They said it would never happen...

That's not true, but I thought it was never going to happen. I'VE LANDED A JOB!! WOO HOO!!

And not only that, it's a really good job doing things I want to do & that I'm good at. I had dreadful fears of working for some insurance company or selling pharmaceuticals or private medical insurance to small business owners or industrial flues or lying to get a job at a marketing company. Those aren't that dreadful as fears go actually. Not like fearing you're going to lose your home.

Anyway it's all over after 3 months, and now all I can complain about is the early rise, the long-ish commute and not seeing the kids so much. Being able to afford full price pints and the occasional meal out makes up for that.

Here's some punch-the-air good mood classics, have a party on me:

Missy Elliot 'Work It' Buy here

New Radicals 'You Get What You Give' buy here

Gene Kelly 'Singin In The Rain' buy here

Lovin Spoonful 'Do You Believe In Magic' buy here

Mylo 'Doctor Pressure' (Mylo 'Drop The Pressure' vs Miami Sound Machine 'Dr Beat') buy here

Sly & The Family Stone 'Everyday People' buy here

The Elgins 'Heaven Must Have Sent You' buy here

Ladyhawke 'My Delerium' buy here

The Genius of Belle & Sebastian

I've been involved in some way in the selling of all Belle & Sebastian's records since their classic Dog On Wheels EP right up to The Life Pursuit, and I have to say that choosing just 5 or 6 examples from their catalogue has been very difficult. They have so many fantastic songs.

I can remember being blown away by the songwriting on Dog On Wheels, and then finding (what I perceived to be) their indier-than-thou attitude pretty insufferable. Or maybe it was just the twee-ness of their fans. Singer & main writer Stuart Murdoch seemed neither lover nor fighter (definitely not fighter!), but another somewhat self-pitying, Morrissey-esque bedroom bard. And yet his literary lyrical style could sometimes be the equal of Morrissey, whilst his frail delivery suited his 'sensitive artist' themes. I went to see them around this time (1997 or so) at the Union Chapel, Islington. Their interaction with the audience was diffident, they were fractured and amateurish, with minutes between each song as they swapped instruments, retuned and generally did not rock out! I made a drunken fool of myself by barracking them with calls to 'Play Whole Lotta Rosie' (and other metal showstoppers). Not very proud of that, but the fact remains their live show was poor. I think perhaps the band were terrified of the venue - and maybe the audience.

'Like Dylan In The Movies' from If You're Feeling Sinister commonly held to be their best - another one of those classic 'Don't Look Back' albums that's been played in full with the recording released as 'If You're Feeling Sinister - Live at the Barbican'. Last year I think '...Sinister' was voted as the Best Album on eMusic, but it's not on there at the moment. No doubt related to the fiasco as their distributor went bust.
'The State That I Am In' from Dog on Wheels EP now available on Push Barman To Open Old Wounds. The track 'Dog On Wheels' bears more than a passing resemblance to 'Summer Wine' by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood but I can only admire their taste in plagiarism

A couple of years later I saw them at Barrowlands in Glasgow, and then they really did rock out in front of a bouncing homecoming crowd - they'd obviously heard Thin Lizzy's Live & Dangerous by this time! On record the songs had often had, up to this point, quite a lo fi sound but live many of their best songs were almost anthemic. What's so admirable about Belle & Sebastian in the studio is the palette of sounds they use - strings, brass & woodwind are all added to the meat-and-potatoes guitar & keyboard set up to create a very full yet subtle melodic space. And their arrangements are superb.

'This Is Just A Modern Rock Song' contains the typically self effacing lyric 'we're four boys in our corduroys / we're not terrific but we're competent' which I often sing to myself - any mention of corduroy works for me.
'Legal Man' like TIJAMRS above also available on Push Barman EP collection

Hilariously of course B&S won the Best Newcomer BRIT award in 1999 through smart mobilisation of their fanclub. Not too many of the band turned up - Stuart Murdoch certainly did not. I think Mick Cooke and maybe Richard and Chris (or maybe Stevie?) were there - not too sure, again I was pretty drunk. But this time I managed to be nice to the band - my work chums and I made it back to their hotel room post Brits. It was a scene of moderate rock n roll excess and I think perhaps a little embarrassment (as well as some triumphalism) on the band's part. I kept quiet about the Whole Lotta Rosie incident.

'I'm A Cuckoo' from Dear Catastrophe Waitress their first release for new label Rough Trade. Produced by Trevor Horn with unsurprisingly a bigger, brighter sound.

'The Blues Are Still Blue' from The Life Pursuit probably their most varied stylistically, and my favourite album from 2005. Hopefully a new album will come this year.

