the Pixies as a contender for Ultimate Album. There's an extended blog about the Ultimate Album vote HERE which includes my top 5 moments from the same album but I've taken Justin's bit's out for the guest post below.
We decided to give a go at arguably the Pixies' strongest or at least their most consistently loved album Doolittle and give a proper inner Top 5 from the album. I voted for Stevie Wonder this round but I can't deny this 1989 release and its staying power as an album that was a precursor to the alternative explosion that happened in the following decade. And voters agreed. By one point it narrowly took down Wonder's tour de force double album a la kitchen sink and last night's leftover Songs In the Key Of Life. After wrestling with Wonder's shortcoming I quickly lightened up. Why? Because Doolittle is frankly a blast.
5. Gouge Away - As far as closers go, Gouge Away is wonderful for the way it sets the tone for the album that preceded it quite nicely. Musically, Joey Santiago rips through this one on guitar like the world is on fire around him. And Frank Black's lyrics are quite violently disturbing but he delivers them on target being a bit more gentle in the main chorus then getting up to his frantic antics in the verses for extra effect. I've taken Gouge Away as being trapped to something tangible (a drug, a lifestyle, a habit, anything you can't break away from) and being unhappily set in its moribund path of destruction. But further reading for this five shows it's of biblical proportions. Black had written Gouge Away around the story of "Samson and Delilah" which I didn't know previously but makes sense. Do all these things to me (Gouge Away, Break My Arms, Spoon My Eyes...) and I won't break. Unless of course, you cut my hair. If the song ended on that refrain it may have been a bit...corny? Nonetheless, I've got "Gouge Away" at #5...mainly because "Gouge" is a pretty terrifying bad-ass word.
4. Debaser - Well if you told an average Joe "Hey I've got this album you might have not heard and the opening song AND closing song are both about getting your eyes sliced up and gouged" I wonder what his reaction would be? Excitement or Bewilderment? Maybe he asks if you should try a new medication. Cause basically that's the blueprint of "Doolittle" and its bookends. And both songs make my Top 5. Debaser slightly ahead of Gouge Away because Frank sounds like he's having a panic attack. It's on par with Bone Machine for me, the previous album's "Surfer Rosa" opener in that there is this oddball mentality prepared to rip your mind and rock out at its own digression. Lyrically I guess Debaser is simpler (and if you dig French silent films from surrealists from the 1920s, you're in luck here too) and Kim Deal's sweet female counterpoint vocals of the word DEBASER off of Black's snarl of DEBASER is one of my favorite moments on the album. And of course the "slicing up eyeballs" reference. Ha Ho Ho Ho! What a great opener!
3. Tame - Cause there is quite a good amount of 2 minute and under songs on "Doolittle" I feel the need to add one in here and Tame is hands down the cake taker. It's aggressive and a bit mean hearted...but it's in good fun right cookie? The way Black crawls into your space just screaming Tame isn't for the lighthearted but making references to Cinderella's hips and falling on your face in bad shoes, well, that's for the girl you want to see fail because their mean hearted to begin with. And the dynamics of the simple chord progression in Tame was used time and time and time again in any grunge outfit you can count on your hands and toes in the next decade. Also Black's scream is probably on par with any metal vocalist you want to reference. Not one to throw on for your kids because they'd probably feel their father has lost their mind. But for style points if their just at the right age, you'd probably be a genius in their eyes. "Mom, dad's playing that guy screaming "Tame" again! And he's smiling the whole time! I'm, worried!".
2. Monkey Gone To Heaven - This is probably my first memory of the Pixies seeing the video for Monkey Gone To Heaven on 120 Minutes back in my early teen days. It made for a dark and mysterious band at first glance (the black and white video or the whole devil is six, pick one they both fit the bill at the time). But there is a touching side to Monkey Gone To Heaven. There is a more conscious environmental flow and spiritual side to Monkey Gone To Heaven. First off, the under water guy who got killed by ten millions pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey. What bastards we are as humans to kill Neptune with our sludge! Also mentioned is the hole in the sky which I imagine was the first talks of what we're doing to the hole in the ozone layer back in '89. I may not recycle as much as I want to should, but Monkey Gone To Heaven does a great deal in wanting me to help our Earth. (As Jim Morrison drunkenly mumbled "What have we done to our fair sister?") And now that the environmental part of the song is out of the way a quick tip of the hat again to Santiago for crafting a guitar line that matches the mood perfectly. And Deal again works the bittersweet side vocals to Black who is much more subdued for most of the song. Of course he can't help himself by the time "Then GOD IS SEVEN" comes round near the end. Most people think of Monkey as the number song but there is much more here when you dig deeper...there's even cellos for goodness sake.
