Upon A Mouse #12: Why Don't You Dance With Me?

When SWC at No Badger Required asked the NBR Musical Jury to nominate for The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, my immediate thought was The B-52's by The B-52's.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one to think so, and The B-52's made it onto the voting shortlist. Again, there was no hesitation from me. It got the full twenty points, plus the "maximum three Grovel points please, because it’s deserves to be in the Top 10 at least, if not #1!"

Sadly, I may have been the only one to think so, as whilst The B-52's was my #1, in the final countdown, it was the ranked the 16th Greatest Eponymous Album Of All Time.

There's a compare-and-contrast table below, but no spoiler - and perhaps no surprise - that The Stone Roses' self-titled debut was #1 in the definitive NBR countdown. 

I have to admit that Ian, John, Mani and Reni didn't get a single point from me.

Wait! Before you write SWC / your local MP / Judge Rinder (or Judy) demanding that I be barred from any jury service in future, this was my confessional cover letter to SWC back in late August.

A bit of a struggle this time as I only realised when going through the shortlist 

that I haven’t heard many of these albums, 

even though I may have plenty of other stuff by said artist. 

And of those I do have in my collection, 

a fair few rarely get an airing, 

so I’ve had to listen to a few again more recently 

to remind myself how good (or bad) they really are. 

My other self-imposed rule was that, if a shortlisted album wasn't already in my collection at the time of casting votes, then it was automatically disqualified. I wasn't going to acquire an album just to shoehorn it into my final list, but it did mean that there were some glaring omissions from my final vote.

The Beatles, The Charlatans, The La's, Placebo, The Smiths, Suede and The Stone Roses all made the NBR Top 20 but with no help whatsoever from me. Sorry about that!

And whilst I'd heard all of the above, other self-titled albums that remain unheard include Alvvays, Fleet Foxes, The Libertines and Weezer.

I got hold of a copy of The Stone Roses following The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, some weeks before the tragic passing of Mani aka Gary Mounfield. As I commented in my tribute post on Monday,

My friend Stu had the album and I liked it, 

but not enough to buy anything more than the standalone single 

Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For, which I loved. 

Listening to The Stone Roses again, it's a worthy winner and even if I hadn't felt that way, Swiss Adam from Bagging Area wrote such a wonderfully compelling case that I suspect even diehard opponents would reconsider their position.  

That said, if The Stone Roses hadn't fallen foul of my self-imposed voting criteria, whilst it would likely have been in my Top 10, The B-52's would still have been my #1.

And it was all thanks to the necessary evil of record label plugging.

If Rock Lobster hadn’t been re-released in 1986, then The B-52’s 1979 album probably wouldn’t have been the first album of theirs that I bought, age 15. But what a debut.

 

From the opening outer space bleeps of Planet Claire to the closing party sounds on their cover of Downtown, and all points in between, this is a sound so quirky and retro, it defied the homogenised nostalgia of the mid-late 1980s.

 

Educational, too. I’m still prone to shouting out, “Why don’t you dance with me? I’m not no Limburger!” or, at every mention of Krakatoa on TV or in conversation, casually pointing out that it’s “East of Java”.

 

The B-52’s was also the album that I lent to my school friend Phil, as proof that there was more to music than his prized cassette rip of Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms (worse the ‘extended version’ released on CD). A few weeks later, I had to prise it out of his hands to get it back.

I never tire of listening to The B-52's and I have a love for each and every one of their albums. The world as a whole is a better place for having The B-52's in it. And their debut album made that clear from the start. 

Forty years later, The B-52's is - and will probably always be - The #1 Greatest Eponymous Album Of All Time for me.

Note: I've run out of time for today's post, but please come back on Friday and I will re-post links to previous Dubhed Selections featuring The B-52's. In the meantime., here a trio of fine videos.

 

 

Thanks for coming along with me for the past four weeks and especially to SWC, who keeps coming up with these brilliant ideas time and again, they're such fun. If you'd like to sign up for Musical Jury service, email SWC at Nobadgerrequired@googlemail.com. You won't regret it!

So, as promised, here's a recap of my list, alongside the official No Badger Required Top 20. 

Dubhed Top 20

1) The B-52’s

2) Portishead

3) Ramones

4) The Doors

5) Orbital

6) Franz Ferdinand

7) Elastica

8) Gorillaz

9) Blur

10) LCD Soundsystem

11) The xx

12) The Velvet Underground (which should have been The Velvet Underground & Nico!!)