Birdsong

One good thing to come out of being unemployed has been spending more time with my kids. Other good things have been Wetherspoons selling IPA at 99p a pint, realising I can survive without an internet-enabled mobile phone (actually without a call-enabled mobile), and well, that's about it I think.
I've been doing the school run some days - my boy Billy and his friend James run that is, being chased by the Poo Monster (guess who?), and I walk briskly, occasionally roaring. It's quite a nice walk. Where we live is quite hilly and green - a lot of trees around. So one of life's pleasures is walking to school to do the pick up on my own and listening to the birdsong. I've walked up the hill hundreds of times but it was only a couple of weeks ago that I actually took time to listen to the birds and hear the beauty of their various songs.

The Beatles 'Blackbird' from the White Album of course

Alasdair Roberts 'Waxwing' from the superb The Amber Gatherers album, stark & beautiful folk delivered in Roberts' strong Highland burr. Actually I've no idea if he's from the Highlands or Islands - but he sounds like he should be - his subject matter is concerned with the natural and the ancient rather than, for example, Glasgow tenements

Jimi Hendrix 'Little Wing' my favourite Hendrix track from the incomparable Axis: Bold As Love album

Neil Young 'Birds'. Neil's probably been in my Top 3 fave artists for nearly 20 years now. Birds is on After The Gold Rush which I'd recommend to anyone wanting to dive in to his somewhat scary looking catalogue



I suppose birdsong must have been the first music that our prehistoric ancestors became attuned to appreciate, before we could even make the most basic instruments ourselves. I couldn't call myself a twitcher (not sure I'd want to) but because I've been spending time at home I have been keeping an eye out for the birds in our garden, saving leftover food scraps for them and I can now recognise a bullfinch, amongst a few other species. It's very pretty. It does you good to have a few moments with nature like this.


Oh and 'Birdsong' is also a fantasticly moving World War 1 novel by Sebastian Faulks - also recommended. If you are actually interested in learning more about birds I'd also recommend Consider The Birds by Colin Tudge, an author whose enthusiasm for his subject is infectious.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

I've been job 'seeking' for 12 long weeks now. It's a depressing business. But at least my home life has not degenerated into Boys from the Blackstuff madness, substance & spousal abuse. Not yet anyway. Could be any week now though. I've uploaded my CV to a load of job websites and recruitment agencies mostly to very little reaction. I've grown to detest the empty pleasantries & mock cheerfulness of recruitment consultants. 'Not a great time to be looking' and 'Something will come up soon' has been the recurring advice from friends. Oh and 'Don't go mad' - that was a useful one.

Recently though things started to look up when I got an interview with a music company that went well. I liked them, they seem to like me, positive signs are forthcoming. Now I'm waiting to hear back, praying I haven't got my hopes up, that I haven't misread the signs. It's not the despair that gets to you it's the hope. One song has been going round my head the past few days: Tom Petty's The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

I've been trying to think of some 'Waiting' songs - there's fewer than I'd have thought in my collection and I wasn't going to post the Velvets or the Doors - a bit too obvious

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 'The Waiting'

Thin Lizzy 'Waiting For An Alibi'

Jayhawks 'Waiting For The Sun'

ZZ Top 'Waitin' For The Bus'

Yeasayer 'Wait for the Summer'

Definitely one of my best recent discoveries, Yeasayer's All Hour Cymbals album is a mix of Brooklyn hipster indie a la TV on the Radio, and elements of African & Middle Eastern sounds, which sounds very worthy but they also remember that what's most important is the song.

A lot of (very good) classic rock taken from some superior albums, but only one track from this century! Bands nowadays just aren't interested in waiting it seems. Perhaps this is due to our gotta-have-it-now, spend now & stick-it-on-the-credit-card, consume-or-die culture. Perhaps not.

Buy Petty, Thin Lizzy, Jayhawks, da Top & Yeasayer

Here's a couple of classic country waiting for train songs just as an added bonus

Jimmie Rodgers 'Waiting For A Train'

Guy Clark 'Desperadoes Waiting For A Train'

Herve 'Ghetto Bass'

Herve (how do I add the accent?) or Joshua Harvey is a producer & remixer of many guises, recording as The Count & Sinden (my personal fave) and a host of others I can't be bothered to list but that feature prominently on his Ghetto Bass mix compilation. He's remixed Lily Allen, Chemical Brothers & The Prodigy recently - he's become the producer de jour if you need a brain crunchingly ravey yet bass-y remix. Well done him.
It's difficult to render in text the ear mangling amazing riff / noises that Herve manages to wrest from his machines, swawohh wammm maybe? but all the tracks have - as the title of the mix suggests - gigantic dancefloor friendly basslines. The frentic pace slows a little on CD2 with some darker dubsteppy tracks from Darqwan & Skream - though for the dubstep layperson, ie me it never gets to the more somnolent moments of a Burial that you might expect. Overall it's a great melange of electro, dubstep, breaks & techno and there's a superb Herve remix of Human Resource's classic 'Dominator'. Though it did give my wife a headache.

