NYD In AUS

I discovered that both of my work shirts were in the washing bag last night, so I had to frantically wash and hang them out in the hope that they would be dry by the following morning. They weren't.

I walked to the freeway in a damp T-shirt. I lost my watch while hopping the fence. Work crawled by at a snail's pace. I was pissed off when, at 4.00pm, Norm looked at me as if to say, "Why are you still here?" I had to run for the bus. Not a good day, you may say. Not so bad, after all.

I'm currently in the midst of a drinks party with Ken, Takashi and Kazu. We've consumed an unhealthy amount of gin already and are carrying on with the same intentions for the remainder of the evening. Should be good.

Roger Waters is on TV. "The Wall" live in Berlin a few months back, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, has just started. My friends are very intrigued by it all, but I couldn't really care less. I'm more interested that I'm seeing in a new year in a new land, a new home.

Sometimes, it's as if I have only just become aware of my situation: I break into fits of laughter, finding it hard to believe that I'm really living 10,000 miles away from my 'home'. Or maybe it's the alcohol.

 

Right now, I couldn't ask for anything more from life than to be here with my friends.

...

We appeared to be the only people in the building celebrating the New Year last night. When we ventured out of the flat at the stroke of midnight, it seemed that everyone else had gone to bed. Takashi and I stumbled around, drunk and aimless, but Ken and Kazu dashed off. 

Ken returned moments later, exclaiming that Kazu had become trapped on the roof, so we all raced to the seventh floor.

At the top of the stairwell was a retractable set of steps leading to a doorway and the roof. Kazu had gone through only to discover that the door had a one-way spring lock. Ken was too drunk to attempt to climb up to the retractable steps, and whilst I was squinting in an effort to see just one of him, Takashi leapt up without a second thought and grabbed the steps. Ken and I pulled both down to the ground, and Takashi freed Kazu. Unsurprisingly, Kazu was considerably more sober following this experience.

We returned to the flat and in an attempt to signify this moment of friendship, unity and heroic stupidity, we all had a glug from my bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. We watched pop videos on TV until 2.00am, and we all passed out.

 

...

 

That was me in Perth, Australia, 1990 going into 1991, twenty years old and on my first really big adventure. The only time in my life that I've kept a diary. The picture above is adapted from the sole photo I took on NYE 1990: Ken, my flatmate, and our friends Takashi and Kazu, presumably before the gin consumed us all.

Not the most rock 'n' roll New Year's Eve, perhaps, but the setting and company were once-in-a-lifetime experiences. 

 

Fast forward to NYE 2024, swap Western Australia for South West England, my Japanese friends for Clan K, gin (and Newcastle Brown Ale) for whisky, and Roger Waters for Sophie Ellis-Bextor on TV, and it wasn't all that different.

Fortunately, we were less drunk, neither Mrs. K or Lady K got trapped on the roof and we went to bed before 2.00am, so I'm thankfully in a less fragile state in 2025 than I was in 1991.

This inevitably got me thinking about a Dubhed selection of Australian music that I was listening to during my time in the great continent. And so, for your listening pleasure, twenty songs and eighty minutes of sounds, mostly from 1990, with a few either side.

I came to Australia with a Walkman and a clutch of DIY compilations, such as a 'best of' The Go-Betweens. According to my diary, I bought CD singles by Big Pig and Stephen Cummings on 4th January 1991; later purchases included The Hummingbirds, Clouds (who featured here last summer), Tall Tales And True, INXS and Icehouse, as well as a 1987 compilation called Used And Recommended By. 

 

Triple J was my go-to radio station at home, although the place where I worked blasted out the usual ad-heavy commercial crap you will find in every country. The former offered proof - and hope - that there was an alternative to Jimmy Barnes' strangled and strained singing.

I only went to one gig in Perth, but it was a good one: Ramones, supported by local heroes Ratcat. It was a great night and I wrote about it in 2022. 

I should have included Divinyls' huge crossover hit, I Touch Myself, in today's selection and to be honest, I would have but I forgot! 

 

I also wanted to include Ruby's Arms by Killing Time, a Top 10 indie hit in Australia in early 1991. However, I didn't buy the single at the time and I've been unable to track a copy down...at least, in the couple of hours since I first had the idea for this post.

Some artists of course went on to enjoy global success: INXS, Midnight Oil to a lesser extent, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, although the prospect of Nick being with us in 2025 let alone continuing to release vital albums seemed unlikely back in 1990/91. 