1. Wave Of Mutilation - Leave it to my pop sensibility again, I love Wave Of Mutilation the most on "Doolittle". It's like a slap across the face with cold water on a July day. Sure there's nothing refreshing about driving your car into the ocean (a reference to failed Japanese businessman's answer to failed business deals) but it somehow pulls off a romantic feel to it in that chorus. Something about just being on a wave with Santiago upping the feeling playing that guitar a bit off from the rest of the song for extra punctuation. Can any Wave Of Mutilation have a good ending to it? No way. But the Pixies make that wave feel right somehow, Black's crunchy rhythm guitar leading the way in the verse to a seaport mariana. Yeah, that's where we'd all like to ride to sometime. Even if it is one defined by mutilation. It's slightly better than slicing up eyeballs, a little more refreshing than being referred to as 5 and a top notch song from an ultimate album.
I recently read Keith Cameron's excellent biography of Mudhoney (The Sound & The Fury From Seattle) which also detailed a lot of Sub Pop's early history. If you're not familiar with the name, Sub Pop is a record label that was founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. The label achieved fame in the late 1980s for signing Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, becoming synonymous with the rise of Grunge and champions of the Seattle music scene.
The late eighties & early nineties were a very exciting time for me and became a turning point in my musical tastes. I was firmly into Heavy Metal at the time but Mudhoney & Nirvana helped bridge the gap from Metal and open my mind to many new bands and genres. Sub-pop felt different to other labels, they survived on a shoestring, even after having some major success, and the sub-pop singles club became something of an institution, a great way to find new bands in the days before the Internet. The singles below are the tunes I think best represent the early style of Sub Pop.
1. “Touch Me I’m Sick” Mudhoney – Mudhoney's debut single and the perfect encapsulation of everything the band were about. A real grungy blast with a fabulously dirty guitar sound that's become one of my favourite tunes.
2. “Love Buzz” Nirvana – Hot on Mudhoney's heals came Nirvana’s first single. A cover of a song from Dutch rock band Shocking Blue's second album. Nope, I'd never heard of them either. Kurt Cobain wrote some decent songs in his time but his record collection was pretty impressive too and he indirectly introduced me to a lot of great bands.
3. “Shove” L7 – This single came a little later than the rest of the entries (1990) but it's a song with real attitude and remains my favourite L7 track.
4. “Hunted Down” Soundgarden – I was never a big fan of Soundgarden but this tune manages to squeeze all the good things about them into two minutes forty two seconds.
5. “Ritual Device” Tad – Tad didn't go on to the same level of success as many of their contemporaries but they played a significant part in the success of the label featuring on the three band touring line-up (alongside Nirvana & Mudhoney) that did a lot to spread the word about Sub Pop outside of Seattle.
Breaking with my tradition I thought I'd get this in before the end of the year. Seems I'm still almost a month behind most of the music press but it'll be one less 2013 post for me to bore you with in January.
1. Low "The Invisible Way" - This album came out in January, I think, which might explain why it's not featured that high on many of the media lists. I've loved it all year and that's not been diminished by the passage of time. I missed their London gig in April so had to travel to Cambridge in November to finally catch them live. They were stunning that night and made every minute of the three hours it took me to get there worthwhile. I think 2014 will see me try to fill in the gaps in my Low collection.
2. Eleanor Friedberger "Personal Record" - I've known a lot of these songs from early in the year thanks to frequent plays by Marc Riley. She followed this with a fantastic session in August and that was the final push I needed to get the album. Despite the name the album was co-written with alt-folk singer/novelist John Wesley Harding. It's full of catchy songs with intriguing lyrics. I regret not getting to the show she played at Bush Hall but with a UK based band put together by David Brewis of Field Music I hope she'll be back over soon.
