Can't Contain My Joy

Going down to Liverpool today to search for the Merseybeast with Ian McNabb.

I got into The Icicle Works, but mainly through their singles, and the same pattern continued when the band ended and Ian went solo in the early 1990s.

I have subsequently caught up with The Icicle Works' back catalogue, and a few of what followed but Ian McNabb is such a prolific artist that I'm not sure I'd ever get there even if I made a concerted effort. 

His latest, If It Wasn't For The Music, is due in April and by my reckoning is his 18th studio album. The tally grows substantially when you add numerous collections of previously unreleased or re-recorded material, covers and live albums. The new album is available for pre-order on Ian's official website.

Merseybeast is the title track of Ian's 1996 album and a song I like a great deal, though I've never seen the video before now. This VH-1 broadcast clip comes with the added benefit of being introduced by Clare Grogan.

In 2021, Merseybeast was remastered and expanded to celebrate its 25th anniversary and you can find the digital version in Ian's stall in the camp of bands. Great stuff.

Guitar Hero

A very happy birthday to Graham Coxon, 56 today.

Four top tunes from Mr. Coxon: one solo, one group, one supergroup, one duo. All great.

1) Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery: Graham Coxon (2004)

2) Coffee + TV: Blur (1999)

3) I Put A Spell On You: The Jaded Hearts Club (2020)

4) Love Is All Pain: The WAEVE (2025)

The latter is from the 3-song Eternal EP, out on Friday and available here.

 

 

 

 

A Conversation With That Little Devil On Your Shoulder

Iraina Mancini returned with a single and video, Running For Your Life, at the beginning of February and it's another gorgeous slice of dramatic pop, with lush cinematic production and sumptuous vocals.

I was introduced to Iraina's music pretty much this time last year via a couple of remixes of songs from her debut album, Undo The Blue. The title track was reanimated by Beyond The Wizards Sleeve aka Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, whilst Sugar High had been remixed in 2023 by Saint Etienne. 

With artists like that involved, you expect top quality but even so, both remixes are superb.

  

Which inevitably lead back to Undo The Blue the album, issued on Pete Paphides' rather wonderful Needle Mythology label. Ten songs brimming with confidence, poise and hooks, to the extent that you'd be forgiven for thinking that this is Iraina's second or third album. No first release nerves here, this is an accomplished and satisfying debut.

Here are a couple of examples: 

 

And, after that satisfying feast, for dessert, Undo The Blue in French.

And, to finish, Iraina performing Undercover, Wild Runaways and Deep End at Buffalo Studios in London, in 2021. 

  

 

Hope, Visions, Centre, Living, Seeing, Hell

Just the one video today, but it's a good one: Blind Vision by Blancmange.

Released in the spring of 1983, it reached #10 in the UK singles chart the week of 21st May.

I'm pretty sure I won't have seen the video at the time, although Blancmange did make an appearance on Top Of The Pops. it's an odd clip, to say the least. Neil Arthur does a lot of running (or singing from a lectern), whilst Stephen Luscombe plays all manner of instruments, including old school microphones as percussion, little of which you will hear on the song.

And then there is the actor replicating the 1940s housewife illustrations on this and their previous singles. Lots of creepy rictus grinning and the inevitable 'hand splatting a plate of blancmange' shot.

It's completely bonkers and completely brilliant.

Blind hope, blind visions, blind centre

One centre

Blind living and seeing, blind hell

Blind hell

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons

No reasons for action

In a dream when I'm reading pages full of words

The harder you look, 

It's getting hard, it's getting hard, it's not

A dream's a dream

In a dream when I'm reading pages

Pages full of words

It's, it's getting hard

It's not, it's not, it, it

It's getting harder

It's getting harder

Ooh, it's getting hard

Hold me closer now

Hold me closer

That's blind vision (blind vision)

Push me harder now

Harder, push me harder

That's blind hell (blind hell)

Keep me spinning around and round

The blind centre (blind centre)

Now I'm turning miles above the ground

That's blind hell (blind hell, blind hell)

Blind hope, blind visions, blind centre

One centre

Blind living and seeing, blind hell

Blind hell

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Strawberries On Sunday

Robert Forster has a new album out in May called Strawberries and he's obligingly released the title track as a video this weekend.

Strawberries features Robert duetting with wife Karin Bäumler in what I presume is their kitchen, whilst the family black cat attempts to steal the show in the background. The song and the video are a joy from start to finish.