13) The Clash

14) The Specials

15) The Coral

16) Roxy Music

17) Blondie

18) THe Stooges

19) Echo & The Bunnymen

20) Duran Duran (for Mrs. K)

The No Badger Required Top 20

1) The Stone Roses
2) Suede
3) The Smiths
4) The Specials
5) The Velvet Underground & Nico
6) The Clash
7) The La’s
8) LCD Soundsystem
9) Ramones
10) Portishead
11) Elastica
12) Franz Ferdinand
13) Blur
14) Orbital
15) The Charlatans
16) The B-52’s
17) The xx
18) Echo & The Bunnymen
19) The Beatles
20) Placebo

Upon A Mouse #11: Sticking It To "The Man"

Orbital's debut album is, depending on your personal preference, self-titled, untitled ot the 'green' album. 

 

Why the latter? Well, in the great tradition of artists like Peter Gabriel and, er, Red House Painters, Orbital released consecutive, eponymous albums. 

 

GIven that SWC, the person behind the fantastic music blog No Badger Required was asking for votes on The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, this clearly presented something of a dilemma.

 

Vote for Orbital's 'green' debut? Or the follow up 'brown' album? Or both? 

 

A lovely thing about being called up to the NBR Musical Jury is that there are rules, but only to inspire not influence. For example, we had the option to request additional 'grovel' points for a nominated album, but only if we could back it up with a reason why. I should say that we could also ask for 'grrr!' points to be deducted, but my options there will be left for another post, another time, if at all.

 

So, when it came to the twin dilemma of Orbital albums, we could basically go for either. I stuck with the ‘green’ debut. 

 

After a run of blisteringly brilliant 12" singles between December 1989 and August 1991 - Chime, Omen, the III EP (containing Satan and Belfast) and double A-side Midnight / Choice - brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll unleashed their debut album in September 1991.

The album more than delivered on the promise of those early singles. Such was the brother's confidence in their material that Omen, Satan and Choice didn't even make the final selection, and only Belfast is the same version as the previously released single. In the UK, at least. 

In the USA, a different version of the debut was released, with a resequenced running order and versions and all UK single sides, except the unfairly maligned Omen, present and correct. 

Thankfully, versions of Orbital on either side of the Atlantis include the 12-minute epic Desert Storm,  proof that you don’t need to be a protest singer to make a meaningful political point. 

Phil and Paul weren't not shy in having an opinion and sharing it. When Chime cracked the UK Top 40 in March 1990, they were invited to appear on Top of the Pops. What did they wear? Anti-Poll Tax sweatshirts, of course. 

Sticking it to "the man" - well, TOTP's then insistence on mimed not live performances - Orbital stood on stage and made no effort to mime, and even positioned the power plugs on top of their kit to nail the point. Despite subsequent single successes, Orbital were not invited back to Top Of The Pops for another six years.

The thing is, Orbital were/are a great live act, and the debut album also showcases this; the conjoined live versions of Chime and Midnight are stunning and sound every bit as good as the studio recordings on either side of them.

I love the 'brown' second album too, but without this incredible debut, the follow up may never have existed. Orbital - the album and the band - changed my life.

I requested an extra 'grovel' point for Orbital, for having the balls to kick off their debut album with a sample of Lt. Worf, the Klingon good guy from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

 

The random headline star for today's post, snapped off the small screen, is Barbra Streisand, from Peter's Bogdanovich's 1972 film What's Up Doc?, co-starring Ryan O'Neal and "introducing" Madeline Kahn. 

Barbra is seen here distracting a pizza chef played by Chuck Holison aka Chuck Hollom, whose only other listed credit on imdb is "store manager" in a 1976 episode of Starsky And Hutch. Barbra, on the other hand, is "one of the most successful personalities in show business". And then some.

Upon A Mouse #10: LCD And PTSD

LCD Soundsystem and Portishead take us into the fourth and final week of my personal votes for The 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time, which originated with SWC at No Badger Required and were counted down in October.

In respect of placings, LCD Soundsystem came in at #10 on my voting sheet, whilst Portishead were the runners up at #2. But why?

Well... Sound Of Silver is my go-to LCD Soundsystem album., so I’d kind of forgotten how brilliant and fully formed their self-titled debut is. 

When SWC ran the (also excellent) series The Noughty Forty last year aka the 40 greatest albums of the 2000s, Sound Of Silver got my full points and came in at #6 overall, whilst LCD Soundsystem managed an admirable #6 and split opinion about whether the bonus CD should be included or excluded.