Paul Kelly's label were hoping for worldwide fame. 1987 album Gossip was prepped for a major push in the US, with R.E.M. producer Scott Litt drafted to remix several songs, including Tighten Up. Paul's band were called The Coloured Girls, allegedly named jokingly after the line in Walk On The Wild Side by Lou Reed. Nah, thought the label, and the Stateside release of Gossip was credited to Paul Kelly & The Messengers. 

Closing the compilation is a song from one of my favourite records of all, the 4-track Resisting Calm EP by Melanie Oxley & Chris Abrahams, released in 1990 on the independent label Spiral Scratch. Triple J played Benchtop (actually track 3/B1) to death, I was hooked and I had to track the record down. I bought Resisting Calm on 12" vinyl and eventually got it shipped by surface mail back to the UK.

Benchtop is a fantastic song and by rights should be on today's selection. That said, all four songs are wonderful and in the end, I chose Siren, the EP's opening song and fittingly, the closing moment here.

Enough looking back, time to look forward! I wonder what wonders 2025 will bring?

 

1) Miss Freelove '69 (Album Version By Hoodoo Gurus & Ed Stasium): Hoodoo Gurus (1990)

2) Man o' Sand To Girl o' Sea (Single Version By John Brand): The Go-Betweens (1983)

3) That Ain't Bad (Album Version By Nick Mainsbridge): Ratcat (1990)

4) Yes Sir, I Can Boogie (Album Version By Tim Cole): Not Drowning, Waving (1987)

5) Throw Your Arms Around Me (Re-Recorded Version By Hunters & Collectors & Clive Martin): Hunters & Collectors (1990)

6) Blue Sky Mine (Food On The Table Mix By Nick Launay): Midnight Oil (1990)

7) Rhythm Rude Girl (Live @ The Horden Pavilion, Sydney, Australia): The Angels (1990)

8) If A Vow: The Hummingbirds (1991)

9) Dream Baby (7" Version By Mike Duffy) (Cover of Roy Orbison): X (1987)

10) Hell (You Put Me Through) (7" Version By Stephen Cummings, Robert Goodge & Shane O'Mara): Stephen Cummings (1990)

11) Justifier (Single Mix By Daddy-O & Femi Jiya): Big Pig (1990)

12) Tighten Up (Re-Mixed Version By Scott Litt): Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls (1987)

13) Lock It (Album Version By Falling Joys & Adrian Bolland): Falling Joys (1990)

14) Miss Divine (Album Version By Nick Launay): Icehouse (1990)

15) Suicide Blonde (Earth Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): INXS (1990)

16) Black Betty (Cover of Leadbelly): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986)

17) White Rabbit (Cover of The Great Society with Grace Slick): The Shower Scene From Psycho (1985)

18) Superstition Highway (Single Version By Nick Mainsbridge): Tall Tales And True (1990)

19) Cloud Factory (Single Version By Clouds & Tim Whitten): Clouds (1990)

20) Siren (Single Version By Melanie Oxley, Chris Abrahams & Guy Dickerson): Melanie Oxley & Chris Abrahams (1990)

 

1983: Man o' Sand To Girl o' Sea EP: 2

1985: White Rabbit/Cinnamon Girl EP: 17

1986: The Singer EP: 16

1987: Cold And The Crackle: 4 

1987: Dream Baby EP: 9 

1987: Gossip: 12

1990: Beyond Salvation Live (VHS): 7

1990: Blue Sky Mine EP: 6 

1990: Cloud Factory EP: 19

1990: Code Blue: 14

1990: Hell (You Put Me Through) EP: 10

1990: Justifier + Taste EP: 11

1990: Resisting Calm EP: 20

1990: Suicide Blonde EP: 15

1990: Superstition Highway EP: 18

1990: Throw Your Arms Around Me EP: 5

1990: Tingles EP: 3 

1990: Wish List: 13

1991: If A Vow EP: 8

1991: Kinky: 1

 

NYD In AUS (1:19:06) (KF) (Mega)

Cut The Night

Twelve inches of indie(ish) pop pleasure for the weekend, with a selection of well-known and lesser known songs, spanning the upper and the nether regions of the UK singles chart. 

Troubling the Top 30 with their selected songs back in the day were Echo & The Bunnymen (#30), Gary Numan (#19) and The Beat (#9). Bringing up the rear were Kirsty MacColl (#80) and Win (#63). Having trouble getting the car started were Flesh For Lulu, Paul Haig and INXS, who didn't make the Top 100 and where's the justice in that?