Project Bassline 'Drop The Pressure' The Count's Conquistador Remix
Darqwan 'Said The Spider'
Skream 'Filth'
Chase & Status 'Eastern Jam'
Buraka Som Sistema 'Kalemba' Reso's Aguardente Remix

Buy Ghetto Bass

This Is Outsider Music

Yeah you can take yer Moondogs and Daniel Johnstons, here's some AMAZING (in several ways) outsider music. Record companies get a lot of unsolicited music sent to them for consideration. Mostly (probably 95%+), it is bog standard, generic & derivative. It commits the cardinal sin of not warranting any reaction from the listener apart from a 'Next!'. This is not because people working in the industry are more cynical than the average music fan - they may be, but nearly everyone I knew was also a lot more passionate about music than the average fan, with a lower dross threshold.

Very occasionally some music arrives to which the only reaction can be 'What is that?!?'. Karl Matthews is a London based musician, with a powerful love for Eastenders and dub reggae, who has combined these two elements into a singular musical statement. Somewhere between an unmediated running commentary on his life ('Katherine') and a surreal stream of consciousness take on various Eastenders plots, with particular emphasis on the Slater clan.

When I first heard his first 12" I laughed until I was sore. I don't mean that in a cruel way: though the production is naive, the subject matter bizarre and the playing basic, I really loved it. I think Karl may have been making music as therapy but I want him to know that he's brought joy into a lot of people's lives.

I guess naivety is exactly what people find so attractive in so called 'outsider music' because most music is made for a target audience and has an element of careerism. This may have been aspiring to commercial success in a theoretical way too (why else send it to a record company?) but the execution was such that only those with rather weird tastes could appreciate. So I hope you do cos it's genius.

Karl Matthews 'Kat Slater'
Karl Matthews 'Katherine (White Lady)'
Karl Matthews 'Ash Corrina'
Karl Matthews 'Gary Hobbs'

Nearly 10 years before Karl Matthews, I first heard 'Market Value' by M.E.N. It was sent on cassette to a different music company I worked for, with a nice picture of a market fruit stall on the cover. I understand 'Market Value' had been submitted by a Nigerian doctor from Ipswich who got rather narked when we would not send his tape back after refusing him his shot at success. We didn't send demos back as a matter of policy but there was no way that a piece of music like this, which had brought us such pleasure & amusement, could be given up.

It's not as musically ambitious as Matthews, in fact the keyboard seems to be set to 'winsome' and the cymbal splashes could be played on a toy drum kit. But the glory of Market Value is in the lyrics. Sung in the most sincere, quavering voice it's an unromantic but loving paen to the author's daughter. Clearly written by someone for whom English was not their first language, I love the way he sings 'higher', and that the qualities that he sees fit to sing about aren't often celebrated in the Western canon - punctuality, resourcefulness and an ability to get along with workmates. I'm actually always quite touched when I listen to it and it ALWAYS makes me smile

M.E.N. 'Market Value'

Ever since you were little you've been quite exceptional

Hard working & courteous, very smart & loving

Never got yourself in trouble at school or at home

That's why...

chorus

Your market value keeps going higher

Higher & higher, higher & higher

Everything you do is pushing it higher

Higher & Higher

You are one in a million with such market value

Now all grown up you are still exceptional

A wide range of hobbies, good looking but modest

A good sense of humour, very kind & loving

That's why

chorus

At your place of work you are such an asset

Quite smart & resourceful, very punctual & helpful

Get along well with your workmates

Hard working & honest, that's why

chorus

Detroit. Sort Of

So we've had a Baltimore post, now time for Detroit. Perhaps I should make my blog theme post-industrial Rust Belt cities? Cleveland I think I could do... Anyone got any suggestions?

It should go without saying how much brilliant music has come from Detroit. This year is Motown's 50th anniversary of course - what a legacy! No doubt I'll do a (very long) Motown post in the future, but of course there's also the Stooges and the space funk of Detroit Techno - music very much rooted in the place where it was conceived.

But I really didn't know I'd be blogging about Detroit this time. I wanted to talk about a new electro / indie-tronica artist Deastro who I've just come across. I've been listening to the album Keeper's for a few months but it was only when I came to try & find out a little out it online that I found he's a Detroit producer. The album has been supported by eMusic and it's certainly worth a listen with a somewhat schizo mix of styles, opaque, slightly mystical lyrics, and an emphasis on songs rather than the dancefloor. Reminds me of Cut Copy a bit. Deastro has now apparently signed with Ghostly International which sounds like a good fit to me.

Deastro 'The Shaded Forests'

Deastro 'Lightpowered'

Buy Keeper's here

Similar in feel is which has been passed on to me by my brother - his own production. Here's what he says: Falory 'O is John Sweeney - a spiralline melodian from Belfast. Writing and recording in his living room he sends musical transmissions to Celeste and The Rest - the Party Beings. It may be a good party, it may be a bad party or it may be a rude party.