I''m not only looking forward to the album, but also Robert's return to the UK later this year for a few dates, including a show in Cardiff. Never having seen him or The Go-Betweens live on stage before, I bought tickets without hesitation. Very excited.

All this singing about strawberries inevitably made me think about other such songs, so here are five more. I rigidly stuck to the plural, so no Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles (or Candy Flip, for that matter) or Strawberry Line from the current Beak> album, even though it's brilliant.

Instead, and perhaps inevitably, things continue with Strawberries by Asobi Seksu, a beautiful song from the 2007 album called - what else? - Citrus. The single was accompanied by fine remixes by The Whip, CSS and out-shoegazing the original, Ulrich Schnauss.

Next up is Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It's Wintertime), a 1985 single by The Dentists. I'd like to say that I was hip to the Medway Scene bands as a 14 year old but I'd didn't even know there was a Medway Scene at the time. Frankly, I barely knew that there was a Bristol scene, let alone anywhere further from home.  

I first heard this on the 2005 compilation Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996 and, had I got there 20 years earlier, it would have been right up my street.

Fast forward to 2014 and Franz Ferdninand, with a low-key release of Fresh Strawberries, on 7' and promo CD single only, although there is a striking monochrome video. Fresh Strawberries closes Side 1 of Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand's 4th album released the previous year. 

The penultimate choice is Taste The Strawberries by War Against Sleep, the non de plume of Duncan Fleming, described as an "ongoing battle against the absurd waking dream that passes for life, in which he plunders the hidden treasures of a thousand charity shop records, writing songs that tingle the spine, move the soul and lift the spirit".

I'm a recent convert and I have to say that I'm all in. There are five albums available on Bandcamp, Taste The Strawberries taken from the 2008 debut Pleasure Complex. I will also have the pleasure of seeing Duncan perform live next month, in a special show with Emily Breeze at the Cube Microplex in Bristol.

There is only way to wrap up this half dozen though, and the one singular exception to the strawberries (plural) theme. That, of course, is Strawberry Switchblade. 

I selected their cover of Jolene, as a tribute to Dolly Parton, whose husband of 60 years, passed away last week. Whilst Dolly's career went into the stratosphere, Carl Dean intentionally kept a low profile, continuing to focus on his Nashville-based asphalt-paving business. 

However, as Dolly revealed decades later, Jolene was inspired by her husband's experience of a cashier at his local bank, who developed a crush on him.

As an impressionable adolescent, I thought Strawberry Switchblade were fantastic. My crush on Jill Bryson, though in the video and TV appearances for Jolene, Rose McDowall was an arresting sight in a leather zip-up one-piece, coming on like a Gothic Emma Peel from The Avengers.

Jolene was released in 1985, and sounds very much of its time, including a musical nod to Bronski Beat's cover of I Feel Love by Donna Summer. I still own and cherish the 12" single, but can it really be forty years old?!

 

 

 

 

 

If I Were A Richman

 
ScottishTeeVee is a treasure trove of archive music performances and well worth a regular visit. Today's discovery is half an hour of Jonathan Richman, recorded live at the Otto Zutz Club in Barcelona, Spain on 10th April 1986.

It was originally broadcast on TV3 Televisió de Catalunya, so it's heavily edited and intercut with other footage and interview snippets with Jonathan, meaning that several of the songs are little more than snippets.

As a whole though, it's a lot of fun. Jonathan dances badly, claps his hands and - on Wipe Out and La Bamba - blows some sax. 

1) The Tag Game

2) Ice Cream Man

3) It's You

4) This Kind Of Music

5) Wipe Out

6) Rockin' Shopping Center

7) I'm A Little Dinosaur

8) La Bamba

9) Come Back To Rock And Roll

10) The Beach

11) UFO Man

12) Let's Take A Trip

13) Vincent Van Gogh

14) Give Paris A Chance

15) Chewing Gum Wrapper

16) That Summer Feeling

Ayers And Graces

Celebrating Roy Ayers aka Roy Edward Ayers Jr., 10th September 1940 to 4th March 2025.