 

As it's Friday, the forty-five minute/C90-friendly rule be damned, here's a full-fat, forty-eight minutes of goodies to usher in the weekend. 

1) Silver (Tidal Wave): Echo & The Bunnymen (1984)

2) Every Little Word (Remix): Flesh For Lulu (1989)

3) Big Blue World (12" Version): Paul Haig (1984)

4) Music For Chameleons (Album Version): Gary Numan (1982)

5) The One Thing (Extended Version): INXS (1983)

6) Hands Off... She's Mine (12" Version): The Beat (1980)

7) Innocence (The Guilt Mix): Kirsty MacColl (1989)

8) Super Popoid Groove (12 Inches For Love God): Win (1987)

 

Cut The Night (48:25) (Box) (Mega)

Ghost Light

Celebrating Sylvia Syms, 6th January 1934 to 27th January 2023.

Not to be confused with American jazz singer aka Sylvia Blagman, Sylvia Syms was born in London, got into the acting profession and built up a hugely impressive body of work in a career spanning more than six decades. 

 

The handful of tributes I've read have inevitably been drawn to Sylvia's bravura performance in 1958 film Ice Cold In Alex, made familiar to a whole new audience in the 1980s when Carlsberg repurposed a clip for a hugely popular ad campaign. There's also mention of her latter performances, particularly as The Queen Mother in Stephen Frears' 2006 film The Queen, appearing with Helen Mirren in the title role.

 

For me though, one of Sylvia Syms' standout performances, mentioned if at all only in passing, was in Doctor Who in 1989. In what subsequently became the final series of the original run, Sylvia appeared as Mrs. Pritchard in the three-part story Ghost Light. Should this ever come up a pub quiz question, the very last scene to be recorded for the original series's 26-year run featured Sylvia Sims and Katherine Schlesinger.

 

Personally, I think it's one of the best Doctor Who stories of either incarnation, with a brilliantly gripping yet frequently oblique story and standout performances not only from the leads Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, but guest stars including Ian Hogg, Sharon Duce, Carl Forgione and Frank Windsor. Sylvia's realisation of Mrs. Pritchard is sublime, adding a depth and nuance to the character that less skilled actors would have missed.

 

Long suffering readers will recall - possibly with horror - that I've occasionally posted a selection of songs drawing on a particular actor's career in film and TV. Previous victims stars have included Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Taylor and Juliette Binoche. Today's selection with apologies is a dubious tribute to Sylvia Syms.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, no-one had yet to record and release a song called Ice Cold In Alex and I had to shoehorn in a Ghost Light song, breaking my usually strict rule of 'namesake' songs only. By coincidence, there's another Doctor Who reference in here: Frazer Hines appeared in the show as a hugely popular travelling companion in the late 1960s; his short-lived pop career was arguably less, er, popular.

I couldn't decide between the two choices for Together (which I think was Sylvia's final film role, released in 2018) so I included them both, topping and tailing the selection. Both very different, it has to be said.

Another tough choice was Absolute Beginners: the film's title track by David Bowie or the 1981 single by The Jam? Weller won out.

Before today, you may not have realised you needed a nearly-ten minute version of Love Story by Andy Williams. From today, you may realise that you don't need a nearly-ten minute version of Love Story by Andy Williams. It's a kitsch keeper for me.

 

Sylvia Syms' CV is such that a twelve song selection could easily accommodate some much-loved (by me) artists such as Tim Bowness, The Jazz Butcher, Soft Cell and Tom Robinson. 

 

And then there's No Time For Tears by The Marvelettes, a pure pop classic that was a mere B-side - a B-side!!! - back in 1965.

 

All in, just over fifty minutes of music as a thank you to a brilliant, beautiful actor.

 

Rest in peace, Sylvia Syms. 

 

Today's selection is also dedicated to Rol, of the wonderful My Top Ten blog.