I guess it's difficult to judge objectively the work of someone you know but I think this is a real interesting, tricksy production. Pity he's not from Detroit. Would love to hear some comments

Falory O 'My Machine'

When I first moved to London 15 years ago, I thought that guitar music was history, that the future lay with machine music. (What a dick!) This was before dance music had become the commercialised soundtrack to a Yates's Saturday night, still felt 'culturally important' even, when 'experimental' was not code for unlistenable (personally speaking). I remember wondering what all the fuss was with Oasis & Blur - they were just recycling the riffs and attitude of the past. Couldn't people see there was nothing NEW in this? My heroes were boldly questing for new sounds, taking us devotees on long (maybe too long) psychedelic journeys into our own (head) space.

Underground Resistance were a mysterious Detroit cult with the fiercest, funkiest, spaciest techno and a confrontational attitude at odds with the easy going, druggy, apolitical UK dance scene. At the time I don't think I was ever clear about their personnel, though certainly it included 'Mad' Mike Banks and Jeff Mills but it wasn't about personalities, it was about the manifesto & the music. The manifesto was a load of tosh ''change by sonic revolution" - I could see that even then - but the music still stands up. The music sounds amazing in fact. Futuristic and coldly beautiful

Underground Resistance 'First Galactic Baptist Church'

Underground Resistance 'Hi Tech Jazz'

Buy Underground Resistance music here

N-N-N-N-Notorious

Yesterday I was in a school. In a class of 13 year olds. More on that later. One boy kept repeating the chorus 'Notorious' from the Duran Duran record of 1986. What's that all about I thought briefly. Has the 80s revival gone so in depth that even the most banal of Duran's singles are now common currency? Then I remembered seeing the film poster for 'Notorious', the new biopic of Biggie Smalls / Notorious BIG, and everything fell into place. Just as another 13 year old took up the refrain.

On Sunday mornings in the mid-90s I would get up at 6am - which was very early for me to rise, back then when I had a social life and always went out on Saturday nights. I'd get the tube to Holborn and walk to Leather Lane, to the record shop I worked at. On Sundays we'd run a stall at East Street market off the Walworth Road in south east London, so I'd load up the transit van with thousands of CDs, blank tapes & VHS and off we'd trundle through the City. London's financial heart was dead at this time of the week and I loved speeding through it, looking at the architecture, doing my own version of the black cab drivers' Knowledge, working out how the various streets met up together.

We'd get there to set up at 7.30am and we'd have a completely different clientele to that of the store - probably 90% black - lots of Africans & Caribbeans. There were loads of albums that we'd sell in the hundreds - back then when folk still bought CDs: Buju Banton 'Til Shiloh', Blackstreet 'Another Level', Destiny's Child 'Writings on the Wall', D'Angelo 'Brown Sugar', 2Pac 'Me Against The World', Mary J Blige 'My Life' are a few examples that maybe didn't have a lot of mainstream profile at that time but that we'd sell 10-25 of every single week for a year. For me it was an introduction into modern R&B and reggae, and it was great. Notorious BIG's 'Ready To Die' was another such album. Biggie's mic skills are just fantastic, his flow was wonderful, great rhymes. With a hint of (but not too much) pop sheen added by the then Sean 'Puffy' Combs. Sometimes the subject matter could get to me - he was after all a violent, drug pushing, lucre-driven (maybe) misogynist. But I could still rationalise that as there were some amazing tracks on the album. Here's my favourite:

Notorious BIG 'Juicy'

Listening to Radio 1 driving home today there was a review of the movie on Edith Bowman's show. It wasn't a great review and comment was made on what a nasty piece of work Biggie was personally. And then they played 'Mo' Money Mo' Problems' and I could forgive him everything.

I just love this track. Driven by a sample from Diana Ross's classic 'I'm Coming Out' (produced by Chic's Nile Rogers & Bernard Edwards - which remind me I need to get that 'Diana' album) it's just pop perfection. That said, coming from someone undergoing a period of unemployment I can categorically state that the premise of the title is FACTUALLY INCORRECT. Personally I'm finding that problems tend to increase exponentially as revenue entering the home decreases. But that's just my personal maths, I'm not a platinum selling hip hop star. And I'm alive. Anyway it still does the business for me - I had the window wound down, radio blasting like an ASBO kid in his Clio twin turbo. Unfortunately I only have the clean edit.

Notorious BIG 'Mo' Money Mo' Problems'

Buy Notorious BIG music at Amazon

Here's a few other tracks that remind me of that era

Genius w/ D'Angelo 'Cold World'

Bobby Brown 'Two Can Play That Game'

Mariah Carey w/ Ol' Dirty Bastard 'Fantasy' Remix

Pet Shop Boys: Pop Genius

A majority of pop music is drivel of course. A majority of most things are drivel. Most pop music treats it's audience without respect, and seems to be produced for the sole purpose of making money. It's very difficult to make money from launching pop acts. I've seen this in my professional life, hundreds of thousands spent to garner a chart position of #42. You can spend as much as you like but if the song doesn't resonate with folk it won't matter.



