Melbourne combo Cut Copy returned this year, half a decade on from their last album, with a trio of new singles followed by a new full length offering, Moments.
All three singles - BelongTo You, When This Is Over and album opener Solid - are available via Bandcamp. The latter comes with an exclusive non-album B-side, A Decade Long Sunset.
Moments isn't currently available on Bandcamp, but you can find digital formats in the other usual places. If you prefer something more tactile, CD and coloured vinyl can also be purchased elsewhere. Have a browse.
Coming to Cut Copy in the late 2000s via free MP3 downloads courtesy of RCRD LBL and The Hype Machine, I was really only familiar with remixes, either of their own songs or those that they had done for other artists.
As we're a couple of weeks away from the final Bandcamp Friday of 2025, I've picked four from the archives for your consideration. If you're feeling flush/generous, I'd recommend the full release in all cases.
For the last of this week's look at my votes for The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, as prompted and published by No Badger Required last month, I'm skipping #10 and focusing on #9 and #8, respectively occupied by Blur and Gorillaz.
If this has immediately got your hackles rising, then I can only offer by way of consolation that you will not be seeing Mali Music (2002), The Good, The Bad & The Queen (2007) or Rocket Juice & The Moon (2012) in next week's final three posts, as none of these Albarn-fuelled projects made it to the NBR longlist, let alone shortlist.
So, let's start with Blur, the self-titled fifth album by Blur from 1997.
I didn’t mind Blur, but I was just never really into them. And I only really rooted for them during the fabricated Blur vs. Oasis face off because I found the Gallagher Brothers and their band tedious. Truth be told, I couldn't really give a shit either way.
In February 1997, I didn't own any Blur albums and I was not inclined to buy their latest release. I ended up hearing it a lot because my friends Vicky and Simon played Blur by Blur pretty much every time I visited them for a couple of months in early 1997.
That in itself was weird as, with the exception of Pulp who they both loved, their music tastes veered very much towards either the Spice Girls and Kylie, or the kind of kitsch deep cuts and 60s and 70s TV theme tunes to be found at the World Of Cheese club night in Bristol that we frequented.
But there was something about this album that clearly appealed to them both, and then me. And not just for Song 2, which is still bloody brilliant, nearly thirty years later.
I've mentioned previously that, with a few exceptions, the Britpop movement did little for me and although Blur predated the label, previous albums Parklife and The Great Escape were cited as defining records.
The eponymous Blur was something of a reaction against this, angry and introspective with sharper edges yet losing none of the singalong melodies that the band were renowned for. Each of the four singles displayed a different facet of the band, and there was more to be found in album tracks, such as Death Of A Party and Movin' On.
Although I didn't bite straight away, Blur's fifth ended up being the first album of theirs that I acquired. Given how fragmented the band reportedly were at the time of writing and recording Blur, it has stood the test of time as a surprisingly cohesive record.
Gorillaz beat Blur by a point in my scores because frankly it’s the best thing that Damon Albarn’s done. Ironically, Albarn has been quoted as saying that On Your Own, the third single from Blur's eponymous fifth album, is "one of the first ever Gorillaz tunes".
Collaborating with Jamie Hewlett and Dan The Automator and (possibly literally) a cast of thousands and hiding behind simian-based cartoon alter egos may have looked good on paper. In reality, their 2001 debut album was even better than that. Geniuz, even (sorry!)
Subconsciously, what I like about Gorillaz the band and the album is that although Damon Albarn is clearly the creative driving force, he's also in the background, regardless of whether it's a true democracy in reality. Yes, you hear his voice pop up throughout, but on singles like Clint Eastwood and 19/2000, the stars of the show are Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Miho Hatori.
And, if you're a fan of Jamie Hewlett's art, as I was, then the visual aspect of Gorillaz, which shaped not only the music releases and videos, but also the translation to live performances and the interactive elements of the website were unlike anything else out there.
My love of Gorillaz' debut extends to it's remix companion, Laika Come Home, released later the same year. In characteristically contrary fashion, I ended up buying this one before the album that birthed it. I'd never heard of Spacemonkeyz before (or since), but the promise of Gorillaz songs given a dub and reggae rinse was irresistible.
