Can You Hear It?

Between 1976 and 1979, I was between 5 and 8 years old, arguably living my best life. Primary school, hot summers, bags of penny chews and sweets from the newsagents, Look-In ("The Junior TV Times"), Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Star Wars at the cinema, annual holidays near Tenby and day trips to Weston-super-Mare, the open air swimming pool at Chippenham or (if we were lucky) the pebble-or-sand beach at Weymouth. 

I was too busy and too young to pay much attention at the time to punk, post-punk or alternative music. Although the odd snatch on Radio 1 stuck with me, I discovered much of this music a few years later, when I was older, angrier and looking for music that I could turn up loud and annoy my parents with. The rest I sought out even more years later, when I was (considerably) older, wiser (debatable) and still angry (and that's just the government).

I don't have a contemporary emotional connection to these songs though some resonate with particular periods in my teens and twenties and they will always be very special to me. A few come from some of my favourite albums of all time, but I'll leave you to decide which ones they may be.

 

1) So It Goes: Nick Lowe (1976)

2) The Pictures On My Wall (Single Version): Echo & The Bunnymen (1978)

3) I Found That Essence Rare: Gang Of Four (1979)

4) Repetition: The Fall (1978)

5) The Unconventional: Japan (1978)

6) Fade Away And Radiate (Album Version): Blondie (1978)

7) Frederick: Patti Smith (1979)

8) Search & Destroy (Live) (Cover of The Stooges): The Dictators (1977)

9) I Can't Be (Demo): Ramones (1976)

10) Whip In My Valise: Adam & The Ants (1979)

11) Limelight (Album Version): XTC (1979)

12) My Shadow In Vain: Tubeway Army (1978)

13) Mortice Lock: Associates (1979)

14) Cities (Alternate Version): Talking Heads (1979)

15) Sound And Vision (Live @ Earls Court, London): David Bowie (1978)

16) I'm A Lover: David Johansen (1978)

17) The Card Cheat: The Clash (1979)

Can You Hear It? (56:53)