But the best exponents of pop like Abba, Girls Aloud, Madonna in her prime (oh yeah they all eventually go off the boil) and hundreds of others combine great sing-a-long tunes, arresting image, memorable lyrics and a respect for their audience. It's not controversial to laud these particular acts anymore - Girls Aloud are cool now, and Abba's greatness has been well & truly recognised. But despite much critical acclaim, it's always been viewed, in certain company, as a bit suspect to express a love for the Pet Shop Boys.



I love their image: Chris Lowe, silent & motionless in the background, occasionally stabbing a keyboard, Neil Tennant self contained, suited, satirical, arching an eyebrow. They refused to play the usual role of electronic pop groups, bouncing around, being 'up', expressing the most general uplifting emotions. PSB always were interested in the specific, in multi-layered adult themes rather than simple slogans. Their first single's a masterpiece:







Pet Shop Boys 'West End Girls'

Of course eventually they left behind this dowdiness for those crazy designer outfits. They were certainly striking, and I guess showed that they had a sense of humour. I liked the whole anti-rock thing, though it was implied rather than spelt out - the way that they pointed out the inherent ridiculousness of the whole theatre of rock performance. The impossibility of authenticity and recreating it night after night on stage. Neil Tennant spoke of their 'Imperial Phase', when they could do no wrong. These tracks come from that period - just perfect pop.

Pet Shop Boys 'Suburbia'

Pet Shop Boys 'It's A Sin'

'Being Boring' is my favourite PSB song, in fact one of my all time faves. Apparently an elegy for those struck by the AIDS virus, I find it very touching, yet I'm not sure why. There's certainly a melancholy to it, and I'm always a sucker for that, but maybe it's just the strings programming.


In a world where 'gay' is used as a synonym for 'crap', perhaps it was their perceived gayness (Neil Tennant only out-ed himself quite late in their career) which meant PSB weren't treated with the respect that rock bands of the time were - at least by a lot of my contemporaries. The fact is that there was always a universality to their music, and it's good to hear they are to be recognised at the BRITS this month.





Pet Shop Boys 'Being Boring'





Pet Shop Boys 'Jealousy'

Buy Pet Shop Boys at Amazon

The Genius of Judee Sill

My discovery of Judee Sill came about by chance, but when I heard her music I was almost outraged that I'd never heard her before. Here was an artist that people should be shouting from the rooftops about. I've spent an unhealthy amount of time reading the Dadrock reissue magazines like Mojo & Uncut - and great fun they are too. I really thought I knew all there was to know about early 70s singer songwriters especially the whole Laurel Canyon scene - Joni Mitchell & Neil Young are two of my all time favourites and I love a lot of the music from that period, which was why it was so weird I'd never heard of Judee. Also she recorded for David Geffen's Asylum label - was his first release in fact, and I had a lot of records on Asylum.

Her eponymous debut came out in 1971 - I can't think of many debut releases as fully formed as this. It features her best known track 'Jesus Was A Crossmaker' (produced by Graham Nash), 'Crayon Angels', which Fleet Foxes have been covering at their shows, plus 'My Man On Love' and 'Enchanted Sky Machines'

Lyrically there's a lot of religious imagery and weird theology - Enchanted Sky Machines is about the Day of Salvation via Close Encounters. The music she described as country-cult-baroque' and there's certainly a lot of melodies reminiscent of Bach, although there's also some gospel leanings too. Just listen...

Judee Sill 'Jesus Was A Crossmaker'

Judee Sill 'My Man On Love'

Judee Sill 'Enchanted Sky Machines'

Judee's life history was pretty troubled from a young age. She spent time in jail, took part in armed robberies, got addicted to heroin and ended up turning tricks to fund her habit. Her personal travails stand in complete contrast to her music, which always is searching for something higher than us mere mortals can provide - spiritual salvation.

Heart Food, her second album from 1973 is more of the same, beautiful melodies, metaphysical lyrics, another masterpiece.

Judee Sill 'Down Where The Valleys Are Low'

Judee Sill 'The Phoenix'

Unfortunately neither album sold in the quantities they should have. Judee went on to record demos for another album, called Dreams Come True, which eventually was released in a fantastic package in 2005. These recordings are not as stunning as her first 2 albums but do contain several wonderful tracks including:

Judee Sill 'That's The Spirit'

Physically Judee was in poor condition due to various injuries, and was in pain from back surgery gone wrong when she died of a drug overdose in 1979 at the age of 35. As the cliche goes, her music lives on and it speaks as loudly now as it did 35 years ago. If you like these tracks I urge you to buy more. They will enrich your life I promise.

