Ding Dong! (Five Times)

Wishing each and everyone one of you a day full of love, good vibes and festive fun.

Today's fistful of treats should cater for those wishing for a merry and/or maudlin Christmas. Enjoy!

1) Christmas, It's Not A Biggie (Live @ KEXP): Say Sue Me (2019)

2) White Christmas (Live @ Live Lounge, BBC Radio 1) (Cover of Bing Crosby): London Grammar (2017)

3) Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Live @ Live Lounge, BBC Radio 1) (Cover of John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Plastic Ono Band): Michael Kiwanuka (2024)

4) The Cherry Tree Carol (Live @ KEXP) (Cover of traditional song): Mark Lanegan (2014)

5) Christmas Wrapping (Live @ The Quay Sessions, BBC Scotland) (Cover of The Waitresses): Belle & Sebastian (2017)

  

 

 

One Evening And Another Morning

I think of many of the albums on today's selection as recent, but they're all from 2004. Hard to believe that they - and the ears listening to them - are twenty years older.

One of the things I love about posting a daily blog is that it inspires me to seek out new music as well as diving back into my collection, dusting off and (re)discovering albums, EPs and songs that I haven't heard in a long while. All of the selections today have been languishing too long and their parent albums and singles will be added to the Casa K playlist where I can enjoy them all over again.

 

1) This Is That New Song: Badly Drawn Boy (One Plus One Is One)

2) Hummingbird: Wilco (A Ghost Is Born)

3) Another Morning: American Music Club (Love Songs For Patriots)

4) Knees: Pony Club (Family Business)

5) Nimrod's Son (Cover of Pixies): Frank Black ft. Two Pale Boys (Frank Black Francis)

6) You Do (Cover of McAlmont & Butler): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (Another Language)

7) One Evening: Feist (Let It Die)

8) Stay Out Of Trouble: Kings Of Convenience (Riot On An Empty Street)

9) Cherry Blossom Girl (Cover of Air): Hope Sandoval (Cherry Blossom Girl EP)

10) Stop, Look & Listen: Belle & Sebastian (I'm A Cuckoo EP)

11) Sleepy California (Super Furry Animals Remix): Her Space Holiday (The Young Machines Remixed)

12) He Gave Us The Wine To Taste: Jonathan Richman (Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love)

One Evening And Another Morning (44:56) (KF) (Mega)

Bad Santa VI

You begged, you pleaded, you demanded, you litigated...and I ignored all of that and did it anyway. 

 

It's back...and it's bad...really bad...and that's just my slipshod sequencing and editing!

 

Yep, it's the sixth instalment of Bad Santa, in case you have just under an hour's gap in your festive playlist. It's the usual curate's egg of the brilliant (Du Blonde aka Beth Jeans Houghton, Hifi Sean & David McAlmont, Saint Etienne with Tim Burgess, Belle & Sebastian) and the not-so-brilliant (I'm looking at you, R.E.M.) but all delivered with love and best wishes for the weekend. I hope it's a good one, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

 

1) The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record: The Beatles (1969)

2) Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts & Children: Billy Nomates (2021)

3) The Little Drummer Boy: Brave Combo (1992)

4) Holiday I.D. (Spanish): Apollonia (1988)

5) Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland: Grandaddy (2000)

6) The Other Side Of Christmas: The Boy Least Likely To (2022)

7) A Visit From Santa Claus! (Part 2): Santa Claus (????)

8) Slow Down At Christmas (Album Version): Billy Reeves (2022)

9) I Was Born On Christmas Day: Saint Etienne ft. Tim Burgess (1993)

10) I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter: Connie Francis (1961)

11) Oh Holy Night: Bastille (2012)

12) The Twelve Days Of Christmas (Live @ The John Peel Christmas Party): Belle & Sebastian (2002)

13) Xmassy: Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2023)

14) Christmas In Chicago: Leon Russell (1972)

15) Holiday I.D.: Peter Cetera (1988)

16) Satan's Little Helper: Pye Corner Audio (2018)

17) It's Christmas And I'm Crying: Du Blonde (2023)

18) Santa Claus Is Coming To Town: John Holt (2004)

19) Suzy Snowflake: Little Marcy (1967)

20) Silver Bells: R.E.M. (1993)

21) Little Saint Nick (Single Version): The Beach Boys (1964)

22) Blue Christmas: Danielle Dax (1988)

23) Soul Christmas (Single Version): Graham Parker ft. Nona Hendryx (1994)

24) Christmas Tree On Fire: Holly Golightly (2006)

25) Sleigh Me: Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler (2011)

Bad Santa VI (56:55) (GD) (M)

And, if you are a glutton for punishment, here are the previous Bad Santa selections from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2016.

 

You can continue to 'enjoy' daily doses of Dubhed over the next week, but I won't always be 'in' to check and respond to comments ("no change there then", I heard someone say).

Can You Believe Everything I See?

Celebrating Alan Rankine, 17th May 1958 to 3rd January 2023.