News broke on Thursday that Roy had been added to the already significant toll of musicians this year. Barely into the third month of 2025 and already we've lost Angie Stone, Albert 'Junior' Lowe, Bill Fay, Chris Jasper, David Johansen, Gerry Arling, Gwen Macrae, Jamie Muir, Jane McGarrigle, Jerry Butler, Ken Parker, Marianne Faithfull, Mike Ratledge, Peter Yarrow, Roberta Flack, Sam Moore...too many, yet so many I've not even listed here.

I was at a gig on Thursday night and, unexpectedly, Roy's passing was acknowledged with a cover of this song.

  

Liquid Love was written and recorded with Sylvia Cox on vocals sometime between 1976 and 1981. Incredibly, it remained unreleased until the 20th Century, when it appeared on the Virgin Ubiquity II compilation in 2005.

As it will (hopefully still) be Bandcamp Friday when you read this, I'm happy to report that you can obtain a copy of the 2023 single release, backed with What’s the T?, on digital and 7" vinyl.

If that's not enough Ayers for you, then BBE has also reissued Virgin Ubiquity II (Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981). Shiny discs are long gone, but you can still get the digital and rather lovely triple vinyl formats, featuring Liquid Love and a dozen other gems.

Note (1): Gig review to follow, and hopefully there won't be a month-long wait this time, as for poor John Grant.

Note (2): As I doing final edits on this post, I also discovered another grim addition to the 2025 toll: Brian James of The Damned passed on 6th March. I will come back to this in another post.

Have I Told You Ledley That I Love You

If you had told me even 24 hours ago that I would be raving about a love letter to Tottenham Hotspur legend Ledley King from a Bristol-based, London-rooted jazz duo named after their football hero, I would have given you a quizzical look.

Yet, here I am. One of the hundreds of music-related mailshots that I receive every week led me to Ledley aka saxophonist Chris Williams and trombonist Raph Clarkson, whose shared experience of Spurs season tickets and, according to the Times in 2009, "Tottenham's 25th best player of all time" inspired their self-titled album.

Chris and Raph are joined by bassist, arranger and composer Riaan Vosloo, who is credited with co-writes, recording, post-production and 'electronics'. 

The album's been a while coming: recorded in the basement of Cafe Kino in Bristol on 7th October 2022; mixed at J&J Studio, also in Bristol, on 8th August 2023; released on vinyl and digital on 4th April 2025. 

Based on the four 'songs' and three 'videos' made available on Bandcamp and YouTube respectively, Ledley the album promises to be an intriguing, immersive experience.

Ledley the band are playing live at the Cube Microplex in Bristol on 8th April. The evening will kick off with "a solo electronic and percussive set of cut and spliced animated video with a playful and abstract, Dadaist and humorous approach" from percussionist and drummer

Tony Orrell.

Chris and Raph will then perform together, before an ensemble finale with Riaan and Tony. All for a tenner.

Until I left Bristol in the late 2000s, I used to go to the Cube loads. Back then, it was a humble cinema offering some cult classics, past and present, with occasional nights offering some live musical accompaniment and was always a gem of the city (off) centre. These days the Cube is described as an "arts venue, independent museum, and progressive social wellbeing enterprise".

The 'microplex' appellation was a nod and a thumbed nose to the multiplexes that were cropping up on the outskirts and subsequently in the heart of the Cabot Circus shopping centre. It says something about Bristol's maverick and creative spirit that whilst the latter multiplex is now long gone, the Cube Microplex endures.

Sadly, I'm going to have to give Ledley a miss this time, as I'm going to another gig the following night in Bath and these days I just can't squeeze in two consecutive outings in a working week. Hopefully there will be a 'next time'.

In the meantime, one more for the Bandcamp Friday shopping list.

 

 

 

 

A Pair Of Portmanteaus

Parvale = Neil Parnell & Ian Vale

Jezebell = Jesse Fahnestock & Darren Bell

I do love a portmanteau name and when Nein Records label head Neil Parnell teamed up with Ian Vale, Parvale was created and new EP Breaker City the first fruits.

The lead track is an unashamedly heartfelt love letter to Acid and Breakbeat, blending the best of both into 345 seconds of compelling body music. 

I've greatly enjoyed Neil's releases and remixes as Tronik Youth and relatively recently caught up with Ian's work, so I was pretty much bought into this concept before hearing the track. That first listen sealed the deal.

Who else do you turn to for a remix than Jezebell? In their own words, Breaker City is "gone cut'n'paste and pop 'n' lock", dropping the tempo but not the attitude. A recurring sample of "nice 'n' slow" provides the remix with its name and, as you might expect, it's a slick, groovy six minutes that thrills from start to finish.