I deliberately based my vote on the 9-track ‘original’ vinyl album, ignoring the bonus disc that came with the 2CD version I bought, and therefore the singles Losing My Edge, Beat Connection and Yeah. 

In doing so, I acknowledged that if I’d added the latter, the eponymous debut would have been several places higher in Top 20. But hey, any reader of this blog will know that I love annoying myself with self-imposed rules. Sometimes it's the only way I can make a decision...!

But I digress. Back to LCD Soundsystem the album, it was watching On Repeat and Tribulations performed live at Glastonbury last year (on TV, I hasten to add) that brought it all back to me. 

And Daft Punk Is Playing At My House is not only one of the best album openers ever, but when James Murphy yells "solo!" at 2:49 and then launches into 30 seconds of cowbell, you know you're listening to something special.

 

 

Portishead by Portishead is a master class in the follow up album, when your debut defines not only a point in time but a whole musical genre. Given the weight of expectation, with their second album, Portishead understandably tried to distance themselves from both.

 

Okay, it took three years to get there - which is nothing compared to the eleven years between Portishead and Third – but every second and drop of sweat was worth it. 

The move from ‘borrowed’ samples to painstakingly created live recordings tilts the album in a different direction, but loses none of the momentum, pitching towards something terrifying yet bleakly optimistic.

Thankfully, Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley and Beth Gibbons did come back for one more album - and the occasional reunion - and have continued to plough their own particular musical furrows to stunning effect. But if Portishead had only released one album - this - then they would still have left an indelible mark on the landscape.

Speaking of which, and in line with NBR rules, I also requested an extra Grovel point to be awarded to Portishead, for putting a North Somerset coastal town on the map.

 

 

 

The cover photo pinch from the TV is Alfred Molina as Joe Orton in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears. I haven't seen it for years and it's been recorded for several months, patiently awaiting it's moment to shine. Christmas family viewing at Casa K? Too much?

Mani Memories

Celebrating Mani aka Gary Mounfield, 16th November 1962 to 20th November 2025.

There have been so many wonderfully written and heartfelt tributes to Mani in the past few days that there's not a lot that I can add. Unlike many of my blogosphere peers, my life wasn't transformed by The Stone Roses. 

My friend Stu had the album and I liked it, but not enough to buy anything more than the standalone single Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For, which I loved. 

When The Stone Roses played at The Bierkeller in Bristol in the summer of 1989, I was either skint or otherwise occupied. My live picks for that year included Pixies, Inspiral Carpets and, er, The Monkees.

For all that, I thought they were great, and had a particular fondness for Mani, so when he joined Primal Scream following The Stone Roses' end, it was a very good thing.

In the tributes, there is an overwhelming sense of what a decent, down to earth person Mani was. Even from my ignorant distance, what stands out is his loyalty; Mani stuck with The Stone Roses., gave 15 years to Primal Scream and then heeded the call to get the old band back together.

There was also Freebass, the supergroup with Peter Hook and Andy Rourke, though other extra curricular activity was rare: a couple of songs on Bryan Ferry's 2010 album Olympia, two live rehearsal tracks with The Racketeers circa 2004, another couple with Aziz Ibrahim in 2000, and that's all I have.

What ties them all together is Mani's superlative bass. In compiling today's tribute, I found a 1983 demo by The Waterfront, a precursor to The Stone Roses, and Mani's talent shines through from the start.

At the end, I've pulled together a 10-song tribute to Mani, spanning all of the above. I won't pretend to be an expert, and my picks for The Stone Roses and Primal Scream may be obvious choices, but I hope the selection overall does Mani justice.

Man, could Mani play bass.

In preparing this post, I received an email from my friend Mike:

Hi Khayem,

sad news about Mani today. 

I'm not sure my 'review' is appropriate in its entirety but:

1) Its a reminder for me about how I felt 30 years ago and 

2) it does help me reflect on how good Mani was in a live setting.

Feel free to just read or take a bit of the essence

Regards,

Mike

I'm sharing Mike's entire item, unedited.

The Stone Roses – Great Hall Exeter University 5th December 1995

On a cold Tuesday night nigh on 30 years ago my mate Chris and I travelled down the M5 to see a band that many felt were the greatest of that era.