3. Bill Callahan "Dream River" - A late purchase but one that zoomed to the top of my favourites. I thought his 2009 album, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, was as good as he could get but Dream River runs that very close indeed.
4. Euros Childs "Situation Comedy" - I've picked up a few Euros Childs' albums over the last year or two but this is the best thing I've heard by him yet. Again Marc Riley played a big part in this thanks to frequent plays. Laura J Martin also features on several tracks on flute. The album is packed with perfect pop tunes that have genuinely funny, and at times quite poignant, lyrics. I saw him play the Boston music room in October and don't think I've ever laughed so much at a music gig.
5. Ezra Furman "Day Of The Dog" - The first time I heard the track Tell 'Em All To Go To Hell I assumed it was by some 70s Glam band I'd not heard before. Then My Zero came along and took the sound in a more Indie direction. The rest of the album flits from genre to genre whilst retaining a consistent sound thanks to Ezra's voice and the copious amounts of saxophone (unusually this is a good thing).
Following from last week's Eponymous Top 5 I'm taking it one step further this week with my favourite eponymous albums that also feature an eponymous song. I'll be honest I'm not entirely sure if I've ordered this by my love of the song or the album but either way I think it works. Hat tip to @Sipperana who found this list online and got me started. It's a bit Metal heavy perhaps, and I couldn't find room for Bo Diddley, but I think these are 5 fine albums/songs.
1. Iron Maiden on "Iron Maiden" by Iron Maiden
2. Black Sabbath on "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath
A little late as work and home duties have got the better of me but a few weeks back the @LPGrp topic was eponymous albums. That gave us quite a broad spectrum of choice and the eventual winner was "The Band" by, err, The Band. I'd had that album in my collection for some time but had never really got to grips with it. Turned out, after some extensive pre-LPGrp listening, I really liked it. It still doesn't quite make my top five though which are as follows.
1. "Ramones" Ramones (1976) - This is one of my all-time favourite albums and comes pretty close to being perfect as far as I'm concerned. Fourteen tracks of blistering punk rock in a little under half an hour and the template for the band's career. Gutted I never saw them live.
2. "The Undertones" The Undertones (1979) - Bringing a bit more pop to the punk equation, I still don't entirely know what genre to put The Undertones in. This is packed full of tunes that either were or could have been singles. The album was re-released in October of '79 to included the first two singles, Teenage Kicks and Get Over You, so I guess that's the version I'd pick but even the original is a corker.
3. "The Specials" The Specials (1979) - Watching Top Of The Pops in the seventies Madness & The Specials were two of the few bands that grabbed my attention. This was almost my very first album purchase. I was excited to find a copy at my best pal's Blue Peter Bring & Buy Sale but my pocket money wasn't quite enough to stretch to the £3.00 price tag. Someone else got it before I could negotiate a reduced price and I didn't actually own a copy until several years later.
4. "Peter Gabriel" Peter Gabriel (1977) - Peter Gabriel released four eponymous albums before finally making an effort and giving one a proper name. I love all four but the first two are the best and the debut remains my favourite. It's one of my favourite album covers too featuring Storm Thorgerson's Lancia Flavia.
5. "The Stooges" The Stooges (1969) - Edges out The Clash's debut LP my a gnats chuff. I'm a fairly recent convert to The Stooges. I saw them live during the 2005 reunion tour and have loved their first two albums ever since.
I've said before that the guest top fives are better than the ones I write myself and this just proves the point beyond doubt. Joel plays guitar and sings in the band Giant Burger who are so far the only band I have discovered entirely through Twitter. I went to see them at the Sebright Arms last week and they were ace.
Joel agreed to do this a while back and has put together something unique. I intend to follow Rosie & Nick by listening to the sounds and recording my reactions in the comments section. Assuming I've successfully worked out the html to embed mp3s in the blog, it would be cool if everyone had a go.
You should also go & see Giant Burger play live (check the video out at the bottom of the blog). Over to Joel.
BEYOND JAMES LAST: FIVE OF THE WORST THINGS IN MY RECORD COLLECTION.
There are the horrors that come suddenly, and there is the horror of endlessness. Music has both of these aplenty, and I try to find it. I collect terrible music and sounds, not exclusively, but actively. I do this to fight a narrowing mind. It is by confronting ugliness that we come closer to knowing and noticing beauty. Also, if you only listen to the voices you agree with, how do you know what you believe?
