Decayed IV: 2006

Side 1 of a completely made up cassette compilation, stepping through the 2000s.

When approaching this post, 2006 didn't particularly stand out. I was half way though my first 3-year stint as a blogger, still with less than 100 posts by year end. 

However, it proved to be a helpful reminder of what I got up to in 2006, mostly going to comedy clubs and the theatre with Mrs. K, by the look of it. Little surprise, as the excellent Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken pub was at the end of our street, and Bristol city centre was a short walk away.

Comedy shows in 2006 included Adam Hills, Mark Thomas, Matt Welcome, Omid Djalili, Richard Herring and, er, Russell Brand.

Theatre-wise, we experienced 

Air Guitar by Peter Kesterston

Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter, adapted by Tom Morris and Emma Rice

Present Laughter by Noël Coward, starring Simon Callow

Restoration by Edward Bond

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare

Jesus Christ, It’s Christmas by Bristol-based theatre company Paper Aeroplane

and, er. Scrooge, based on the 1970 film musical by Leslie Bricusse and starring Shane Richie ...and yes, he did shout "Taxi for Walford!" at the end.

I also enjoyed reading a fair few books, such as 

American Ghosts & Old World Wonders by Angela Carter

Black Hole by Charles Burns

N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto

Feeding Frenzy by Will Self

Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth by Chris Ware
Planet Karen by Karen Ellis

Whoa Nellie! by Jaime Hernandez

and The Fountain At The Centre Of The World by Robert Newman... actually, that one was shit, and the former star of The Mary Whitehouse Experience was a creepy sleazeball when we saw him perform stand-up around the same time.

As for TV, we were both obsessed with Lost and Dog The Bounty Hunter, Saxondale and Nathan Barley. To be honest, the latter two were me, Mrs. K wasn't at all bothered by them.

2006 was Clan K's first experience of Go Ape in the Forest of Dean; tree tops, rope walks and zip slides, it was a blast. 

Mrs. K and I also visited the Relaxation Centre in Bristol, sampling the outdoor and indoor hot tubs, steam room, sauna and floatation room and we both felt unbelievably great afterwards. I then blew it all the same evening as my oldest friend Stuart was in town and mandatory ale quaffing in The Three Sugar Loaves and The White Lion ensued, including pints of the prophetically named Doom. 

Gig-wise, 2006 was pitifully limited to Julian Cope in February and the Ashton Court Festival in July.

I've written about this previously, but 2006 was the year that Mrs. K and I experienced unexpected headliners Simple Minds. The once-free festival now charged entry, but £9.00 per day was pretty good, considering the range of music on offer.

What wasn't pretty good was Jim Kerr and co. In my blog review, I wrote that "Don’t You Forget About Me, a dire cover of Van Morrison’s Gloria and the closing third encore (!) of Alive And Kicking were little more than extended karaoke tracks, with Kerr preferring the audience to do the work on the choruses."

It wasn't all bad: I cited the "sole redeeming moment [as the] rendition of New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) seemingly inspired by Utah Saints’ rousing mid-1990s cover version." 

In closing, I ruefully reflected that "Perhaps the festival is still a rites of passage for some, but my feelings towards Ashton Court were aptly personified by Jim Kerr: over priced, over the hill, out of touch and with an inflated sense of self-importance." Oh dear!

On a happier note, we had a fun holiday in Bulgaria in October.

But what else was going on in 2006. Here's a non-exhaustive and entirely subjective run through of some events (and non-events, I might argue).

1st January

The first UK #1 single of the year was That's My Goal by Shayne Ward. 

21st March

Twitter launched. Five days later, Elon Musk's company SpaceX's first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket crashed to Earth shortly after liftoff. Sixteen years, Musk acquired Twitter, with similar results, culturally speaking.

6th May

Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens died of a heart attack at his home in Brisbane, Australia, aged just 48.

20th May

Finnish band Lordi won The Eurovision Song Contest with Hard Rock Hallelujah.

9th July

Italy beat France to win the FIFA World Cup.

24th August

The International Astronomical Union defines 'planet' at it's 26th General Assembly, consequently relegating Pluto to 'dwarf planet' status. Poor Pluto.

4th September

Steve Irwin, Australian TV legend and conservationist, is fatally stung in the heart by a stingray while filming underwater.

23rd November

Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian Federal Security Service officer and subsequent critic of the Putin administration, dies after being poisoned with Polonium-210. 

30th December

Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging for crimes against humanity.

31st December

The last UK #1 single of 2006 is A Moment Like This by Leona Lewis.

Yep, if we weren't facing the existential threat of talent shows like The X-Factor, music buying on physical formats was also under threat. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley became the first single to top the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone. Crazy remained at the top of the UK singles chart for nine weeks, the longest #1 spell for more than a decade. 