We both didn’t know Exeter at all and tried to find a car park that was ‘central’ before trudging off to find the University. Once entering the venue we realised it was packed to the rafters with students and blokes in their early 20’s hoping to have their ‘Spike Island’ moment. From memory it wasn’t long until the band took to the stage and a long intro started. The sound was good and the first thing you noticed was how good Reni and Mani sounded together. It didn’t take long until John Squires started to unleash his trademark riffs and all was good with the world. And then Ian Brown started singing…

I’ve often thought about this gig and looked at people reminiscing about going to see the Stone Roses in the late 1980’s-mid 1990’s. Were Reni and Mani the best rhythm section of our lifetime? A bold statement yes but I think one that could be argued. Was John Squire one of the best lead guitarists to come out of the UK? Again I think that is something that has good evidence behind it. However my issue always was the lead singer. I remember on the night trying to go to different parts of the Hall to see if it was a dodgy speaker or just where I was stood. The final track was ‘I am the Resurrection’ and I just thought at the time would I ever hear a better bassline played live in my lifetime and now that Mani has passed I think I can honestly say probably not.

We drove home through the snow agreeing on one thing – that when it was down to the musicians in the band they were faultless – Mani, Reni, John we salute you. If only you had let your lead singer go then they could have been one of the greatest live bands ever 

RIP Mani.

Many thanks, Mike, wonderfully expressed. And now for some music.

1) BF Bass (Ode To Olympia) (Album Version): Bryan Ferry (2010)

2) Breaking Into Heaven (Album Version): The Stone Roses (1994)

3) Can't Go Back (Album Version): Primal Scream (2008)

4) Nuts For You (Live Rehearsal Track): The Racketeers (Wayne Kramer & Brian James) (2004)

5) You Don't Know (This About Me) (EP Version): Freebass ft. Tim Burgess (2010)

6) Where The Wind Blows: The Waterfront (1983)

7) I Am The Resurrection (Album Version): The Stone Roses (1989)

8) If They Move, Kill 'Em (Album Version): Primal Scream (1997)

9) Middle Road (Aziz Album Mix): Aziz ft. Paul Weller (2000)

10) The Milky Way Is Our Playground (EP Version): Freebass ft. Pete Wylie (2010)

Mani Memories (51:43) (GD) (M)

Decayed III: 2005

Side 2 of Volume 3 of my 'maginary mixtape meander through the first decade of the 21st century.

2005 is especially memorable because Mrs. K and I took a month off work to explore Japan... well, Honshu, the largest of it's four islands, at least. Travelling by train, we got a snapshot (literally and metaphorically) of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and a lot of places there and back.

There were lots of temples, enormous statues, a samba festival (!), the madness of the Shibuya Crossing at night, the beauty of Mount Fuji, the heartbreaking legacy of the atomic bomb, men pissing in the gutters on their way home from a sake bar, and the then-unusual sight of people wearing face masks when out and about. It was the experience of a lifetime.

Naturally, I came home with a clutch of Japanese CDs, none of which make an appearance here. Instead, I've mined the UK singles charts of 2005 for a dozen top tunes that floated my boat, and still do twenty years later.

Two Number Ones this time, one from the Queen Of Pop, Madonna, which shouldn't come as a great surprise as Hung Up was her 11th UK #1, albeit her first in five years. Gorillaz on the other hand scored their first - and to date only - UK #1 with Dare, bringing Shaun Ryder along for the ride.

Today's selection opens with Mylo, whose brilliant song Destroy Rock & Roll is an example of some of the challenges I encountered when creating these compilations. The track was originally doing the rounds in 2003, and popped up in my longlist for that year. However, Destroy Rock & Roll the album came out in 2004, whilst the title track entered the singles chart in early 2005. 

I made quite a few errors when I created the original 1980s Decade cassettes back in 1990, without the internet to hand and relying on record sleeve info to give me a rough idea of release dates. This time around, I checked all the chart positions, which involved some last minute swaps in the final year-by-year sequencing. I'm clearly quite adept at making an 'easy' job more complicated!

Destroy Rock & Roll is built on a extensively edited sample of the Church Universal and Triumphant's Invocation For Judgement Against And Destruction Of Rock Music. A long list of artists and bands are read out as deserving "the judgement of the sacred fire in this hour before the throne of almighty God" including Michael Jackson (twice), Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Unfortunately, thanks to a particularly incompetent preacher who was clearly unfamiliar with most of the names on the list, hapless innocents David Booey, Cyndi Looper and Jack Cougar Mellencamp suffered eternal damnation whilst their more famous nearly namesakes got away scot free.