At the top of the page, the unrelated telly swipe is a scene from the Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe, the 1954 film adaptation of Daniel Defoe's 18th century novel, directed by Luis Buñuel.
The titular character is played by Dan O'Herlihy, seen here having just taken a big glug from a barrel of grog, discovered in the bowels of the shipwrecked vessel that marooned him in the first place.
With today's double header of The Velvet Underground and The Doors, I'm now over halfway through the countdown of my expanded notes for The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, collated, counted and curated by No Badger Required.
From a longlist of suggestions by members of the NBR Musical Jury, we were asked to vote and comment on our Top 20, with no guarantee that our personal choices would achieve a similar ranking or even appear in the Top 20 at all.
So it is with today's selection: one of these made the Top 5; the other didn't make the final countdown at all. But which?
If you haven't read or committed to memory the published Top 20, I will share it again in the final post here as a compare and contrast with my personal picks.
Without giving too much away, SWC noted that some of the Musical Jury voted for The Velvet Underground's third album from 1969, rather than their 1967 debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, as intended. This inevitably split the votes and impacted on the band's final placing.
Yep, I was one of those people who did that.
I even went so far as to comment that "I won’t pretend that this is my favourite VU album"... no, that would be The Velvet Underground & Nico, dummkopf!
Even the Iffypedia page on the third album opens with the warning message "Not to be confused with The Velvet Underground & Nico"!!
That aside, The Velvet Underground (1969) is an album that I’ve grown to appreciate far more over the years since I first heard it in the 1990s.
Back then, it felt too safe and straightforward by comparison with what had gone before, and as a fan of John Cale, I was predisposed to dislike the material following his sacking from the Velvets less favourably.
Time at least has enabled me to better appreciate the nuances and, let’s be honest, some pretty beautiful pop songs. My opinion still stands that Paul Quinn and Edwyn Collins recorded the definitive version of Pale Blue Eyes in 1984, but the song started here and it's one of Lou Reed's finest examples of pop songwriting.
Unfortunately due to the unfortunate case of mistaken identity, The Velvet Underground only managed a #12 placing on my voting slip.
At least I didn't make the same mistake with The Doors' debut, which stormed in at #4 in my Top 20 eponymous albums.
Like The Velvet Underground & Nico, a Sixties album that is very much rooted in the Eighties, as far as my experience of the band and their music is concerned. And inextricably linked to the VHS era, too.
The thrill for me of going to the local video shop to rent tapes was as much about feeding my insatiable appetite for music as it was for films, as there were growing number of music video compilations and concert recordings available, which would never be broadcast on the four TV channels in the UK, BBC1, BBC2, ITV and the relatively new Channel 4.
So, on a personal level, The Doors’ first album goes hand-in-hand with the Dance On Fire video compilation, the thrill of Break On Through (To The Other Side) and Light My Fire matched on vinyl by the respective promo clips and appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Not a duff song amongst the first ten, and number eleven is the eleven-minute epic The End, which took Dylan’s bar and raised it, bringing the album to an incredible close.
Incredible then, that I thought – and I still think – that second album Strange Days is even better! But that's a story for another post.
Heading up today's post is Dr. Sam Beckett, the character played by Scott Bakula in the US TV series, Quantum Leap, which ran for four years, five seasons and 97 episodes between 1989 and 1993.
That perplexed facial expression was Sam's default in pretty much every episode, as he found himself in a new scenario - and time, and body - before spending the next forty-odd minutes doing the right thing. This snap off the telly is from the very final episode, Mirror Image, the ending of which has caused endless speculation and debate since.
The Clash and The Specials open this week's trio of contenders for The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, as definitively counted down last month at No Badger Required.
No question that both are amongst the most important bands of my lifetime, respectively producing some the most incredible music of the 1970s and 1980s, inspiring and influencing countless other artists that have followed.
Both made the final 10 in the NBR Top 20. Neither did on my voting slip, coming in at #13 and #14 respectively. How come?
Well, to be honest I listen more often to London Calling and Combat Rock than The Clash’s first album, probably Sandinista! too, though not Give ‘Em Enough Rope and certainly not Cut The Crap.
