Octogintennial

Happy 80th birthday, Dad. 

I've recorded various mixtapes over the years to variously appease or expand my Dad's musical tastes, none of which are featured here today. Instead, today's selection is topped and tailed with a song from the year of his birth and the current year, sandwiching 1994, the year that my Dad was 52, the same age that I am now.

This has proved to be quite an enlightening shortlist and an odd tribute insofar as I can pretty much guarantee that my Dad will have hated (and would still hate) every track between #'s 2 to 11. If I'm honest, I don't think he'd be that bothered by The Alabama Singers or Andy Bell either. 

 

Dad's record collection was meagre but introduced me to Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and, for a bit of nostalgia, Glenn Miller. Oh, and he loved a bit of Status Quo. I'm saying all this in the past tense as I don't think he particularly listens to music these days, bar what's on the radio whilst driving or the latest hapless schmuck shuffling onto stage in the latest "talent" show on TV.

 

Dad hated (and probably still hates) Julian Cope's music, especially World Shut Your Mouth, so our musical differences were apparent quite early on. Thinking about what I subjected him to, musically-speaking, at the age of 52 - I temporarily moved back in with my folks between bedsit moves in 1994 - I feel I've got off lightly so far with my daughter, who has yet to subject me to comparable aural challenges.

 

Weather-permitting, we'll be joining other family members today in my parents' back garden celebrating Dad's milestone achievement. If it's pissing down with rain, the party's off and we'll be forming an orderly queue to celebrate indoors in a one-in, one-out basis, a sign of these post-Covid cautionary times with vulnerable loved ones.

 

Happy birthday, Dad, with lots of love...and apologies for subjecting you to my eclectic music taste for at least half of your life so far. There's more to come.

 

1) Jesus Met The Woman At The Well (Cover of traditional song): The Alabama Singers (1942) 

2) Jacob Street 7am: The Sabres Of Paradise (1994)

3) 1st Transmission (Album Version): Earthling (1994)

4) Middle Class Revolt (Album Version): The Fall (1994)

5) Heat Miser (Album Version): Massive Attack (1994)

6) New Dawn Fades (Single Version) (Cover of Joy Division): Moby (1994)

7) Riddimwize (Part II - Re-Assess Your Style) (Remix By Nick Manasseh, Martin Madhatter & Peps): Danny Red (1994)

8) Freak Like Me (Dub Instrumental) (Remix By Mass Order): Adina Howard (1994)

9) Fall (Voyage To The Bottom Of The Dub Remix By Noko 440 aka Norman Fisher-Jones & Stuart Crichton): Single Gun Theory (1994)

10) It's My Mind That Works (Live ISDN Transmission @ The Kitchen, New York): The Future Sound Of London (1994)

11) Dead Eyes Opened (Re-Opened) (Remix By Robert Racic & Kathy Naunton): Severed Heads ft. Edgar Lustgarten (1994)

12) Lifeline: Andy Bell (2022)

 

Octogintennial (54:52)