Daft Punk weren't around then, but if they were, they'd no doubt be on the list for the perverted act of going around pretending to be robots. Thankfully, in 2005 James Murphy was hosting the most improbably gig ever, by cramming them into his humble abode. After a guest appearance here in 2002, at the controls for a single by Radio 4, in 2005 he makes a return with his own band, LCD Soundsystem. Not the last we'll be seeing of them in this series, either.

Another act who have only previously appeared on production duty is Coldcut, way back in 1990 on Telephone Thing by The Fall. in 2006, they released the brilliant album Sound Mirrors, preceded by a couple of singles, including Everything Is Under Control, featuring Jon Spencer (sans Blues Explosion) and rapper Mike Ladd.

Ben Watt also made a comeback of sorts, though as a solo artist rather than with then-partner Tracey Thorn (they married in 2009) as Everything But The Girl. Instead, the unexpectedly titled Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass has a star turn by Estelle, a spoken word tale laid over a bouncing dancefloor beat and surely a contender for the Some Songs Make Great Short Stories series at The Vinyl Villain.

Keeping the alternative/rock scene alive in 2005 were The Mooney Suzuki, The Bees and The Coral, whilst Cagedbaby and Hot Chip remixing Architecture In Helsinki were pushing my electronica buttons, even if the record buying public were less convinced.

Client was a super duo of sorts, teaming Sarah Blackwood (Dubstar) with Kate Holmes (Frazier Chorus, Technique), and signed to the Toast Hawaii label owned by Andrew Fletcher (Depeche Mode). Andy co-produced the single Pornography, Client's only Top 30 single, undoubtedly helped by a guest vocal from Carl Barât (The Libertines).

Things were about to change for the UK charts though, as 2006 would see a significant shift in the scope of eligibility, reflecting the change in formats and listening habits in the digital age. But was the music any good in 2006?

Please join me next weekend to find out!

1) Destroy Rock & Roll (Album Version): Mylo

2) Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Album Version): LCD Soundsystem

3) Everything Is Under Control (Album Version): Coldcut ft. Jon Spencer & Mike Ladd

4) Alive & Amplified: The Mooney Suzuki

5) Chicken Payback (Album Version): The Bees

6) In The Morning (Album Version): The Coral

7) Hung Up (Radio Version): Madonna

8) Golden Triangle (Radio Mix): Cagedbaby

9) Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass (Edit): Ben Watt ft. Estelle

10) Do The Whirlwind (Hot Chip Remix): Architecture In Helsinki

11) Pornography (Extended Mix): Client ft. Carl Barât

12) Dare (Album Version): Gorillaz ft. Shaun Ryder

16th January 2005: City (#22): 11

23rd January 2005: Alive & Amplified (#38): 4

30th January 2005: Destroy Rock & Roll (#15): 1

6th February 2005: Outspoken Part 1 EP (#74): 9

6th March 2005: LCD Soundsystem (#29): 2

10th April 2005: Free The Bees (#28): 5

15th May 2005: The Invisible Invasion (#6): 6

4th September 2005: Demon Days (#1): 12

23rd October 2005: Cagedbaby Will See You Now (# n/a): 8

13th November 2005: Confessions On A Dance Floor (#1): 7

20th November 2005: Sound Mirrors (#93): 3

20th November 2005: We Died, They Remixed (#100): 10

Side Two (46:58) (GD) (M)

Like this? Then why not dip back another couple of decades with my selections from 1985 and 1995?

Decayed III: 2004

Side 1 of a cassette compilation that never was, travelling through the 2000s.

Guitars are back! Back!! BACK!!!

Not that they ever go away, but the press likes to enforce a death/rebirth cycle when it comes to guitar-based music and based. It's nonsense of course, and completely disregards the dizzying array of other popular genres and the blending and mashing up of most of them by creatives. Does it even sell column inches? Who cares?

Today's selection is quite guitar-heavy, for all that. U2 were back (along with that man Jacknife Lee) with one of the best songs they'd released in years, even if the rest of the album couldn't match up.

Beastie Boys were also back, revisiting the rap rock golden age of (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!) with Triple Trouble, thanks to a rifftastic remix by Graham Coxon.

New kids on the block, all delivering fresh and exciting music, included Art Brut, The Vines, Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand, whose debut album got my vote for one of The Top 20 Greatest Eponymous Albums Of All Time over at No Badger Required.

Aside from Jacknife Lee, another producer who seemed to be everywhere was Mark Ronson, here popping up with a remix of AIR, featuring Chicagoan rapper Che Smith aka Rhymefest. Licenced to Ill(inois), you might say.