So, does that mean it’s either my third or fourth favourite Clash album? Hmmm....
The doubts start kicking in as soon as Janie Jones opens the album...
…and The Clash contains their superlative cover of Junior Murvin’s Police & Thieves...
...and it’s a great album, by anyone else’s standards.
It's just not the greatest album by The Clash.
I was still at primary school when 2-Tone hit it's stride. I ended up sticking with Madness and never going quite so deep with The Specials, making the leap (frog) to secondary school with Fun Boy Three aka Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding.
The first - only - record of theirs that I bought as a teen was Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA in 1984. Jerry Dammers and John Bradbury aside, it was essentially a different band, to the best of my knowledge only Dick Cuthell also appearing on The Specials' debut album.
At the start of the 21st century, I bought Stereo-Typical, the definitive 3CD singles A’s & B’s collection, but somehow I never got around to The Specials' albums.
Opening with a superb cover of Dandy Livingstone's 1967 classic A Message To You Rudy (not that I knew that it was a cover when I first heard it, age 8), the mix of versions and originals only highlighted how strong The Specials' own writing was: Nite Klub, Concrete Jungle, (Dawning Of A) New Era.
As an album title, Specials not only states the name of the band, but also the quality of the songs within.
Less than two years later after my and JC's compilations, and my first proper listen to The Specials' incredible first album, Terry Hall was gone. The impact of this album has gone deeper and deeper with every listen.
For today's tenuous topper photo, we move from 11 angry men (The Clash and The Specials' combined headcount) to 12 Angry Men, the 1957 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda. I 'recorded' it a while back when it was screened on Turner Classic Movies and really should get around to watching it again.
Side 2 of an imaginary mixtape, documenting each year of the 2000s.
2003 saw the USA invade Iraq and, by year end, capture Saddam Hussein. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere, with the tragic loss of seven astronauts. Iconic aircraft Concorde made it's final flight. Someone cheated on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? And Jemini, the UK's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, came last with nil points.
Much as I'm drawn to the musical underdog, I'll manage your disappointment by saying now that Jemini do not appear in today's pick of dozen songs from 2003. Instead, it's the usual eclectic mix of hits and misses and hopefully a few surprises.
Kicking off with an unexpected partnership, The Chemical Brothers returned with one of two new singles for a 'best of' compilation, featuring The Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne is on fine form on The Golden Path, narrating a tale of the afterlife that is propelled along on a sea of beats in a very pleasing way.
Another nostalgia fest is 70s 80s by Nightmares On Wax, rapper LSK aka Leigh Kenny recounting childhood memories of Doc Martens, racism, riots, Crackerjack and Jim'll Fix It. It was nearly a decade later before the horror of the latter was exposed via Operation Yewtree.
Electric Six seemed to come out of nowhere with a crazy video and a crazy song that was strangely compelling. I bought the remix single as I was a fan of Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont aka Les Rythmes Digitales aka The Thin White Duke (the other one). Actually, the best remix on the CD turned out to be by Finnish trioKilogram aka Mikko Viljakainen, Timo Kaukolampi and Tuomo Ilmari Puranen. Danger! High Voltage is a great song, in any variation.
The two big hitters of the year for me were Crazy In Love by Beyoncé, featuring her paramour and future husband Jay-Z and built upon the brilliant sample of Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So) by Chi-Lites. Still Beyoncé's defining moment, in my opinion.
The other was OutKast, who effectively released two solo albums as one with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Hey Ya! came from the latter, Andre 3000 creating an unforgettable tune (and video) that put everything else that he (and Big Boi) did in the shade.
Back to ingenious use of samples and David Holmes was also in on the act with his new combo The Free Association. Holmes had previously included Johnny Jones & The King Casuals' cover of the Hendrix classic Purple Haze in his excellent Come Get It I Got It mix. Here, the sampled riff underpins Everybody Knows, vocalists Petra Jean Phillipson and Sean Reveron swapping exchanges over the top.
Speaking of covers, Canadian DJ/producer Tiga recorded a cover of Hot In Herre by Nelly which was initially released by !K7 Records in 2002 as part of their DJ-Kicks series. It was picked up the following year by Skint Records, home of Fatboy Slim and Lo-Fidelity Allstars, for release in the UK with remixes by Richard X and Radio Slave. The original is still the best, featuring a guest spot from Jake Shears, who managed a higher UK chart position later the same year with his band Scissor Sisters. More of them next time.