Buy Judee Sill at Amazon and emusic

The Crying Light Is Gorgeous

Antony Hegarty is a unique artist, and the new Antony & the Johnsons album 'The Crying Light', their third, is beautiful and fantastical. Antony's voice has both a fragility and an inner strength which ensures that the lyrical themes for which he's known do not frighten off the more casual listener. Indeed his willingness to open up his life to scrutiny via these seemingly intensely personal lyrics only draws in the more open listener.

It's an album filled with yearning, sparsely arranged with mostly piano based ballads, and one that may pass you by if you do not actually take the time to listen. Please do - it will repay your time.

Antony & the Johnsons 'Aeon'

Antony & the Johnsons 'Kiss My Name'

Antony & the Johnsons 'Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground'

Buy The Crying Light at emusic

Baltimore

I just started series 4 (or should I say season 4) of The Wire yesterday. 3 episodes in 24 hours. It's become a cliche to say it but as with most cliches, it's because they're true: The Wire is the best TV drama series ever (Just tell me what's better?? The Sopranos first seasons maybe, but then it went a bit off the boil). The dialogue crackles, and frankly has no qualms about leaving those of us who weren't concentrating behind. Dialogue is never used to expound the narrative. That's the joy of watching it on DVD - going back & checking those lyrical miracles. The characterisation is phenomenal - there are probably 15-20 lead roles in each series, and you care about all of them, whilst the host of minor characters are never simply stereotypes (or is that archetypes?). There are never easy endings, just like in real life. Anyway there's no need for me to write a glowing review of this show - it's been done by much greater minds than I - check Charlie Brooker's Tapping The Wire pieces.

I've always thought that Nina Simone's version of 'Baltimore', from the somewhat under-appreciated album of the same name, catches the hopeless, pained, downward spiral of Baltimore society as seen through the prism of The Wire - and wondered why it had never been synched to the show. Nina's delivery is just that bit more resigned than Randy Newman's original, but with a real slow groove which almost makes you wonder if she'll get to the end of the song.

Nina Simone 'Baltimore'

Thinking about urban decay this week, there's obviously some grounds for optimism in the election of President Obama. I've actually felt quite moved by the whole thing from afar, and thought his Inauguration speech was a great example of a political speech that did not take the easy option of sloganeering, but actually called on people to take responsibility for themselves (I admit I did shed a tear at the momentousness of it all). Apparently some watchers were disappointed that there was no particular phrase that one could take away from this speech, no particular tag line for the media - I thought this was a good thing - politics is too complicated for such simplicities. Certainly his message about remaking America, and showing a more open hand to the rest of the world is welcome.

I think it's inevitable that a lot of folk will end up being disappointed by Obama, as he seems to be regarded as a superhero at the moment, and all that compromise he's going to have to do through his term will surely turn off those who maybe have an unrealistic view of how much one (admittedly extremely powerful) man can do. But good luck to him, he'll need it!

So the first black President... well the line it made me think of this week, and indeed for the past months, was Flavor Flav's 'we got a black quarterback, so step back' from She Watch Channel Zero. Back then in the 80s, when the NFL was on Channel 4, I could probably told you who that black quarterback was, but I haven't a clue now. Wiki Answers tells me Marlin Briscoe in 1968, but Flavor sure wasn't talking about him. It doesn't matter so much (to me, at least) who the black quarterback Flavor refers to actually was in 1988 rather, that it was something remarkable that the team leader & strategist on the pitch should be black.

I was going to say initially 'it wasn't so long ago that it was something to be remarked upon (& celebrated) that there was a black NFL quarterback, and now there's a black president!'. But of course 'It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back' came out in 1988, so it's two decades since. Perhaps all this proves is that I'm getting old. And that change is possible.

Anyway here's one of Public Enemy's fiercest and greatest tracks from an amazing album which meant so much to me growing up. I guess PE actually often meant more to white than black teenagers (at least their audience seemed more white than black), probably cos they rocked better than all the rock bands at the time. Not that it matters.

Public Enemy 'She Watch Channel Zero'

And from the American ghetto to hard times in olde England. Billy Bragg's 'Between The Wars' is for my money his best song with a wonderful melody and lyrically a paen to an English nationalism that I find very easy to embrace with a 'faith in my common man'. This could be a very dry topic of course but to me it's real & heartfelt, even a line like 'Sweet moderation, heart of this nation'. It makes me well up - I think it's the sacrifice that generation went through - real hunger & want, to enable us to mess about on computers and watch reality TV all day.

Billy Bragg 'Between The Wars'

PS Here's a word that needs popularised, (thanks to the exellent A Word A Day site)

obambulate
PRONUNCIATION:(o-BAM-byuh-layt)
MEANING:verb intr.: To walk about.
ETYMOLOGY:From Latin ob- (towards, against) + ambulare (to walk). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ambhi- (around) that is also the source of ambulance, alley, preamble, and bivouac. The first print citation of the word is from 1614.
USAGE:"We have often seen noble statesmen obambulating (as Dr. Johnson would say) the silent engraving-room, obviously rehearsing their orations."The Year's Art; J.S. Virtue & Co.; 1917.

