Jaws Was Never My Scene And I Don't Like Star Wars

A very special selection for a very special Lady on a very special day. Ten songs that have had a special place in our hearts at various points in our lives and especially on the rare occasions that I hand over the Car K playlist.

Love you always.

 

1) A Message To You Rudy (Single Version) (Cover of Dandy Livingstone): The Specials ft. Rico (1979)

2) Bicycle Race (Album Version): Queen (1978)

3) Levitating (Album Version): Dua Lipa (2020)

4) Der Kommissar (Remix) (Cover of Falco): After The Fire (1982)

5) Love Me Again (Live @ Jools Holland's Hootenanny): John Newman ft. Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra (2013)

6) Special Brew (Single Version): Bad Manners (1980)

7) Night Boat To Cairo: Madness (1979)

8) Feel It Still (Album Version): Portugal. The Man (2017)

9) Bizarre Love Triangle (Single Version): New Order (1986)

10) Bleeding Love (Cover of Leona Lewis): The Wombats (2008)

 

1978: Jazz: 2

1979: A Message To You Rudy EP: 1 

1979: One Step Beyond...: 7

1980: Ska 'n' B: 6

1982: Der Kommissar EP: 4

1999: Splendor OST: 9 

2008: NME Awards 2008: 10

2013: Jools Holland's Hootenanny (BBC TV): 5

2017: Woodstock: 8

2020: Future Nostalgia: 3

 

I Don't Like Star Wars (35:27) (KF) (Mega)

Positively Apricating

The extremely dedicated Lol-Z has uploaded every episode of legendary UK music show The Tube to YouTube, over 100 of them, originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 1982 to 1987. It seems to have taken the best part of half a year to do it and there's no telling how long they'll remain before "The Man" takes them down, but make the most of this treat/rabbit hole in the meantime.

 

I've selected one of the last episodes from the final series in 1987. The series wasn't essential viewing for me at this point and I'd dip in and out occasionally, but I remember this one particularly for the fleeting appearance of It's Immaterial, which I wrote about last October. There are couple of great live performances from Maxi Priest and The Comsat Angels, too.

However, if you only watch one bit for a flavour of the show's eclecticism and brilliance, then skip to Jools Holland's less then seamless segue from Prince's video for Sign "☮" The Times to a typically atypical performance from Edward Barton. This is worth the price of admission alone and supplies today's post title. I had to look up 'apricating', it means "basking in the sun"...which I'm not, currently writing this in January when it's cold and dark.

The Tube (Series 5, Episode 19, originally transmitted 20th March 1987)

Debutante

Björk's first album, inevitably titled Debut, remains one of my all-time favourite albums. It's both of the moment and timeless, capturing and resonating with a pivotal time in my life and finding new ways to entrance and motivate me, nearly three decades later. I was a big fan of The Sugarcubes, loved their remix album It's-It, and yet nothing prepared me for the sheer brilliance of Björk unleashed (released?). She would go on to create more and more groundbreaking music, but perhaps never as raw or energised as her debut solo album.

 

1) Human Behaviour (Album Version) (1993)

2) Crying (Live) (1994)

3) Venus As A Boy (Album Version) (1993)

4) There's More To Life Than This (Live) (1994) (ft. Leila Arab) 

5) Like Someone In Love (Cover of Dinah Shore) (Live) (1994)

6) Big Time Sensuality (The Fluke Minimix) (Video Version) (1993) 

7) One Day (Live @ Glastonbury Festival, 25 June 1994) 

8) Aeroplane (Live @ Later...With Jools Holland, BBC2 TV, 02 July 1993) (ft. D'Influence)

9) Come To Me (Live, Vulnicura Tour) (2015)

10) Violently Happy (Video Version) (1993) 

11) The Anchor Song (Live @ Later... With Jools Holland, BBC2 TV, 22 May 2018)

Testament To Reality

Happy 60th birthday, Matt Johnson. 

 

Sides 1 & 2 of a mixtape, recorded 21st October 1989. Cassette sleeve 'inspired' by the cover to the Gravitate To Me 12" single. Like many, Matt Johnson's albums, singles and B-sides were the soundtrack to my teenage years.

 

Side One (45:32)

1) Good Morning Beautiful (Album Version): The The (1989) 

2) The Sinking Feeling (The Original Version): The The (1982)

3) Sweet Bird Of Truth (12" Version) ('45 RPM' Album Edit): The The ft. Anna Domino (1986) 

4) Perfect (New Version): The The (1983)

5) The Nature Of Virtue (Version II): The The (1983)

6) Gravitate To Me (Little Version): The The (1989)

7) Giant (Album Version): The The ft. Thomas Leer, Jim Thirlwell, Zeke Manyika & Camelle Hinds (1983)

Side Two (46:03)

1) Harbour Lights (Single Version): The The (1986)

2) Heartland (Album Version): The The (1986)

3) Soul Mining (Album Version) (Edit): The The (1983)

4) Song Without An Ending! (Album Version): Matt Johnson (1981)

5) Bugle Boy (Album Version): Matt Johnson (1981)

6) Slow Train To Dawn (12" Version) (Edit): The The ft. Neneh Cherry (1986)

7) Infected (Album Remix) (Edit): The The (1986)

8) Flesh & Bones: The The ft. Jim Thirlwell (1985)

9) Uncertain Smile (Album Version): The The ft. Jools Holland & Camelle Hinds (1983)

10) Beyond Love (Album Version): The The (1989)

Side One (45:32) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:03) (KF) (Mega)

This Is Your Last Chance To Break A Glass Heart

I was surprised and delighted to see that Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay have returned as LUMP, following up their eponymous album in 2018 with Animal, set for release on 30th July.

 

Laura Marling released an excellent album, Song For Our Daughter, last year and her "At Home" sessions for Tiny Desk and KEXP were musical highlights during lockdown. 

Mike Lindsay's also been busy, having released an album, Outsider, with Phillipe Cohen Solal in March of this year.

 

I loved the first LUMP album and, on the strength of the title track released yesterday, Animal also promises to be in my best of 2021 list.

Animal (Official Video): Lump (3:41)

Tiny Desk (At Home) Concert (16 April 2020): Laura Marling (11:31)

Live At KEXP At Home (23 April 2020): Laura Marling (42:00)

Curse Of The Contemporary (Live on Later With Jools Holland, 22 May 2018): LUMP (4:06)

Scattering The Fierce Foeman (Video): Phillipe Cohen Solal & Mike Lindsay ft. Adam Glover & Hannah Peel (4:41)