After last week's guest appearance with wife Beyoncé, Jay-Z is back in his own right with Dirt Off Your Shoulder. Another example of the creative ways that labels would deal with the F's, MF's and N's that peppered rap music in order to get it played on the radio. Not so easy to sing along to, I can promise you.

Another returning guest star from last week is Jake Shears, this time in his day job as front person with Scissor Sisters. What a breath of fresh air they were. A cover of Pink Floyd in the style of Bee Gees' disco pomp, it shouldn't work, but Comfortably Numb is glorious. And there was plenty more where that came from.

After my contrived attempt to ensure that Andrew Weatherall appeared in every year of my 1990s series, a welcome return for Lord Sabre under his own steam, with old mucker Keith Tenniswood as Two Lone Swordsmen. Sex Beat is a cover of The Gun Club's 1981 song and a surprise UK Top 25 hit in August 2004.  

The opening and closing songs of today's selection represent artists that I didn't connect with at first, but later grew to love.

Gwen Stefani fronted No Doubt, who had a #1 in 1997 with Don't Speak, an atypical ballad compared to the pop/rock/ska that was their stock in trade. I wasn't a fan. However, Gwen's solo single What You Waiting For? is up there with the best pop songs of the decade and her album Love.Angel.Music.Baby. had lots to enjoy, even if not quite at the same stratospheric level. 

I'm astounded that What You Waiting For? only got to #4, losing out to Girls Aloud, Destiny's Child and Lemar from Fame Academy. No Doubt? No justice, more like!

2004 closes with Slow Life by Super Furry Animals, which I was reacquainted with during the summer thanks to The Robster's must-read series on SFA singles, featured at The Vinyl Villain. 

I'd strongly recommend that you read the entire series from end to end, it's amazing. Here's an extract from The Robster's post on Slow Life:

It was the third and final single from Phantom Power, 

but its release, in April 2004, was far from conventional. 

It, along with its two b-sides, was initially available digitally 

only from the website of Placid Casual, the band’s own independent record label, 

which suggests that Epic may have been reluctant to release it themselves, 

possibly due to its length. 

They did, however, put out a single-sided 12” promo. 

It then featured as a CD single  in the special limited edition of 

the Phantom Phorce remix album  in its own slipcase sleeve. 

Needless to say, it didn’t chart due to the nature of its release.

In the opening paragraph, The Robster writes that Slow Life "really does stand up as one of the finest moments of their existence" and, even in the truncated edit featured here, he is absolutely right.

Decayed is now at the halfway mark and has hopefully demonstrated that the first decade of the 21st century had plenty to offer, musically speaking. Can 2005 hope to keep up?

1) What You Waiting For? (Album Version): Gwen Stefani

2) Alpha Beta Gaga (Mark Ronson Vocal Mix): AIR ft. Rhymefest

3) Vertigo (Jacknife Lee 7"): U2

4) Triple Trouble (Graham Coxon Remix): Beastie Boys

5) Formed A Band (Album Version): Art Brut

6) Comfortably Numb (Album Version) (Cover of Pink Floyd): Scissor Sisters

7) Ride (Album Version): The Vines

8) Take Me Out (Album Version): Franz Ferdinand

9) Helicopter (Original Version): Bloc Party

10) Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Radio): Jay-Z

11) Sex Beat (Remix) (Cover of The Gun Club): Two Lone Swordsmen

12) Slow Life (Edit): Super Furry Animals

18th January 2004: Franz Ferdinand (#3): 8

25th January 2004: Scissor Sisters (#10): 6

14th March 2004: Winning Days (#25): 7

4th April 2004: Bang Bang Rock & Roll (#52): 5

25th April 2004: Phantom Power (# n/a): 12

16th May 2004: The Black Album (#12): 10

1st August 2004: From The Double Gone Chapel (#22): 11

15th August 2004: Talkie Walkie (#44): 2

19th September 2004: To The 5 Boroughs (#37): 4

31st October 2004: Silent Alarm (#26): 9

11th November 2004: How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (#1): 3

21st November 2004: Love.Angel.Music.Baby. (#4): 1

Side One (45:36) (GD) (M)

If you enjoyed this, why not check out the corresponding mixtapes from 1984 and 1994?

Cut, Copy, Paste, Align, Write Text, Repeat.

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.

Belong To You is the third and most current single, featuring guests Kate Bollinger on shared vocals and “Evil” Graham Lee from The Triffids providing pedal steel. 

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.

 

 

 

Upon A Mouse #9: A Stomach Full Of All Bran

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.

Yep, it's a Damon Albarn double bill.

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.