It is also important to share the horror you find. I find it amusing to expose my friends to bad music and sounds, I always have. For this Top Five, I chose some fairly terrible stuff to play to two people, Rosie and Nick, who both have a good idea about what they like and don’t like when it comes to music. I asked them some questions about how they felt about these pieces.
Here are the selections, either ripped onto mp3 (badly), or with a link. My apologies in advance for the mp3 quality, these are very obscure (or unique) sounds, and I have limited technology.
5. The Black Box Revelation "Love, Love Is On My Mind" (T for Tunes, 2011)
I got this when I ordered a really tasteful techno record, tucked into the package. I have absolutely no idea why the person I bought a Monoceros album off sent me this single. Maybe they had it sent to them. Maybe it was a joke. It’s fucking terrible. The name of the record label makes it even funnier.
ME – What does this make you feel?
NICK – Irritation and boredom, and almost sad at the waste of the time and the energy and the illusion and the delusion of the people making it. Music of that ilk, that they’re shooting for, the excitement isn’t there. It’s totally following the rules.
ROSIE - Embarrassment is the major emotion. I guess to me they sound about my age, and really British, and I just feel embarrassed that people would pick up their instruments and think that it’s okay to do that. It’s so Camden barfly.
NICK – Exactly.
ME – You both knew that band had a ‘The’ in the title.
4. Marvin Bernstein – "Burning the Candle" from Lebenszyklus (Life Cycle) (Music Deluxe, year unknown)
This is a peppy little number from a tip-to-tail exuberant CD of instrumental MIDI masterpieces. I also own a companion album called Schrecksekunden (Creepy Moments), whose tone is more Halloweeny. I bought them both from separate people selling junk on illegal pitches at Brick Lane Market. 20p each!
ROSIE – Has it been two minutes yet?
ME – We’re listening to the whole track.
ROSIE – Oh.
NICK – Gee, I just don’t know where it’s going, next.
ME – What is, in your opinion, the purpose of this recording, and is it fulfilling that purpose?
NICK – It sounds like a soundtrack for a series of uplifting moments of a forgettable, fairly shit TV movie.
ROSIE – I think the purpose is for a guy, cause it’s probably a guy, to explore the different options of his digital music producing equipment.
ME – Would you listen to it willingly?
ROSIE – No, I would have to be subjected to it.
NICK – Me, too.
3. Lalo Schifrin – "AD Main Theme" (BBC Cassettes, 1985)
For when Vivaldi is too hard hitting, this music was soundtrack material for a TV series about Late Antiquity. I’m not sure how Schifrin made what was an absolutely fascinating period of history sound so waxy, dead and boring, but he did, and well done to him for it! If the television series is anything like its music, it would fit well into a series of MST3K parodies. One track is called Gladiator School, though. Bought under a bridge in Oslo off a junk seller, if memory serves.
NICK – It’s like John Williams, without the imagination.
ROSIE – It’s like a Mills and Boone novel.
ME – What does it make you feel?
NICK – It fails to make me feel anything, it’s so contrived. Is that the best you can do to try to make me feel that?
ROSIE – I actually felt like I was on a cruise, it felt quite nice.
ME – Would you listen to it willingly?
NICK – No.
ROSIE – I actually wouldn’t mind. I like stuff that is just there, sometimes. That music is completely unobtrusive.
2. John Savage "The Art of the Drummer" (John Savage, 1977)
John is a fantastic drummer. This tape, no doubt, was made to accompany a tutorial book for people wanting to learn drums. To make this tape would have been a Herculean task, and John’s musicianship and precision I envy. However, when listened to as just a tape, a similarly superhuman level of stamina is required to get past two minutes. Perfect for unsettling house guests. I believe this is from a St. Leonard’s charity shop.
ME – What does this make you feel?
NICK – Kind of interest at first, and then annoyance. I kind of liked listening to it at the beginning, and at the end I just wanted it to stop.
ME – Would you listen to it willingly?
ROSIE – No, no, no, no.
NICK – No. Unless the bingo caller was sick, then I’d put that on.