Just a quickie

La Roux have been heavily tipped for top pop success this year. They're the best of the bunch that's been shoved down our throats at the moment I think. 'Quicksand' is certainly an excellent electro pop track. And hopefully 'Fascination' will make you believe the hype some more

http://www.zshare.net/audio/544698512a321c2d/

And here's another great pop gem from a band we may hear more from in 2009. Just a great pop song...

Passion Pit 'Better Things'

That's it. Enjoy!

Buy Passion Pit music here

A Man In A Dress or A Different Vision of Beauty

I'm not feeling very well today. Last night was ruined by Everton's last gasp equalizer at Anfield. I could really see it coming though, as we're not as good as we should be defending set pieces, and I thought Skrtel looked a bit off the pace. Bit of a mistake drafting him into my Fantasy League team.

Plus I've caught my wife's cold, who caught it from our youngest Caitlin. So I'm feeling a little sorry for myself.

Normally I hate 'uplifting' music. I can't say that I hate much music. There are a few performers who are beyond the pale but I can see some value in most music. Most ostensibly uplifting tunes tend to be insufferable because it's all so obvious - the melody, chord changes, lyrics, all trying to make you feel one thing. And nobody sensible wants to be told what to feel. So here are some tracks that raise my spirits.

The first one is taken from the excellent Country Got Soul (Casual) compilation from 2003 excellently compiled by Jeb Loy Nichols. It's a great selection of early 70s Southern Soul and swamp R&B (one of my favourite genres obviously)

Razzy 'I Hate Hate'

http://sharebee.com/8409c55a

Next track is taken from a much reviled and ridiculed record, Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners' singer) 'My Beauty'. I LOVE this album. It's an album of covers, tracks that had helped our Kevin emotionally when he was in a trough of despond post-Dexys. The songs on this album are certainly not what you'd expect to find in the collection of the archetypal Dexys fan perhaps. It includes a version of Whitney Houston's 'The Greatest Love Of All', and I know it's still not OK to express admiration for Whitney in polite company. I think she's done a few great tracks, though 'Greatest Love...' is definitely not one of them. However, Kevin's version wins me over #1 because he's so sincere, and #2 he doesn't bellow like Whit.

Perhaps the reason 'My Beauty' was most ridiculed however, was the album art. Children look away now!

And y'know it is pretty horrible - certainly as an image, but also as a photo - I think the photographer may have realised this was too much for eyes to bear, as it's slightly out of focus. Couldn't bear the terrifying reality of a former pop star in a pearl necklace flashing his black velvet (I'm guessing here - it's more sensual maybe?) thong.

Back in 1999, Creation Records were in their post-Oasis pomp signing anything that a cocaine raddled Alan McGee had a good feeling about. I happened to go to a Creation launch party / showcase at the Scala in London - can't remember what act it was for, but Kevin turned up in his 'sexy' get up. It made for quite a sight. I thought that not only was he deranged but also very brave (I don't suppose he came on the Tube though). This was proven when he took the stage at Reading Festival in a fetching negligee, surrounded by a bevy of semi naked (as I remember) dancing girls who draped themselves over him & the stage, and of course got bottled off.

Actually I'm now reminded that I had a promo VHS copy of the Concrete & Clay video, which also had a similarly high quotient of lingerie-clad dancing girls. My brother & his then 3 year old daughter came to visit that summer and I remember her intense liking for this video. She would ask for it to be played again and again. Perhaps it was not particularly politic to show her it in the first place but I'm not aware of any long lasting effects of this. And it is a great track.

Anyway the track I'm posting didn't actually make it on to the album. It's a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Thunder Road'. Pretty much nothing could beat the original of Thunder Road for making me feel better, but this is, I think, a strong version. Bruce apparently would not clear Kevin's version because he deigned to change the lyrics. The changes do change the meaning of the song but I think Kevin was just trying to personalise his version. I'm actually looking at the promo I have of this album and Thunder Rd isn't on it, so it must just have been on the initial copies. Is it sad to have 2 different promos and one proper copy of this album? Don't answer that.

Kevin Rowland 'Thunder Road'

http://sharebee.com/9371953b

Not much to say about these other 3 tracks, as they're all pretty well known artists. Just that they're all fantastic

Firstly

Jackie Wilson's sublime '(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher'

http://sharebee.com/dc06b50a

Todd Rundgren 'Just One Victory'

http://sharebee.com/de0c4486

and finally Toots & the Maytals 'Sweet & Dandy'

http://sharebee.com/3a132ec6

I hope these brighten your day

PS if any technically minded folk can tell me how I can embed my links ie so they don't show as a Sharebee URL, but for example the track title, I'd be really grateful. I'm sure it's very simple but I can't work it out

Now for something new

Ok new-ish. My favourite record last year, and the new record I listened to the most, was Vampire Weekend, but then I do love 'Graceland'. The sound is great, the lyrics are, at least, interesting / quirky, but what makes it such a great album is that the songs are fantastic - short, catchy, what pop music should be . Mind you, their cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'Everywhere' did not cover them in glory.
The Very Best who are Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit, two east London based producers, made a fantastic mixtape, which you can download for nowt at their http://www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace Not so sure about the artwork - perhaps it's tongue in cheek but it looks very much like something you would see printed on a towel on sale at £5 at East St market. And their name is funny. Their music is a cross between traditional 'world' sounds (or maybe Malawian) for want of a better word, and rockin de dancefloor. It is superb. Check it out. Here's their cover of Vampire Weekend's Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa http://sharebee.com/33b0e676
There's also a great version of MIA's Boyz on there.