 

1) Together (Edit): Nine Inch Nails (2020)

2) Lost In The Ghost Light (Giallo): Tim Bowness (2017)

3) Love Story (Where Do I Begin) (Long Version): Andy Williams (1979)

4) Absolute Beginners (Single Version): The Jam (1981)

5) The Human Jungle (Extended Mix By John A. Rivers): The Jazz Butcher (1985)

6) Blue Murder (Album Version By Todd Rundgren): Tom Robinson Band (1978)

7) Original Sin (Dance Version By Nile Rodgers): INXS (1984)

8) Punch And Judy Man: Frazer Hines (1968)

9) Run Wild, Run Free: Claudine Longet (1970)

10) No Time For Tears: The Marvelettes (1965)

11) Where The Heart Is (12" Version By Mike Thorne & Harvey Goldberg) (Early Fade): Soft Cell (1982)

12) Together: William Shatner ft. Lemon Jelly (2004)

 

Ghost Light (A Tribute To Sylvia Syms) (52:24) (Box) (Mega)

Hell For Leather On A Helter Skelter

Sometimes, only a poptastic playlist will do. Over 500 posts in and I'm surprised that this is the first appearance on this blog for a-ha, The Lover Speaks, Kool & The Gang, The Kane Gang, Split Enz and ABC (unless you count the latter's appearance in a mash-up mix by Go Home Productions last year).

 

I have a large sub-folder of music, which was my go-to when Lady K was very young. Very loosely labelled "Pop", it is better described as upbeat, uptempo songs without any sweary bits, although I came a cropper when this one popped up in the car. Fortunately, Mrs. K wasn't present and the F-word wasn't firmly embedded in Lady K's vocabulary from there on.

 

I'm a little bit more relaxed about the playlist these days, although you still won't find me playing either "Part 4" of this song by Alexei Sayle from the 12" vinyl or the current single by Julian Cope when Clan K are within earshot.

 

No parental advisory for this selection, 11 tunes for a (hopefully) sunny September Saturday, wherever you are.

 

1) Take On Me (Extended Version By Alan Tarney): a-ha (1985)

2) Every Lover's Sign (7" Remix By Andy Wallace & Bruce Forest): The Lover Speaks (1986)

3) Think Twice (Edit): Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band ft. Christine Sandtorv (2003)

4) Take It To The Top (Album Version By Eumir Deodato): Kool & The Gang (1980)

5) Funky Kingston: Toots & The Maytals (1973)

6) Beat The Clock (Short Version By Giorgio Moroder): Sparks (1979)

7) Six Months In A Leaky Boat (Album Version): Split Enz (1982)

8) Respect Yourself (R & B Mix) (Cover of The Staple Singers): The Kane Gang (1984)

9) Mystify (Album Version): INXS (1987)

10) I Want You To Know (Album Version): Charlotte Hatherley (2007)

11) Viva Love (Album Version): ABC (2016)

Hell For Leather On A Helter Skelter (45:06)

Eclectic Guitar

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded 3rd October 1999. As the name suggests, an eclectic mix with lots of guitar and a slight pun on a song title by Talking Heads, who close proceedings with their debut single. 

This may be the only place (today, at least) where you'll find INXS sandwiched by His Name Is Alive and the Fatima Mansions and Beck followed by The Pastels, with some wry slice of life observations from Jarvis Cocker and Ed Ball, alongside stone cold Seventies classics by Wire, Sparks, Blondie and the aforementioned Talking Heads. 

1) 59 Lyndhurst Grove (Inside Susan: "A Story In Three Songs...", Part 3) (Single Version): Pulp (1993)

2) Wish I Had A Wishing Ring (Album Version): His Name Is Alive (1998)

3) Heaven Sent (Album Version): INXS (1992) 

4) Something Bad: The Fatima Mansions (1992)

5) Hasta Mañana, Monsieur: Sparks (1974)

6) Primrose 0882: The Times (1993)

7) Outdoor Miner (Long Version): Wire (1978)

8) One Way Or Another (Album Version): Blondie (1978)

9) Deadweight (Edit): Beck (1997)

10) Love, It's Getting Better (Cover of The Groove): The Pastels (1995)

11) Chemicrazy (Revitalized): That Petrol Emotion (1990)

12) Love → Building On Fire: Talking Heads (1977)

 

1974: Kimono My House: 5 

1977: Love → Building On Fire EP: 12

1978: Parallel Lines: 8

1989: On Returning (1977-1979): 7

1990: Sensitize EP: 11

1992: Valhalla Avenue: 4

1992: Welcome To Wherever You Are: 3 

1993: Baby Girl EP: 6

1993: Razzmatazz EP: 1 

1995: Worlds Of Possibility EP: 10

1997: Deadweight EP: 9

1998: Ft. Lake: 2

Side Two (46:08) (KF) (Mega)