1. Keith "Kent Stories Read By Keith" (Home taped, year unknown)
Keith, here, is reading from what I can only assume is a very saucy book about Kent, and its goings on. Especially present are the sexual predilections of queens and kings, or their frigidity. I don’t know who Keith is reading this for, but they are also getting a peek into his mind. It’s not safe to stay long with Keith, especially not when you’re alone in the house. Sorry, Keith, but it’s true. I think this is from a charity shop in Hastings.
ROSIE – Oh, he’s creepy. He sounds like he’s reading the Shipping Forecast.
ME – What is, in your opinion, the purpose of this recording, and is it performing it?
ROSIE – I think it really fails, because you don’t want to listen to that guy. All you can think is about that looking at a page, and blabbing off some words.
NICK – It think it’s to convey Keith’s passion for history, and it fails! It Fails! I think it was created by Keith for friends or family, for a car journey.
ME – What does it make you feel?
ROSIE – Boredom is the overarching feeling, but it also makes me want to get away, and it also makes me feel sad that a tremendous tale, and history itself can be reduced to just some words, and artless drone.
NICK – Mostly frustration, because I wanted to hear the story told well. I listen to it and I think ‘How hard is it? I could do better than that.
ROSIE – He says his sentences that same way every time.
NICK – There’s no modifying the tone at all, no abstract shit like that.
Thanks for listening, folks.
GIANT BURGER play "Big Meat" Live at The George Tavern
I promise not to swamp you with year based musical lists but this could definitely be a recurring thing for a while. Another Twitter influenced top five based on the excellent @LPGrp monthly theme. A communal record listen which is a great way to discover new music. This weeks' theme was albums released in 1981 for which we were asked to vote for our favourite five.
I figured that was a quick route to a new top five but it turned out 1981 was not a great year for music! I struggled to find five albums I really liked but in the end I was pretty happy with my list. The great and the good of the @LPGrp also showed me there were other interesting albums released that year. The winner was Faith, by The Cure, which I thoroughly enjoyed and has kicked off a bit of a Cure renaissance for me.
Having done 1981 as well as all of the 1990s I can feel the urge to fill the gaps. I'll do my best to space these out if I do.
1. The Gun Club "Fire of Love" - Debut album from Jeffrey Lee Pierce fronted original Garage Punks. The Gun Club are one of those bands I was aware of for some time and left me kicking myself when I eventually found out how good they were. A nod to Japandroids who, thanks to their fantastic cover of For The Love Of Ivy, were the catalyst for me finally making the effort to get hold of this album.
2. Minutemen "The Punch Line" - This is the Minutemen's "full length" debut, though it rattles through all 18 songs in 15 minutes. Originally a trio the band disbanded following the death of D. Boon (guitar & vocals) in a van accident. I saw Mike Watt (bass & vocals) and George Hurley (drums) play as a duo in support of Shellac and was blown away by their intensity. Watt has become one of my favourite bassists too and is currently a member of Iggy & The Stooges touring band.
3. Motörhead "No Sleep Til Hammersmith" - If you only buy one Motörhead album it should probably be this. They're a band who built their reputation on live performance and this comes as close to capturing the experience in your own home.
4. Iron Maiden "Killers" - Have I done top five Maiden albums yet? I don't think I have but I'm pretty sure Killers would do well. It was the second of two albums to feature original vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who has a deeper tone and punkier edge to his voice than Bruce Dickinson. I've a bit of a soft spot for it.
5. The Cramps "Psychedelic Jungle" - It's taken me some time to warm to The Cramps, I blame this largely on being forced to listen to Lux Interior's Purple Knif Show when I wasn't quite ready. However, I recently made the effort, partly due to the Gun Club connection, I found I really liked this debut album.
It's been a week of stress. Work has been busy on many fronts and the week has disappeared all too quickly. Then our boiler, which has conducted an almost sentient vendetta against us since we moved in to our current house some ten years ago, sprang a leak so I awoke to the sound of water dripping through our ceiling ... via the light fittings. I'm feeling a bit strained, and I think I just put four sugars in my coffee. Anyway, this is all just a roundabout way of explaining that I needed a quick and quirky top five topic this week and was inspired by my friend MaRaineyBlues' attempts to list all her favourite frog related songs for Cerys Matthews' 6music show this Sunday. If I'm honest I just nicked most of these of Ma's list. No words to explain just play dem tunes.