Closing track Drip Dry brings the BPMs right back up, another consumate and confident example of Neil and Ian's ability to pull from the past whilst reaching forward. At once evocative of the late 80s/early 90s and fresh as a springtime flower, it's another winner for me.  

Breaker City was released on 21st February but if you hang on to Bandcamp Friday to buy, even more of your hard earned pennies will reach the artists. And whilst you're at it, check out more of the Nein Records and Jezebell back catalogue too.

Blamed It On The Moon

When I got to see Emily Breeze live in concert for the first time last February, I was mightily impressed by support act Mumble Tide, in spite of a cluster of 'scenester' assholes near the front who talked (well, shouted) through most of their set.

I vowed to get Mumble Tide's back catalogue at the next Bandcamp Friday and hoped that I would get to see them perform live again.

Well, it's another Bandcamp Friday this week and, even better, Mumble Tide's debut album os out on 1st April and available for pre-order. They're also playing at SWX in Bristol as part of the Ritual Union event on 29th March, with a further date in London in May followed by a UK tour in October and November.

Mumble Tide released Pea Soup a couple of weeks ago, the third single/preview from the album Might As Well Play Another One. I've included the videos for the other two, The Rails and album title track (more or less) MAWPAO. 

(The #BlogCon25 massive may be particularly impressed by the taster of The Galleries shopping centre and Cabot Circus car park ahead of their gathering in Bristol in June)

It's fair to say that Gina Leonard and Ryan Rogers have transcended their self-described "Bristol bedroom pop" and created something quite wonderful. I'm looking forward to hearing the album.

 
 

Grant My Wish...At Last!

"I think I’m more likely to see 

a ‘Pale Green Goat’ in the wild 

before you post the review..🙄"

I received this text from Mike two weeks ago and to be honest, I could hardly blame him.

After all, it had been nearly three weeks since we had both sat in the presence of John Grant and his band, performing live at the Beacon in Bristol on Saturday 1st February 2025.

A fortnight after Mike's message, half-joking, half-resigned, and a month after the concert, at last - at last! - some words, a photo and a Dubhed selection, recreating the set list. 

If your eyes have been unable to resist glancing down, then you'll see that it was a formidable set list: 7 of the 11 songs from current album The Art Of The Lie, 5 from Pale Green Ghosts (2013), 3 from debut Queen Of Denmark (2010), a couple from Boy From Michigan (2021), one from Love Is Magic (2018) and absolutely zero from Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (2015).  

 

Before all that though, a special mention for Big Special. The duo of Joe Hicklin (singer) and Callum Moloney (everything else, but mainly drums) had been scheduled to open for John Grant on 25th October 2024, before John fell ill and the show was postponed.

 

Thankfully, the pair were here to open proceedings and they were on top form, with Callum adding 'warm up' to his extensive CV.

 

"We are Big Special. 

We are not big and we are not special."

 

" We are what is known as the support act. 

We are contractually obliged to get you ready for John Grant. 

Are you ready?" 

(cue call and response with the audience) 

 

"This is our single. 

It didn't get any play on the radio. 

I can't think why. 

This is Shithouse."

A parental advisory for the liberal effing and jeffing throughout this and other songs, none of which detracts from how truly special their 30-minute set was. Joe pretty much left the between song banter to Callum and let his vocals, er, speak for themselves. 

 

Switching from one line to the next from a Black Country Mike Skinner to a Scott Walker-esque croon to stratospheric, operatic high notes, it was incredible to believe that all of this was coming from one body, but it was and it was something to behold.

 

When Callum asked the audience for the final time, "Are you ready for John Grant?", the response was raucous, but honestly I could easily have enjoyed another 30, 45 minutes of Big Special. Believe me, they are big and they are special. 

 

I bought the album the following morning.

 

So, a tough act to follow? Well yes, but we are talking about John Grant here. Though inevitably, there was a huge weight of expectation. As I wrote the day following the postponed gig in October 2024, as series of unfortunate events have meant that I'd missed John Grant concerts five times in the past ten years. Surely cruel fate couldn't intervene for a sixth time?!

 

Thankfully not. Music. Lights. Band taking position on stage. Then the great man himself. And I mean literally. Even from our lofty vantage point in the lower tier, face on to the stage, John was head and shoulders above his bandmates.

