Decayed IV: 2007

Side 2 of a made up mixtape series, moving through the millennium's first decade.

My blogging days were numbered. Between January and August 2007, when I finally downed tools, until an abortive attempt to reignite in 2012, I managed fewer posts that I currently publish in a typical month.

So instead of reeling off lots of historical facts and figures and blog extracts, I'll keep the focus on the music today and especially my dozen picks for 2007.

Another spartan year, gig-wise, with only two of note, both in June. First, a spectacular show by Green Gartside at the Arnolfini in Bristol, billed as solo but in fact a full band Scritti Politti set. The gig holds a special place in my heart, not least because I was there with Mrs. K, but we also met up with my dear friend Dave, as passionate about music as me, and a great person to be with in any setting. It was the last gig we went to together: Dave sadly passed on 2nd January 2009. I miss him very much.

It was the first - and to date - last time I saw Green Gartside perform and it was magical. 

Less magical was Meat Loaf's appearance at Ashton Gate stadium, home of Bristol City football club, later that month. I'd originally bought tickets for the Birmingham concert as a birthday present for Mrs. K. However, when the Bristol date was added, we sold up and went for it. We lived close enough to Ashton Gate that we could generally sit in the garden and listen to a show. Or close the windows and batten the hatches when some boy band was playing there. We both wish we'd done the same with Meat Loaf, it was very far from his finest moment.

Manic Street Preachers could at least be relied upon to thrill, more than a decade and a half on from their blazing arrival. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, featuring Nina Persson from Cardigans, is a wonderful single. It would have debuted at #1 in May 2007 had it not been for that pesky pair Beyonce and Shakira, with Beautiful Liar. Nina joined the lads on stage to perform the song at Glastonbury a few weeks later. 

In 2023, they performed the song at Glastonbury again, this time with The Anchoress aka Catherine Anne Davies. There isn't a clip of that online, but they performed a fest warm up show at the Forum in Bath the week before. I had a ticket but at the last minute couldn't go. Here's a clip of a wonderful performance of the song. Look carefully and you may even spot Dubhed guest writer Mike, who was able to make use of my ticket.

Redressing an unforgivable exclusion from Decadance, my previous series running through the 1990s, is Groove Armada. The pair are joined here by another returning artist, Mutya Buena, who featured in the second post of this series, with Sugababes' first #1 in 2002.

By 2005, Mutya became the second founding member to leave Sugababes; third and final founder Keisha was gone by 2009. As the recent Girlbands Forever series (essential viewing) demonstrated, the management and record label Sugababes brand was considered more important than the individual members and must carry on regardless. 

Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) is a brilliant pop song that could be interpreted as a story about an ex. Frame the narrative as Mutya seeing the band she formed, continue on, almost unrecognisable from her original vision, and the song gains a whole new perspective.

I also love the fact that the naggingly catchy synth line reminds me of The Piranhas' version of Tom Hark. Genius.

Two for the price of one, with Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse delivering a brilliant future retro version of The Zutons' hit Valerie. I think I prefer Ronson's cover of The Smiths' Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before with Daniel Merriweather, and Amy had a run of superb singles in 2007 with You Know I'm No Good, Back To Black and Tears Dry On Their Own. 

So, this is a bit of a compromise, to get them both included in the fiercely competitive final dozen. I think the cover of Valerie is great, but I also love The Zutons' original recording so I won't go so far to say that this is the definitive version. But it is very, very good.

I can be an awful music snob and I dismissed Starz In Their Eyes by Just Jack aka Jack Allsopp as just another song by an artist that seemed to half sing, half rap and not do anything particularly exciting. Another example is, er, Example. Lovely guys, I'm sure, but I wouldn't want to buy their records.

Except Mrs. K did, and repeated listens to Just Jack's album Overtones got me listening more closely to the lyrics of Starz In Their Eyes and appreciating that it was a much darker narrative that I was expecting from the jaunty, funky song structure. Now, the singer/narrator comes across less as half-arsed, more as crushed by his experience of the music machine, and wanting to warn the bright-eyed young buck before him of the pitfalls that await. 