18 was Moby's follow up to the ubiquitous Play album and, whilst there was a similar licensing frenzy to get his music into commercials everywhere, the music and the album as a whole didn't quite have the same impact, despite some impressive guest stars.
Jam For The Ladies wasn't officially released as a single in the UK, although it was readily available on 12" and CD from your friendly neighbourhood record shop. I went for the latter, not least because Moby brought along Princess Superstar to join Angie Stone and MC Lyte from the original album version. Angie was sadly lost to us in March this year.
Another friendship that bore fruit was Beth Gibbons and Paul Webb, the latter recording as Rustin Man. They'd known each other for a decade, when Beth wanted to be vocalist with Webb and Talk Talk bandmate Lee Harris' project .O.Rang. The rise of Portishead meant that Beth only got to record a little with .O.Rang, but when the former went on hiatus, an opportunity presented for Beth and Paul to record again, delivered the stunning album Out Of Season.
On a related indie tip, Turin Brakes enjoyed a Top 5 hit with Pain Killer, which prompted me to catch up with them and their second album, Ether Song. Lyrically, the imagery of cycling in the rain and catching a cold shouldn't be as uplifting as it is, but the song is an absolute joy.
As is Soldier Girl by The Polyphonic Spree, headed by Tim DeLaughter and a seemingly literal cast of thousands (later including Annie Clark aka St. Vincent). Soldier Girl is presented here in its radio edit/single form, and is essentially a two-and-a-half minute chorus, Brilliant stuff.
Closing with the future retro sound of Danish dynamic duo The Raveonettes, namely Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo. Fantastic names all round. I love them and That Great Love Sound is as good a calling card as any for what The Raveonettes are about. That Great Love Sound first charted in August 2003 and was released the following year with brand new remixes by the man of the moment, Jacknife Lee. Incredibly, the single performed worse the second time around, failing to reach the Top 40. Proof perhaps that The Raveonettes got it right the first time...
And that's it for another year and another weekend.
What will next week have in store? Well... three #1s, one #100 (!), several 1980s and 1990s artists making an unexpected return, plus plenty of fresh young faces. Oh, and lots of lovely guitar riffs.
1) The Golden Path (Edit): The Chemical Brothers ft. The Flaming Lips
2) Danger! High Voltage (Kilogram Remix): Electric Six
3) 70s 80s (Radio Edit): Nightmares On Wax ft. LSK
4) Crazy In Love (Album Version): Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z
5) Everybody Knows (Album Version): The Free Association
6) Hot In Herre (Radio Edit) (Cover of Nelly) : Tiga ft. Jake Shears
7) Jam For The Ladies (Radio Mix): Moby ft. Princess Superstar, Angie Stone & MC Lyte
8) Hey Ya! (Radio Mix / Club Mix): OutKast
9) Pain Killer (Album Version): Turin Brakes
10) Tom The Model (Album Version): Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man
11) Soldier Girl (Radio Edit): The Polyphonic Spree
12) That Great Love Sound (Album Version): The Raveonettes
12th January 2003: Fire (#2): 2
23rd February 2003: Ether Song (#5): 9
2nd March 2003: Mind Elevation (#76): 3
9th March 2003: Out Of Season (#70): 10
6th April 2003: David Holmes Presents The Free Association (#74): 5
6th July 2003: Dangerously In Love (#1): 4
20th July 2003: The Beginning Stages Of... The Polyphonic Spree (#26): 11
27th July 2003: 18 (# n/a): 7
24th August 2003: Chain Gang Of Love (#34): 12
31st August 2003: Hot In Herre EP (#46): 6
21st September 2003: Singles 93-03 (#17): 1
8th February 2004: Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (#3): 8 *
* Hey Ya! was a new entry at #6 in the UK singles chart the week of 16th November 2003. It then spent all but one week of the next four months in the Top 20, peaking at #3 on 8th February 2004.
If you enjoyed this, you may also wish to check out my previous selections for 1983 and 1993.