It's Status Quo week at Chop's Top Fives HQ. I know this won't mean much to non-Quo fans but the classic line-up have reunited for a mini UK tour and I'm off to see them at Hammersmith Odeon tonight (yes I know that's not it's current name but it is it's CORRECT name). I don't think I've ever been this excited about seeing a band live. I spent a considerable amount of my teens jumping up and down to Quo records in my bedroom and perfecting my air guitar technique. In many ways it's a shame I never applied myself to anything useful with quite the same degree of enthusiasm. I got into the band just before their "End of the Road" tour in '84, so failed to see them live before they split. Of course they popped back in time to open Live Aid in 1985 which meant I saw them on telly but then that was it ...
... until Rossi & Parfitt decided to get back together in 1986. It was possibly the shortest split in the history of rock. So, I finally got to see them live in 1986 supporting Queen at Wembley Stadium, and then later the same year at Hammersmith Odeon. They were brilliant (and have been every time I've seen them since) but they were without Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan. Alan had been a founder member of The Spectres with Rossi in 1962 and John had joined on drums a year later. They were an integral part of Quo during their best years (1971-1976 in my opinion) when they became known as the Frantic Four due to their live prowess. With all four of them now well into their Sixties, and the split fairly acrimonious, a reunion seemed pretty unlikely, so I'm over the moon to get a chance to finally see them play.
I did my Top 5 Status Quo albums last year, which you can check out HERE though, with hindsight, I think now I'd reorder that to read Live/Quo/Dog/Hello/Piledriver. My problems getting the album order right pale into insignificance compared with the anguish of pinning down my favourite songs. I found it fairly easy to draw up a short list of 20 but it was a struggle to whittle that down to just 9 at which point I spent a few days performing a sort of chinese puzzle to decide which would miss out.
1. Caroline (on Hello, 1973) - It's the song I think most people would identify with Quo. Down Down might be their only number one but Caroline is really their greatest hit. As such it's easy to overlook it. I've heard Caroline a lot, but it's still a monster of a tune. The perfect opening number kicking off with a typical Parfitt riff before settling down into the familar chug. It's got the hint of a Fifties rock'n'roll classic but Quo'd up.
2. Railroad (on Dog Of Two Head, 1971) - I love the sound on the Dog Of Two Head LP. It was the last they recorded for Pye (who were never happy with the rock turn their psychedelic pop stars took) and walks a fine line between the heavier sound that was to follow and the lighter tone of their earliest releases. Railroad is probably the closest to the sound that was to follow. It's got the perfect tempo to jump up and down to. Not so fast that you can't keep going for the whole song, not too slow. Halfway through there's a trademark widdly guitar solo from Rossi and then a fantastic bit of Harmonica (by tour manager Bob Young) that bridges into the slower chugging riff that brings the song to a close.
3. Backwater/Just Take Me (on Quo, 1974) - I realise that technically these are two songs but ... BUT ... oh come-on! They are nearly always paired together. The version on the album sees Backwater end with a clatter of drums that builds straight into the start of Just Take Me. It's seamless and brilliant. Individually they're both cracking tunes, together they are outstanding. Hey, it's my blog and I'm having them.
4. Paper Plane (on Piledriver, 1972) - Just shy of three minutes and with some mild drug references in the lyrics, this is Quo at their most efficient. Their first big hit as a proper rock band and the point when they really caught public attention.
5. Slow Train (on Quo, 1974) - Following in the tradition of epic album ending tunes that had previously provided two of Quo's best live tunes (Roadhouse Blues & Forty-Five Hundred Times) this is not so well known but has been a favourite of mine for many years. Quo seem perfectly suited to songs about trains and as the video below shows their rhythym fits the sound of a locomotive very well. There's enough time for some twiddly guitar jigs and even a drum solo before it all ends.
Last Sunday I took part in my first @LPGrp communal listen. The topic was concept albums and the winner was "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars". I've only recently given Bowie much time and this was an excellent chance to listen to a classic album and discuss it with some fellow music lovers. "Ziggy" is fast becoming a favourite record for me though I was surprised it won the category. I'd been expecting a slew of Prog Rock albums, which I'd have been fine with, but the eventual list of nominated albums was both broad and intriguing.