It's one of two #1's to appear in today's selection, albeit in a DIY extended version by DreamTime, whose music blog I was obsessed with at the time, even if the edits themselves were a bit hit and miss. Crazy definitely sits in the 'hit' camp for me.

The other #1 is by Arctic Monkeys, who also used the internet to their advantage, building up a groundswell of interest and support, which helped their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not become the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history at the time.

Aside from that, it's the usual eclectic mix of the well known and the wilfully obscure. And yes, although I committed the crime of not including The White Stripes, I have opted for Jack White's other band, The Raconteurs. Contrary sod, aren't I? Great song, though.

I missed The Go! Team at the Ashton Court Festival - they headlined the previous day - and I've still yet to see them live, but I love their gloriously joyful racket as much now as I did 20 years ago when I first heard them.

Muse and The Killers I'm less fussed by, but I do like the remixes featured here. Tahiti 80, Phoenix and Peter, Björn & John (with Victoria Bergsman) brings some European sunshine to proceedings. I finally got to see Peter at least live on stage, as the cornerstone of Robert Forster's Swedish Band in Cardiff last month.

I can’t promise the same level of diary diving tomorrow as I have done today, but 2007 will offer up another dozen examples of why the 2000s weren't so bad for music after all.

1) Big Day (Album Version): Tahiti 80

2) Young Folks (Album Version): Peter, Björn & John ft. Victoria Bergsman

3) Long Distance Call (25 Hours A Day Mix By Pierrick Devin): Phoenix

4) Cash Machine (Video Version 2): Hard-Fi

5) Why Won't You Give Me Your Love? (Album Version): The Zutons

6) Steady, As She Goes (Album Version): The Raconteurs

7) Crazy (DreamTime Mix): Gnarls Barkley

8) Ladyflash (Album Version): The Go! Team

9) Supermassive Black Hole (Team9 Remix By Neil Mason): Muse

10) Standing In The Way Of Control (Radio Edit): Gossip

11) When You Were Young (Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Radio Edit By Stuart Price): The Killers

12) When The Sun Goes Down (Album Version): Arctic Monkeys

1st January 2006: Stars Of CCTV (#14): 4

22nd January 2006: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (#1): 12

5th February 2006: Thunder, Lightning, Strike (#26): 8

5th March 2006: Fosbury (# n/a): 1

26th March 2006: It's Never Been Like That (# n/a): 3

2nd April 2006: St. Elsewhere (#1): 7

9th April 2006: Tired Of Hanging Around (#9): 5

30th April 2006: Broken Boy Soldiers (#4): 6

25th June 2006: Black Holes & Revelations (#4): 9

13th August 2006: Writer's Block (#35): 2 *

24th September 2006: Sam's Town (#2): 11

5th November 2006: Standing In The Way Of Control (#64): 10 **

Side One (46:14) (GD) (M)

* Young Folks was subsequently re-released the following year and got to #13 in the week of 23rd September 2007

** Likewise, Standing In The Way Of Control got a second bite of the cherry when it returned to the charts the week of 4th March 2007 with a peak of #7

If you're hungry for more, why not sample my selections from 1986 and 1996?

I Still Know What You Did Last Sombre

Side 2 of a mix CD-R, originally compiled for my brother and burned on 4th December 2006.

 

The previous post was described as the 'downtempo side'. Side 2 is definitely more upbeat, musically at least, even if the lyrics poke at the festering sore of humanity on occasion.

Adding to Side 1's sole album release from 2006 (Scritti Politti), there are three more on this side. I don't listen Writer's Block by Peter, Björn & John that often and I probably should as, hype at the time around Young Folks aside, I remember it being a pretty good album. Sparks are in constant rotation so and I have a lot but not all of their albums, so Hello Young Lovers (and Lil' Beethoven, also represented here) get regular airings at Casa K.  

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg's 2006 album 5:55 (her belated second) was already in the bargain bin when I bought it on CD later that year but it was a revelation. The album seemed to have a bit of a Marmite reaction from reviewers at the time as I recall but it was an immediate winner for me. When you've got AIR, Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon working with you on your songs and Nigel Godrich, can you go wrong? I didn't think so. The Swede posted about ten go-to albums on his blog Unthought Of, Though, Somehow last week. Deliberately avoiding the big hitters, it threw up some interesting choices. 5:55 by Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of my go-to album, a "musical comfort blanket", as The Swede so brilliantly describes it.

 

I'd been trying and failing to get hold of Kevin Shields' wonderful remix of Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo for a while, when it became one of my very first internet downloads (dial-up on a custom-made PC, so you can imagine that it took a fair while just to get a nine-minute track. It was a fairly ropy rip as I recall. Thankfully, both Yo La Tengo and their label Matador agreed as it finally got a re-release in 2005 as part of the superb Prisoners Of Love collection...well, the limited edition 3CD set, at least. This is a perfect marriage of artists that makes me wish they had done more together.