 

The set opened with an unfamiliar, funky passage, which meant that it was a song from the current album, The Art Of The Lie. I should explain. When the album was released last June, I made a conscious decision not to buy or listen to it until after the concert. That way, I'd get to experience the songs for the first time, performed live on stage. It was a bit of a stretch with a four month wait, but what could go wrong? Little did I know.

 

When the Bristol date was postponed and rescheduled for February 2025, my resolve remained firm and so, seven months later, I got to hear All That School For Nothing and another half dozen songs from The Art Of The Lie for the very first time. It was worth the prolonged wait. 

 

Of course, I bought the album the following morning.

 

From the groovy opening straight into a pulsing, persistent performance of Black Belt, before taking things down a notch for Marz and It Doesn't Matter To Him, followed by a couple more songs from The Art Of The Lie. At some point, one of the stage crew has dashed onstage to drape a cape around John's shoulders.

 

It's A Bitch briefly ups the tempo and, after one person gets up in the aisle to John's right to groove along, more quickly mass...although oddly gravitating to that one area, to the extent that some audience members pick their way along the rows from the other side of the hall to join the throng.

After that brief blip of BPMs, there is a further lengthy sequence of downtempo songs, John taking a seat at the piano, back to the crowd, voice resonating all around us. It's one thing to hear the studio recordings of these songs or even view radio sessions and live performances online. None of that compares to being in the room, with real shivers-down-the-spine moments, hearing those words, the music - that voice - in real time.

 

I could single out the versions of Glacier or The Rusty Bull, though really there is not a single misplaced vocal or musical note, even when the live rendition takes the song some distance from the version I first heard on an album.

 

A trio of songs from The Art Of The Lie follows, all more than holding their own with the better known tunes. Although I don't need to remind myself that I am one of the few - if not the only - one in the room who is unfamiliar with the album as the audience frequently join in. 

 

Maybe John's love of cussing provides a safe space for others to release all the expletives that they contain back in the 'real world'. Meek AF is another addition to that growing list of John's potty mouthed pop tunes, and Chicken Bones from Queen Of Denmark gets an airing shortly after, closing the show.

 

After a blink-and-you'll-miss-it break, John and the band are back on stage for a two-song encore. John's wearing a rich blue smock at this point and takes up at the piano again for the last 'new' song, Laura Lou.

 

The finale is - what else? - GMF, which is nothing less than fantastic. Two hours, eighteen songs and a ten year wait that finally, finally paid off in more ways than I could have imagined.

 

And yes, John Grant is the greatest motherfucker that I'm ever going to meet.

 

1) All That School For Nothing (Album Version) (2024)

2) Black Belt (Album Version) (2013)

3) Marz (Album Version) (2010)

4) It Doesn't Matter To Him (Single Version ft. Beth Orton) (2013)

5) It's A Bitch (Album Version) (2024)

6) Daddy (Album Version) (2024)

7) It's Easier (Album Version) (2010)

8) Is He Strange (KEXP Avast! Session) (2018)

9) Glacier (Strongroom Session) (2013)

10) Pale Green Ghosts (Nivolt Rmx) (2013)

11) Boy From Michigan (Album Version) (2021)

12) The Rusty Bull (Album Version) (2021)

13) Father (Album Version) (2024)

14) Meek AF (Album Version) (2024)

15) The Child Catcher (Album Version) (2024)

16) Chicken Bones (Album Version) (2010)

17) Laura Lou (Album Version) (2024)

18) GMF (Album Version) (2013)

2010: Queen Of Denmark: 3, 7, 16

2013: John Grant Gets Schooled EP: 4

2013: Pale Green Ghosts: 2, 18

2013: Pale Green Ghosts EP: 10

2013: Strongroom EP: 9

2018: KEXP Avast! Session EP: 8

2021: Boy From Michigan: 11, 12

2024: The Art Of The Lie: 1, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 17

Grant My Wish (1:40:23) (KF) (Mega)

 

Big special thanks to Mike for the headline picture of John onstage. I was so mesmerised by the entire show that I forgot to take a single photo!

Decadance V: 1999

After five week(end)s and ten posts, the Decadance series ends inevitably with 1999. 

Unlike my previous look at the 1980s, which largely recreated existing mixtapes, each one of these posts started completely from scratch and tried to imagine what my 20-something self would have tried to cram onto each side of a C90.

