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)

My Heart Is Crammed In My Cranium And It Still Knows How To Pound

My head's been pounding all weekend and I feel more tired at the end than I did at the start. No selection today, just a couple of songs with 'headache' in the title. 

 

Starting with Frank Black, I'd completely forgotten that this was the sole UK single from Teenager Of The Year, a 22-track double album. I was doubly surprised to find that (1) it actually reached #53 and (2) it wasn't his highest charting single (that was Men In Black, #37 in 1996). Frank Black and 4AD parted ways not long afterwards. Odd choice of single, but a great video.

I first heard of Au Pairs via the 1981 compilation Urgh! A Music War which featured Come Again, their "song about faking orgasm". A remix of Headache (For Michelle) appeared on the B-side of the Inconvenience 12" single, released the same year. The song references Malcolm Owen, the lead singer with The Ruts who died from a heroin overdose in 1980, aged 26. The broader theme is the availability of cheap drugs and the role of the state in enabling this ("'Cause you're not a threat when you're out of your head"). 

 

This mimed performance on Belgian TV in 1982 may not have the budget of Frank Black's video, but it's even more compelling.

Headache (Official Video): Frank Black (1994)

Headache (For Michelle) (Lip Sync Performance on Generation 80, Belgian TV): Au Pairs (1982)

These Things Elevate Me Above Animals

A headlong rush from 1958-1998, 10 songs, all two minutes or less, lyrically brilliant.

 

1) Adda Lee: Frank Black (1993)

"And the lake sings and the dogs don't, they are quiet for Adda Lee"

2) Phasers On Stun (Single Version): Urusei Yatsura (1996)

"I went walking under the streetlights with my sneakers filled up with snow"

3) Being A Girl (Part One) (Single Version): Mansun (1998)

"I'm so boring my clothes wanna keep someone else warm"

4) My Beautiful Leah: PJ Harvey (1998)

"If I don't find it this time, then I'm better off dead"

5) The King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1: Neutral Milk Hotel (1998)

"I sank into your soul, into that secret place where no one dares to go"

6) Summertime Blues: Eddie Cochran (1958)

"I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations"

7) Talking In The Dark: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1978)

"We can talk like we're in love or we can talk above it"

8) Breakdown: Buzzcocks (1977)

"I feel me brain like porridge coming out of me ears"

9) Windout (Outtake): R.E.M. (1984)

"Tick tock time to clock my band"

10) Unsolved Child Murder (Demo): The Auteurs (1996)

"Sod this town and people's pity, let's get on with the nitty gritty"

These Things Elevate Me Above Animals (19:36)