I spent the previous week listening to many of the albums I'd never heard before and re-playing the ones I knew and loved. This was handy research for a top five so I thought I should strike whilst the iron's still hot. My top fives are nearly always about my personal taste rather than a definite list but this week's is particularly personal. I know I've missed off some significant, and excellent, albums but the five I've selected mean something special to me.
"Ziggy Stardust" was close but I decided not to include any of the excellent albums I've discovered in recent weeks. I really liked four or five others too but I need to live with an album for some time before I can genuinely assess it's worth. If you're not a great fan of the concept album it's worth checking out the full list of nominated LPs. There's a lot of excellent music on it and they might be good enough to change your mind.
1. "Misplaced Childhood" Marillion (1985) - I know what you're thinking! Let me explain. I got into Marillion about 6 months before this came out. It was the year I took my GCSE's so I was 15. I'd begun to discover this whole world of music outside of Top of the Pops and, for whatever reason, Marillion really did it for me. This might have been the first album I knew about before release and I remember rushing in to Kingston to pick it up the same week it came out. I think the Kayleigh single had preceded it and become a bit of a hit. I wasn't so keen on that but as part of the overall theme (lost love, acceptance and lost childhood) it really worked. I loved this album so much it led to my first ever concert (having spotted the band were touring on Ceefax). Originally planned for October '85 it was postponed due to Fish having throat problems so I finally popped my gig cherry in February '86. I didn't really stop after that. Any doubts I might have had about where to place this were dispelled by my first listen to it for very many years. I know it's as much about nostalgia as the music but I still know all the words and it gives me a feeling very few albums do.
2. "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" Genesis (1974) - My love of Marillion eventually, and inevitably, led towards me exploring Genesis (a gateway Prog band!). It didn't take me long to realise the Peter Gabriel years were the best but The Lamb was probably the album I took the longest to get to grips with. It's everything you'd expect of a Prog concept album. Long, sprawling and slightly off the wall. I did get there eventually and, unlike other albums of a similar vintage, I think this has really stood the test of time.
3. "Thick as a Brick" Jethro Tull (1972) - My second ever gig was ... Marillion again ... at the Milton Keynes Bowl with Jethro Tull as special guests. They were amazing that day and that was my starting point for a long love of the band. "Thick as a Brick" is not my favourite Tull album by any means (that's probably "Aqualung" which Tull were pretty adamant it's NOT a concept album so I couldn't include) but it is a very fine piece of music that captures Ian Anderson's mischievous sense of humour. A parody of the overblown epics of the band's contemporaries, that was supposedly the musical adaptation of a poem by 8-year-old Gerald Bostock. Last year I got to see Anderson perform the whole thing live for the first time, along with his recently recorded follow up. Inevitably "Thick as a Brick 2" isn't a patch on the original but it was a very fine and entertaining show.
4. "Radio K.A.O.S" Roger Waters (1987) - I am aware that I've overlooked several Pink Floyd albums to include this in my top five. That's not to say I don't love those Floyd albums but they don't occupy the same space in my heart as this album. Compared to "The Wall" this is a much more compact and succinct. Eight songs and a little over 40 minutes and all the better for it. The story is great, touching on Britain in the Thatcher years and the effects off monetarism (you can read all the details at Wikipedia) and is presented as though it's a live radio show. I went to see Waters perform it live at Wembley Arena and, despite the fact I was in a back corner of one of the worst venues known to mankind, it remains one of my all time favourite gigs.
5. "The Chronicle of The Black Sword" Hawkwind (1985) - Looking at the release date I'd guess this was my first Hawkwind LP, it didn't lead on to a massive surge of Hawk interest but it has remained a firm favourite. I bought in on vinyl but these were the days of Sony Walkman so my strongest memories are of listening to it through headphones on my walk back from college. The walk would take me about 50 minutes (I could have got the bus but I used to get fed up waiting) which was exactly the right length of time to play the entire album. It's a great headphone album, there's a wall of sound throughout and all sorts of typical Hawk-type space noise. It's based on the Elric stories by Micheal Moorcock (I'd have been into sword & sorcery at the time too) and they recorded a live version at Hammersmith Odeon that added inter song narration from Moorcock himself. I played it recently not expecting to enjoy it quite as much but I absolutely loved it.