It's been a lot of fun, but a lot more time consuming. Even compared to my usual posts containing a Dubhed selection, each one has taken about three times longer to complete, sometimes at the expense of other planned posts (like gig reviews, with apologies to Mike...it's coming!)

I'm really glad I did it though, not least because it's enabled to me to revisit lots of artists and tunes that I haven't heard in ages. I also had the impression going into this that, unlike the Decade series, this one would be largely comprised of outlier music that only rarely troubled the UK singles charts. 

I decided to track the highest chart placings for each post and it turns out that my latter assumption was way off. Despite being subjected to some of the most dire, bland, identikit pop pap throughout the 90s, the decade also delivered some great music that made more of an impression (however briefly) with the record buying public. There are way more Top 10 hits than non-charting singles throughout, for example.

Decadance has delivered 120 songs by 110 individual artists, meaning that some - but not many - appeared more than once.  No surprise perhaps to find that Julian Cope and Massive Attack were the only to have three bites of the cherry, though the revelation that the former had at least 3 hits in the 1990s may.

Honorable mentions for those who managed two appearances: Fluke, Lionrock, The Sabres Of Paradise, Saint Etienne, Suede and, just under the wire with today's selection, The Chemical Brothers. Likewise, Dot Allison, by dint of her previous outing with One Dove.

So, let's have a look at who made the final dozen of the millennium.

1999 starts off with The Chemical Brothers and Hey Boy Hey Girl. I had assumed that like Block Rockin' Beats before it, this song had gone straight in at #1, but no. Keeping Ed and Tom off the top spot were Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann and the previous week's #1, Sweet Like Chocolate by Shanks & Bigfoot (more of which later).

As with most singles at this time, it was all about first week sales, usually bolstered by multiple formats offering slightly different B-sides and versions. Unfortunately, the following week Hey Boy Hey Girl dropped to #6 and it was downhill from there.

A song that deserved far better than its peak of #54 was Honey by Billie Ray Martin. A great pop song, produced by Dave Ball, remixed by Chicane and Deep Dish, it didn't get the love (or radio play) that it deserved. Time to address that injustice here.

It's hard to comprehend that it's been more than a quarter of a century since Dot Allison released her debut solo single (Mo' Pop) and album (Afterglow). Again, how was Mo' Pop not at least Top 40, higher even? Thankfully, Dot has continued to record and release wonderful music ever since.

I know, I know, there are many other and arguably better James songs that should have seen them appear earlier in the series. That said, I have a real soft spot for I Know What I'm Here For. I didn't buy the single or album but obtained it via Q magazine's 'best albums of 1999' freebie CD at the end of the year and it's remained a much-loved song since.

The Stone Roses made their sole appearance in my Decade mixtape series in 1989, with Fool's Gold. It seems fitting therefore that Ian Brown should make a solo appearance in 1999 with Love Like A Fountain. Never one for modesty, this song was a precursor to Ian's second album, titled Golden Greats. 

Great is a word I'd use to describe GusGus, the unlikely 4AD signing from Iceland, who brought a glacial cool to the dancefloor. Again, many other worthy contenders throughout the mid- to late-90s, but the opening seconds of Starlovers make me want to move every time. And Daníel Ágúst's voice is just sublime.

Lovefool did nothing for me, if I'm honest, and I figured The Cardigans to be just another band that were quickly in and out of favour. Then I heard Your Favourite Game and Erase/Rewind and really liked them both. By sheer coincidence, I'd placed the latter at track 7 in this selection before discovering it's peak UK singles chart placing was...7. 

I remember Sweet Like Chocolate by Shanks & Bigfoot as much for it's crap video, which I haven't seen since but which probably looks even more horribly dated now. Nothing to detract from what was quite a clever dance/pop crossover hit (it was #1 in May 1999). I normally avoided generically titled CD compilations like the plague, but I succumbed to the appeal of The Best Ibiza Anthems...Ever!, which included the Ruff Driverz remix of Sweet Like Chocolate featured here. It remains the only version of the song in my music collection.

Beck was back in 1999, although he'd never really been away, having released his previous album the year before. Sexx Laws was a bit different though, offering up a (retro)poppier take that I found quite appealing, as I did the rest of the Midnite Vultures album. I've know idea what esteem or place in the canon this holds with Beck fans. For me, it was the right music at the right time. Did it appear in the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me? If it didn't, it could have.