 

Another loss, another shock. I can't find the words* but I was struck by Alan Rankine from the first moment I saw Associates in the pages of Smash Hits and on TV with Top Of The Pops. I mean, Billy MacKenzie looked fabulous and had a voice unlike any I'd ever heard before, but I found Alan equally compelling. Those cheekbones, the black hair and widow's peak, that piercing stare. And the music was just astonishing. My starting point was Sulk, though I was drawn back to The Affectionate Punch and the Fourth Drawer Down compilation to discover more brilliance.

 

Whilst the combination of Alan and Billy was something unique and arguably neither could quite recreate that magic apart, Alan released three albums in the 1980s each containing some gems whilst also producing great music for other artists throughout the same decade, returning to the controls for Belle & Sebastian's debut album Tigermilk in 1996 (drummer Richard Colburn was on a Music Business course at Stow College in Glasgow, taught by Rankine).

 

There will be lots of tributes out there that attempt to capture how much Alan Rankine contributed, as a musician, a producer, a teacher and a passionate advocate for the wonder of making music. Ironically, during the tail end of lockdown I discovered some wonderful interviews with Alan by Grant McPhee, giving the backstory to the recording of the Associates' album. I've included a link to Grant's YouTube page, you won't be disappointed. I also want to give a nod to Post Punk Monk's tribute to Alan, one of the earliest to appear in the blogosphere but an excellent overview of the man and his music.

This is inevitably another hastily cobbled together selection. Thinking that there will be lots of focus elsewhere on Alan's work with Billy MacKenzie as Associates, I've tried to take a slightly broader view, taking in Alan's production and solo material. It's a dozen songs in a smidge over one hour, but I think it just about does Alan justice.

Rest easy, Alan.

 

1) Can You Believe Everything I See? (Part 3): Alan Rankine (1987)

2) Be Thankful For What You've Got (Single Version) (Cover of William DeVaughn): Sunset Gun (1984)

3) We Rule The School: Belle & Sebastian (1996)

4) The Sandman (Remix): Alan Rankine (1987)

5) Glory To The Take And The Killing: Alan Rankine (1989)

6) Mona Property Girl (Single Version): Associates (1979)

7) Hazel (Single Version): Cocteau Twins (1983)

8) Something Good (Extended Version): Paul Haig (1989)

9) Summer (Single Version): Anna Domino (1986)

10) Skipping (Album Version): Associates (1982)

11) Can You Believe Everything I See? (Parts 1 & 2): Alan Rankine (1987)

12) Love In Adversity: Alan Rankine (1986)

 

1979: Boys Keep Swinging EP: 6

1982: Sulk: 10

1983: Peppermint Pig EP: 7

1984: Be Thankful For What You've Got EP: 2

1986: Summer EP: 9 

1986: The World Begins To Look Her Age: 12 

1987: The Sandman EP: 1, 4

1987: The World Begins To Look Her Age EP: 11

1989: Something Good EP: 8

1989: The Big Picture Sucks: 5

1996: Tigermilk: 3

 

Can You Believe Everything I See? (1:00:02) (Box) (Mega)

* I appreciate the irony of saying that "I can't find the words" and then rambling on for several paragraphs...!

Bad Santa IV

Back due to...well, absolutely no demand whatsover, it's Bad Santa, another selection of Christmas songs. Includes a few all-time personal favourites from Half Man Half Biscuit, Ramones and Belle & Sebastian playing James Brown, plus some obscurities and cover of classic Christmas songs. Pye Corner Audio, who I have listened to lots this year (thanks to Adam @ Bagging Area), bring things up to date with their 2020 festive offering. Ho! Ho! Ho!

1) A Daddy's Christmas: Albert Brooks ft. Little Kristi (1974)
2) Thank God It's Not Christmas: Sparks (1974)
3) Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas (Single Version): Eels (1998)
4) The Little Drummer Boy (Album Version) (Cover of Katherine K. Davis, Henry Onorati & Harry Simeone): The Dandy Warhols (1997)
5) All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit: Half Man Half Biscuit (1986)
6) Rock 'n' Roll Santa: Yo La Tengo (2002)
7) Zombie Christmas: Emmy The Great & Tim Wheeler (2011)
8) Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto (Live on the John Peel Show, BBC Radio 1, 18 December 2002) (Cover of James Brown): Belle & Sebastian (2002)
9) Christmas In Waikiki: Morgan (2000)
10) Mele Kalikimaka (Christmas In Hawaii) (Cover of Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters): KT Tunstall (2007)
11) Christmas Time Is Here (From 'A Charlie Brown Christmas') (Cover of Vince Guaraldi): Khruangbin (2018)
12) Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas): The Free Design (1968)
13) Chilly Winds (Fink Remix By Fin Greenall): Nina Simone (2008)
14) Christmas Dub (Reprise): Wareika (2013)
15) Omnichord Omnishambles (At Xmas): Pye Corner Audio (2020)
16) Santa's False Teeth: Saint Etienne (2011)
17) Tawel Nos / Silent Night (John Peel Session, 2001) (Cover of traditional song): Melys (2001)
18) Johnny Shrapnel Buys Christmas: Arab Strap (2000)
19) Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) (Album Version): Ramones (1989) 

20) Xmas Bubblegum Machine: Sultans Of Ping (1993)

 

Bad Santa IV (56:59) (GD) (M)

Click on the links for the previous Bad Santa selections from 2016, 2017 & 2020