I don't know if 2013 has gotten off to an unusally productive start but I've noticed a lot of new music that I've really enjoyed. I figured this might give me a quick top five every couple of months and make doing my top five songs of the year a lot easier too, so, here's the first of a possibly recurring series.
1. Low "Plastic Cup" - Low just seem to get better and better. This has an amazing lyric about what future generations might think if they discovered a plastic cup, a melody that melts your heart and some sumptuous harmonies.
2. Hot Feet "Wood House" - Really catchy little folk-rock tune from an marvellous EP that you can for under a fiver at Hot Feet's BandCamp site.
3. Teleman "Cristina" - Formed from the ashes of Pete & The Pirates, who with my usual sense of timing I got into about a week after they split up, this has all the hallmarks of that former band.
4. Jacques Caramac & The Sweet Generation "It Takes All Sorts" - This is a cracking song made all the better by their brilliant band name/song title combination. REPTILES!
5. B.C. Camplight "Grim Cinema" - The title track from the forthcoming (if not already out) LP, which I loved when he played it in session for Marc Riley.
I got to know MaRaineyBlues thanks to the power of Twitter and Cerys Matthews Sunday morning show on 6music. My Sunday morning routine used to involve cooking a roast for lunch whilst listening to Cerys and trying to get myself name checked on air. Ma is one of a number of regular listeners who I got on with really well and who helped the show feel really interactive (Cerys is still making ace radio by the way but we now have the roast in the evening so I listen live less often). Anyway, it was pretty obvious Ma had a huge love of music and an amazing depth of knowledge to back it up. I'd been hoping I could convince her to do a top five for ages and persistence finally paid off.
This is the first top five I've published without an order as Ma decided she liked all five so much she couldn't place them. I think she's right so make sure you check out those video links 'cos they're all amazing.
Led Zeppelin. Cream. The Black Keys. The Rolling Stones. Jimi Hendrix. The Alabama Shakes. Janis Joplin. Jack White. Valerie June. Just a few of the new kids on the block and some of the legendary old guard who make or made music which comes directly from the blues or is influenced by it.
The importance of blues in music history cannot be underestimated. Academics say it is the very backbone of rock and roll. But I'm no academic, merely a fan. Here are 5 of my favourite blues artists from the era when blues was first being heard outside of the Deep South plantations, the illegal juke joints and the travelling shows, when performers were making tentative, ground-breaking steps into making records.
These five all made their first recordings pre-1935.
Skip James - Labourer, sharecropper, Baptist Minister and one of the first Delta blues singers to cut a record. Highly influential on people such as Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton and re-discovered in the 1960s, where he was feted for his mournful voice and virtuoso finger-picking style.
Lead Belly - Schooled in part by Blind Lemon Jefferson, multi-instrumentalist blues & folk singer Lead Belly was discovered by musicologist Alan Lomax whilst singing prison hollers as an inmate at Angola State Prison. Lead Belly's first recording was made inside the prison walls. Following his release,the Lomax family took him to New York, where, styled as 'King of the 12 string', he began a long association with left-wing causes.
Son House - One of 17 children, it wasn't until he was in his 20s that Mississippi's Son House picked up a guitar. After reportedly killing a man in self defence in the juke joint where he was playing, Son House was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Although he made records in 1930, he faded into obscurity, to be rediscovered by younger generations in the 1960s blues revival. It was here that Son House first spoke of the legend that Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil in return for his talent, a legend that continues to be talked of today!
Lonnie Johnson - Believed to be the first person to record a single string, guitar solo. Johnson won a blues talent competition in 1925, the prize included a recording deal with Okeh Records. Despite working with some high profile names, Johnson's career floundered & he was forced to take a job in a steel mill, only returning to blues singing & guitar playing in the late 1930s.
MA RAINEY - The 'mother of the blues' who i took my Twitter name from! With a deep, raw, country blues style, she fronted jug and washboard bands and, so it is said, was singing the blues in a touring minstrels band more than a decade before genre became well known. In the early 1920s she made her first recordings. A great influence on Bessie Smith who she knew, Ma Rainey paved the way for all female blues singers who followed.
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