The final Mandatory Andrew Weatherall (MAW) appearance didn't present the same challenges as 1998. Another Two Lone Swordsmen remix, though this time included on the official CD single release with full vocals and a smidge under five minutes. That the song happens to be Swansong by Rae & Christian featuring the wonderful vocals of Veba aka Beverley Green is just icing on the cake. Andrew and Keith Tenniswood excelled themselves with this one.

Despite being their most commercially successful decade, R.E.M. make their one and only appearance as the penultimate song in the very last post of the series. What a song, though. At My Most Beautiful is a thing of, well, beauty although the jingle bell backing always had me thinking that it must have been released in time to exploit the Christmas market. Not so, it was March! 

I bought the CD single in the bargain bins, many moons later. I'd not heard the lead song at this point and got it solely for the bonus live versions of Country Feedback and The Passenger (Iggy Pop), performed on Later...With Jools Holland. At My Most Beautiful has since become a personal favourite.

How to follow that and close out the series and the decade? By going back to January 1999 and Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp by Mercury Rev, that's how. The album edit here comes in at just over 3 minutes, stretching my imaginary C90 tape to almost breaking point, though there was no question of ending this selection in any other way. Just a joy from start to finish, which then inspired me to dig out the full length version and remix by The Chemical Brothers to keep it going on and on.

Thank you for sticking with me for the last few weekends. I hope that, as it did for me, these weekly trips have been a reminder of some great music and artists, many of whom are still going in some shape or form today, continuing to add to their rich and varied history.

I suspect that when I get around to a series on the Noughties, the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts will be vast, yet I know that like Decadance and Decade, there will be many gems to be uncovered and shared. I'm not planning on doing it any time soon, possibly not even this year, though I have come up with the series name. 

Decayed. 

1) Hey Boy Hey Girl (Radio Edit): The Chemical Brothers

2) Honey (Chicane Radio Edit): Billie Ray Martin

3) Mo' Pop (Album Version): Dot Allison

4) I Know What I'm Here For (Album Version): James

5) Love Like A Fountain (Radio Version): Ian Brown

6) Starlovers (Edit): GusGus

7) Erase/Rewind (Cut La Roc Vocal Mix): The Cardigans

8) Sweet Like Chocolate (Ruff Driverz Vocal): Shanks & Bigfoot ft. Sharon Woolf

9) Sexx Laws (Album Version): Beck

10) Swansong (Two Lone Swordsmen Vocal): Rae & Christian ft. Veba

11) At My Most Beautiful (Radio Remix): R.E.M.

12) Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (Album Version Edit): Mercury Rev

31st January 1999: Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp EP (#26): 12

28th February 1999: Erase/Rewind EP (#7): 7

14th March 1999: At My Most Beautiful EP (#10): 11

28th March 1999: Afterglow (#81): 3

18th April 1999: Starlovers EP (#62): 6

23rd May 1999: Sweet Like Chocolate EP (#1): 8

6th June 1999: Hey Boy Hey Girl EP (#3): 1

13th June 1999: Swansong EP (#17): 10

25th July 1999: Millionaires (#22): 4

15th August 1999: Honey EP (#54): 2

31st October 1999: Love Like A Fountain EP (#23): 5

14th November 1999: Midnite Vultures (#27): 9

Side Two (47:01) (KF) (Mega)

Decadance V: 1998

Side 1 of an imaginary 90s compilation cassette, spooling out in 1998.

This selection went through several last minute changes as I discovered that several songs, whilst listed as or appearing on albums in 1998, weren't released or charted as singles until 1999. You may see some of those tomorrow, but the short list was already rather long, so maybe not...

Not the substitutes were sloppy seconds and, in what I think is a record for this series, a third of the selection all hit the UK #1 spot. Mind you, this was at a time when new releases would crash into the Top 5 in the first week and promptly disappear without trace the next. I'm not even sure that the guaranteed Top Of The Pops appearance carried all that much weight by then.

This was the first time I struggled to fill the MAW slot in this series. In 1998, Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood's cuts as Two Lone Swordsmen tended to be glitchy, queasy electro numbers, either very short or very long and with little or no vocals. 

The only real contender for me was their epic remix of Come Together by Spiritualized. The only problems being that it was over fifteen and a half minutes long, with not the faintest trace of Jason Pierce to be found. 