I've been feeling pretty excited about the new Animal Collective album. I realise I'm not alone in this, at least among the hipster section of society. I actually own four Animal Collective albums but have always felt a bit let down by them. Especially Strawberry Jam - I was expecting that to blow me away. But that's what happens when you believe magazine reviews.

Anyway I've read lots of reviews of their new album Merriweather Post Pavilion, and again I'm believing what the press is telling me. Will I ever learn? Probably not, but this time I have good reason to believe as I've heard the track 'My Girls', which actually has the semblance of a tune allied to the dynamics & general sonic weirdness that AC have always shown. It was so good that I went and bought the Panda Bear solo album Person Pitch. And I love it. It's a record you can spend a lot of time with. Lots going on on different levels but never getting too complex for complexity's sake. I think this is the best track, 'Bros'. I don't know if it's a paen to the Goss Bros. Unlikely.

http://sharebee.com/f421bd81

A Little More Beauty

The best moment of today was not actually managing to make a first blog post, but in fact, when reading to the kids as they drank their pre-bedtime milk, they both broke off to do a spastic dance to Blue Oyster Cult's 'Dominance & Submission'. I think it was the lyrics that did it.
Which reminds me I must post 'Astronomy', which is (at various times) my favourite song ever.
For the moment here's 2 beautiful pieces of quiet music: Peace Piece from Bill Evans
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5423879368d128aa/

and the first track of Virginia Astley's sublime 'From Gardens Where We Feel Secure'
http://www.zshare.net/audio/542404736d12b9ba/

One One Wonderful

Beauty in music. That's what it's all about for me. At the minute. There's plenty of room for anger and pubescent shouting, self pity, macho bellowing. Just not here for now. Well I say plenty of room...

My first blog post is about beauty and how Brian Wilson & the Beach Boys bring that to life. Last night I watched a doc on Sky Arts called Endless Harmony. It was a bit crap to be honest in terms of narrative but it did have a lot of phenomenal footage of the Beach Boys live and in the studio.

I must thank my erstwhile friend and colleague Craig Robinson for making me take the Beach Boys seriously. Well not seriously exactly as I did own Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, a Best Of, and Love You (though I didn't listen to Love You very often). I did take them seriously, I just didn't realise the depth & breadth of their genius. We were working at a music sales company - we would call up independent record stores (I am contractually obliged to say 'remember them?' at this point) and try to sell them our (often) shoddy wares. In any office where there's a lot of nerdy, anal men, there's usually a good deal of one-upmanship and cooler-than-thou. That said, it was a fun place to work while it lasted and we got drunk together a lot. Occasionally on free beer at 'swanky music industry parties'. It was the golden days of Britpop.

Anyway we talked about music a lot in that place, and when I was getting to know Craig I asked him who his favourite band were. At that time my faves were Public Enemy, Kraftwerk, Black Sabbath and probably Primal Scream - all great bands of course but perhaps a little boy-ish. He answered 'The Beach Boys'. (you must've seen that coming, right?) Whilst I knew Pet Sounds was a Classic (TM) I really couldn't believe that they could be any 20-something's favourite band in 1996. But Craig seemed like a smart chap .

In fact, Craig turned out to be a very smart chap, by getting out of music and into design, running his own website, and seemingly making a living from making pixel models of pop stars, celebrities, & footballer - minipops. His http://www.flipflopflyin.com/ site is genius, if you like eccentric English witterings, and post modern .... hmmm postmodern-something or other.

So anyway I thought that I must properly listen to the Beach Boys - albums like Sunflower, Holland, Surf's Up. The 'post peak, post Brian's breakdown' albums, when Carl Wilson came into his own. And I realise that Craig was right. The Beach Boys were amazing. Their music spoke to the soul (not that I believe I have one), church music with all that religion stripped away.

Here's a couple of tracks from that era. Wonderful should have been on the famously scrapped Smile album, and ended up on the Smiley Smile scraps album in an inferior version. Here's the original version

http://www.zshare.net/audio/54233126b2d4dbe7/

When Girls Get Together is taken from another scrapped album - Landlocked from 1970

http://www.zshare.net/audio/542292337f4cf10f/

If you're not moved by the beauty of these, you're wrong