The real surprise of this collection was discovering that Reverend & The Makers got to #8 in June 2007 with Heavyweight Champion Of The World. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the charts, to be fair, and I only bought the CD single years later because Jagz Kooner produced the song (and album) and frankly, he's brilliant. 

Less surprising was that Kaiser Chiefs finally secured a place in the hearts of the nation - and the football terraces - with Ruby. It's a super #1 single, even if I struggle to name any songs or albums that they've released since. And Ricky Wilson seems on a singular mission to achieve National Treasure status by the time he's 50. Two years to go and I'll reckon he'll make it.

I think Calvin Harris (Adam Wiles to his loved ones) is less bothered about National Treasure status as he's possibly made enough moolah from his mega-successful music and DJ career to pay of the UK's national debt. 

Not that this was obvious from the start. Acceptable In The 80s is a great tune, even better when mashed up with Happy House by Siouxsie & The Banshees. This was first attempted in 2007 by mash-up pioneer IDC aka David McCarthy, but that's no longer available online, so here's a similar take from the appropriately named James' Mashups last May.

Also last year, I nominated Fantastic Playroom by New Young Pony Club as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s for a then-upcoming series by SWC over at No Badger Required. The album didn't make the final cut, but it did at least get an honorable mention in the 'Not Quite The Greatest Albums Of The 00s' prelude to the definitive countdown. I loved New Young Pony Club from the moment I heard the single Ice Cream, even if they couldn't follow up on the promise of that debut album.

The same goes for CSS aka Cansei De Ser Sexy aka "Tired Of Being Sexy" in translation. Such an exciting prospect when Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above and the self-titled debut, but somehow they just missed their moment and couldn't create that same spark again.

Klaxons are another good example, although they were also burdened with the music press' desparate creation of the horrible Nu-Rave label, and the fact that nothing on their album was quite as refreshingly wonderful as Golden Skans. 

Closing the selection, it's that James Murphy fellow again, with LCD Soundsystem. What can I say? Sound Of Silver is a perfect album and my pick, All My Friends, is a perfect song. And that because of and in spite of the fact that it's built upon one note played repeatedly, annoyingly, throughout. There is a 7" edit, but I've gone for the full seven minutes and forty seconds here because...well, you have to hear the whole thing from start to end. 

Besides, the full length version appeared on one of the two 7" singles released, featuring the edit and two rather special cover versions by Franz Ferdinand and John Cale. I bought them both and reviewed the single on my blog at the time. And why not own it in multiple formats?! As I said just now, All My Friends is a perfect song.

And this seems the perfect time to wrap things up, not least because I've taken far too long on this post and need to get on with household chores!

Please stick around for more nonsense through the week and then, next weekend, the final two years of the 2000s. If you've enjoyed the ride so far, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

1) 1234 (Album Version): Feist

2) Valerie (Album Version): Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse

3) Starz In Their Eyes (Radio Edit): Just Jack

4) Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above (Album Version): CSS

5) Heavyweight Champion Of The World (Album Version): Reverend & The Makers

6) Ruby (Album Version): Kaiser Chiefs

7) Golden Skans (Album Version): Klaxons

8) Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) (Edit): Groove Armada ft. Mutya Buena

9) Acceptable In The 80s (Radio Edit): Calvin Harris

10) Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (Album Version): Manic Street Preachers ft. Nina Persson

11) Ice Cream (Extended Mix): New Young Pony Club

12) All My Friends (Album Version): LCD Soundsystem

21st January 2007: Overtones (#2): 3

28th January 2007: Myths Of The Near Future (#7): 7

25th February 2007: Yours Truly, Angry Mob (#1): 6

18th March 2007: I Created Disco (#10): 9

6th May 2007: Send Away The Tigers (#2): 10

20th May 2007: Cansei De Ser Sexy (#39): 4

3rd June 2007: Sound Of Silver (#41): 12

10th June 2007: The State Of Things (#8): 5

8th July 2007: Fantastic Playroom (#40): 11

29th July 2007: Soundboy Rock (#8): 8

7th October 2007: The Reminder (#8): 1

21st October 2007: Version (#2): 2

Side Two (46:10) (GD) (M)

If you want to compare and contrast with previous decades, you can dive into my selections for 1987 and 1997.