My solution - Lord Sabre forgive me - was to create my own vocal edit. I found a bootleg MP3 of the filtered vocal of Come Together and with some painstaking cutting, editing and sequencing, ended up with a version that comes in at just over four and a half minutes. The sound quality is shonky. the editing amaterish, but it's not as awful as I thought. Please feel free to disagree, I will not argue!

Cornershop were one the surprise #1s, entirely thanks to Norman Cook who was everywhere at the time as Fatboy Slim. Brimful Of Asha was a (very) modest hit in 1997, but Norman liked it, wanted to include it in his sets but needed to speed it up a bit. Cue the trademark big beats and carousel swirls and a chart topper was born. I still quite get over Tjinder Singh sounding like a member of Alvin & The Chipmunks and I will also prefer the original over the remix, but I'm happy that it gave Cornershop (and their album) a well-deserved boost.

A fair bit of rap here, from the masters Run-D.M.C. to new kids on the block Jurassic 5 and superb homegrown talent in Asian Dub Foundation. 

Roni Size Reprazent, er, represented my birthplace and, fresh off of winning the 1997 Mercury Music Prize, ploughed the prize money straight back into Bristol. Not the only Bristol artist though: Massive Attack return, this time with Elizabeth Fraser for Teardrop. Even the truncated promo edit featured here is phenomenal, and seeing it performed live last year was a real 'pinch me' moment.

Madonna returned with William Orbit at the controls for Frozen, with a Chris Cunningham-created video that had Madge looking her Gothic best. A slew of remixes accompanied the single as you might expect, though Stereo MC's version was head and shoulders above the rest.

Just outside the Top 30 was Don't Die Just Yet by David Holmes, sampling Serge Gainsbourg with aplomb. David remixed Failure by Skinny, label mates with Dido who also provided backing vocals on the song.

Speaking of samples, somehow Italian duo The Tamperer aka Alex Farolfi and Mario Fargetta managed to clear a hefty sample of The Jacksons' 1981 hit Can You Feel It? for their own song. 

Frankly, the sample does all the heavy lifting, but American singer and actor Maya Days gamely adapts lyrics from Urban Discharge's 1995 single Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch), including the unforgettable line, "What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her?"  They don't write 'em like that anymore...

As a counter to all of the hits, 1998 closes with a 'flop' single from what proved to be one of my favourite albums of the year, by the wonderful Solex aka Elisabeth Esselink. Solex vs. The Hitmeister featured 12 songs, every single one featuring Solex in the title. I hadn't heard any of the music, but was so taken by the review I read that I tracked it down and bought the CD. A fabulously quirky album and a perfect way to round off the year.

Amazingly, sadly (for me at least), Sunday will see the final instalment of this alternative tour of the 1990s. Pre-millennium tension? Not 'arf!

 
1) Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix): Asian Dub Foundation

2) Concrete Schoolyard (Clean Radio Edit): Jurassic 5

3) Failure (Radio Mix): Skinny ft. Lee Stevens, Dido & Pauline Taylor

4) Watching Windows (Roni Size Vocal Remix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Onallee

5) Brimful Of Asha (Brighton) (Norman Cook Remix Single Version): Cornershop

6) It's Like That (Drop The Break Radio Edit): Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins

7) Feel It (Blunt Edit): The Tamperer ft. Maya

8) Frozen (Stereo MC's Remix Edit): Madonna

9) Don't Die Just Yet (Radio Edit): David Holmes

10) Teardrop (Edit): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser

11) Come Together (Two Lone Swordsmen Meet Khayem Downtown) (Vocal Edit): Spiritualized

12) Solex All Licketysplit (Album Version): Solex

4th January 1998: Don't Die Just Yet EP (#33): 9

22nd February 1998: Brimful Of Asha EP (#1): 5

1st March 1998: Frozen EP (#1): 8

8th March 1998: Watching Windows EP (#28): 4

15th March 1998: It's Like That EP (#1): 6

5th April 1998: Failure EP (#31): 3

12th April 1998: Solex vs. The Hitmeister (#n/a): 12

3rd May 1998: Teardrop EP (#10): 10

24th May 1998: Feel It EP (#1): 7

31st May 1998: The Abbey Road EP (#39): 11

28th June 1998: Black White EP (#52): 1

18th October 1998: Concrete Schoolyard EP (#35): 2

Side One (46:56) (KF) (Mega)