The opening pair of songs came from cover mounted cassettes with Select magazine, so will come with some quality limitations given the source. Positive I.D. originally appeared on Renegade Soundwave's second album and was released in multiple remixes as a single. This is my favourite mix of them all, making the most of the Bryan Ferry sample.

Don't Fight It Feel It by Primal Scream is good in any version that I've heard, but this version amply demonstrates their ability to inject the funk and ratchet up the guitar for a live audience. Denise Johnson takes it all in her stride and delivers a powerful vocal. I wish I'd been able to experience her magnificence in person.

Fosbury by Tahiti 80 was another chance bargain bin discovery - I think I paid 50p for this one in the Virgin Megastore in Bristol. The 'special edition' with two bonus songs, no less. It's a great album, and introduction to the band, not least with Big Day. As good a statement of intent as you could wish for. I'm not kept pace with Tahiti 80, to be honest, though I see that they're still a going concern. One for the next Bandcamp Friday shopping list.

I closed things off with Chris Morris, with a one-off release for Warp Records in 2003 and following up their collaboration on the Blue Jam album (2000) and My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117 short film (2002). Bushwhacked 2 as you might guess, featured chopped up snippets of speech from then-incumbent White House cretin George 'Dubya' Bush. This compilation featured the original 'Raw Feed' version but I've opted to swap it for Adrian Sutton's orchestral rework, which I think works a little better in context. Sadly, with the Orange Baby previously in post and threatening to do so again, no editing and rearranging needed as he says similar stuff of his own volition. What times we live in!

 

1) Positive I.D. (Security Analysis Remix): Renegade Soundwave (1994)

2) Don't Fight It Feel It (Alive In Tokyo): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson (1994) 

3) Big Day: Tahiti 80 (2004)

4) Suburban Homeboy: Sparks (2002)

5) AF607105 (Album Version By Nigel Godrich): Charlotte Gainsbourg (2006)

6) Autumn Sweater (Remixed By Kevin Shields): Yo La Tengo (1997)

7) Metaphor: Sparks (2006)

8) Amsterdam: Peter, Björn & John (2006)

9) Bushwhacked 2 (Adrian Sutton Mounting - Orchestral Mix): Chris Morris (2003)

 

1994: Secret Tracks (Select magazine promo cassette): 1

1994: Secret Tracks 2 (Select magazine promo cassette): 2

1997: Autumn Sweater EP: 6

2002: Lil' Beethoven: 4 

2003: Bushwhacked EP: 9

2004: Fosbury: 3 

2006: 5:55: 5

2006: Hello Young Lovers: 7

2006: Writer's Block: 8

 

Side Two (40:07) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

If You Have Problems Why Don't You Go Solve Them

Young Folks was the ubiquitous song by Peter, Björn & John which peaked at #13 in the UK and proved to be their one hit (wonder) on this island. Which is a shame because they have lots of other really great songs and not just on the accompanying album, Writers Block.

Nothing To Worry About, from the follow-up album Living Thing, is a personal favourite, downtempo with a playalong rhythm and a sing-a-long chorus, a kids choir thrown in for good measure.

The video, directed by Andreas Nilsson and Filip Nilsson, is fabulous. Following on from yesterday's Sparks video based in Tokyo, Nothing To Worry About is set in Harajuku, a district of Shibuya. The band don't appear in the video at all; instead the focus is on the Japanese Rockabilly culture, in particular the boss of the Black Shadows getting ready to go out then joining his gang dancing in Yoyogi Park. It's just great from start to finish.

As if that isn't good enough, there were a slew of remixes for the single, the flip side of the 7" including a fantastic none-more-80s turn from Jan Hammer that really does sound like it could have been lifted from the Miami Vice soundtrack. 

How Do We Start?

I had a couple of lovely comments on yesterday's post from Stevie (Charity Chic) and Brian (Linear Tracking Lives). At some point in the future, there will be a post that does Joe Strummer more justice than a 10-second snippet in reverse, but today's is inspired by Brian's comment that he was looking forward to seeing and hearing what else I had up my sleeve. Well, there was only one to go with that and it is of course Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, a collaboration between Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, both much loved here at Studio K. This is a cassette-friendly side of remixes and shorter selections from their Birth, Spring, West and George EPs. This selection spans 2005-2015, but both have continued to release consistently excellent music since. 

 

1) Before We Start, If?: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (2007)

2) Ulysses (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation): Franz Ferdinand (2009)

3) Get Ready To Fly: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (2007)

4) Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation): Peter, Björn & John ft. Victoria Bergsman (2006)

5) You Will Always Find Alice In The Kitchen At Parties: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (2005)

6) Raise The Roof (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation): Tracey Thorn (2007)

7) Space: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (2007)

8) Sand Dance (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Reanimation): Temples (2015)

9) The Fifth Note: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (2006)

10) Roscoe (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix): Midlake (2007)

How Do We Start? (43:07) (KF) (Mega)