Category: Music

A couple of interesting ones this week, including one that I only just bought:

• “3-D Technicolor Scrambled Egg Trip Down The Hell-Hole (With Canary)” by the Tear Garden (from The Last Man To Fly)
• “Here’s One That Got Away” by the Style Council (from The Collection)
• “Simple Things” by the Nails (from Corpus Christi)
• “Better Do Better” by Hard-Fi (from Stars of CCTV, which I bought on Friday – thanks for the tip, Alec)
• “Gin Soaked Boy” by the Divine Comedy (from A Secret History – The Best Of The Divine Comedy)
• “Sunny Afternoon” (yes, the old Kinks number) by Tom Jones & Friends (from Reload – and why the hell didn’t they release this powerful collection of duets with various contemporary stars in the USA?)
• “China (Clouds Not Mountains)” by Banco de Gaia (from Last Train To Lhasa)
• “The 8:45” by Peter Buffett (from Lost Frontier)
• “On The Border” by Al Stewart (from Year Of The Cat)
• “Always Never” by Porcupine Tree (from Up The Downstair)

I need to get this out today; I don’t think I’ll have time while I’m travelling all next week:

• “Moonwind” by Wavestar (from Moonwind)
• “Sisotowbell Lane” by Joni Mitchell (from Song To A Seagull)
• “Post World War Two Blues” by Al Stewart (from Past, Present & Future)
• “Jazzion” by South Froggies (Featuring Allan) (from Saint-Germain Café: The Finest Electro-Jazz Compilation)
• “Hang On Little Tomato” by Pink Martini (from Hang On Little Tomato)
• “Helping Hand” by Pentangle (from The Pentangle Family)
• “Sugar Mice” by Marillion (from The Best Of Both Worlds)
• “I See You Baby” by Groove Armada (from The Best Of Groove Armada)
• “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” by the Beatles (from 1967-1970)
• “Destiny Awaits No One” by 矢野義人 (from Soulcalibur II Original Soundtrack)

That’s quite a span – 38 years of collecting music.
The only item that is likely to be unfamiliar is “Moonwind”. Wavestar was a collaboration between electronic music gurus John Dyson and David Ward-Hunt. Very spacey instrumentals, reminiscent of early Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream. You can hear a couple of the tracks at Groove Unlimited.

I’ve got a number of new CDs to load into iTunes: three of the Aria collection, two new Back To Mine compilations, and the new Streets. But until then, this is what iTunes is playing for me:

• “See No Evil” by Television (from Marquee Moon)
• “Isle Of View (Music For Helicopter Pilots)” by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra (from When In Rome)
• “Heartless” by Heart (from These Dreams: Heart’s Greatest Hits)
• “Teenage Kicks” by the Undertones
• “In Through Time” by Govinda (from Buddha Bar 2)
• “Pure Narcotic” by Porcupine Tree (from Lightbulb Sun)
• “I Am The Walrus (‘No You’re Not’, Said Little Nicola)” by Men Without Hats (from Sideways)
• “East Of Shanghai” by the Legendary Pink Dots (from Four Days)
• “Path Of Destiny（自ら切り開 運命)” by 中鶴潤 (from the soundtrack to the video game Soulcalibur II)
• “The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe” by the Robert Mellin Orchestra (from Back To Mine: Orbital)

I wonder how the Japanese characters for “Path Of Destiny” will come out. I was surprised to find that the Soulcalibur II soundtrack was in the GraceNote database; I just hope the information is accurate.

It’s that (over)time again.

• “Mooga (Hemstock & Jennings Remix)” by Digital Blond (from Trance Nation Future)
• “Be For Real” by Leonard Cohen (from The Future)
• “I Don’t Believe You” by Al Stewart (from Orange)
• “Small Talk” by Scritti Politti (from Cupid & Psyche 85)
• “Men Of Wood” by Porcupine Tree (from Stars Die – The Delerium Years)
• “The Plasma Twins” by the Legendary Pink Dots (from Any Day Now)
• “Please Mr Postman” by the Carpenters (from Singles (1969-1981))
• “Sudden Life” by Man (from Psychedelic Years – Back In The British Isles)
• “Born To Run” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood (from Bang! The Greatest Hits)
• “Ska’d For Life (Instrumental Mix)” by Orbital (from Back To Mine: Orbital)

Of these tracks, the most unusual is probably “Sudden Life” by the Welsh prog-rockers Man. However my favourite is “Small Talk” from Scritti Politti’s brilliant Cupid & Psyche 85. Here‘s what the reviewer at MP3.com has to say about it:

Cupid & Psyche 85, released in June of 1985, was a landmark album in many respects. No prior pop album had integrated the techniques of sampling and sequencing to such a great degree, and the technology of that time was both expensive to use and barely up to the task Scritti Politti demanded of it. Gartside’s typically high-flown verbiage was as evident here as anywhere, but you didn’t need to understand what he sang in order to enjoy the music. Certain songs are dialogues between Gartside and a female singer; as such, “A Little Knowledge” is a rare pop song that retains the characteristics of a mini-tragedy. Likewise, the bonus track of “Flesh and Blood,” featuring Jamaican rapper Ann Swinton, sounds remarkably fresh and contemporary 20 years on. But the big hits from Cupid & Psyche 85 were “Wood Beez” and “The Word Girl” in the U.K., and “The Perfect Way” in the U.S., which reached number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100 and got heavy rotation on MTV. Not many albums from smack in the middle of the “Big ’80s” can be said to possess the quality of timelessness, but Cupid & Psyche 85 most certainly does.

Late on this – sorry:

• “The Flood” by the Nails (from Corpus Christi)
• “Soothe (Chicane Mix)” by the Furry Phreaks (from John Digweed’s Northern Exposure II: East Coast)
• “Closure” by Opeth (from Damnation)
• “Asylums in Jerusalem” by Scritti Politti (from Songs To Remember)
• “Nine Cats” by Porcupine Tree (from On The Sunday Of Life)
• “Straight On ‘Til Morning” by The Legendary Pink Dots (from From Here You’ll Watch The World Go By)
• “Nothing But Heartaches” by the Supremes (from The Ultimate Collection)
• “I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar” by the United States of America (from Psychedelic 60s)
• “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” by Simon & Garfunkel (from Old Friends)
• “Clementine” by Pink Martini (from Hang On Little Tomato)

Now that’s a really mixed bunch! Anyone else remember The Nails? Back in the late 1980s they were something of a one-hit wonder, with the delightfully witty “Eighty-eight lines about forty-four women”, but the other tracks on Corpus Christi are definitely worth a listen. Unfortunately they got tangled up in all sorts of contractual B.S. and disappeared without a trace.

It has been suggested that one reason I like The Divine Comedy‘s album Absent Friends is because of the lyrics to the song “Come Home Billy Bird”. I’ll let you be the judge:
William wakes with his clothes on.
The morning call has been and gone,
And he might not make the flight but he will try.
Bit by bit it comes back to him,
A bunch of Belgian business men
And a strange drinking game, oh God why?
Come home Billy Bird, international business traveller.
Come home Billy Bird.
He hails a cab but the driver sucks.
He drives so slowly and he talks so much
That it hurts Billy Bird’s aching brain.
He runs from the cab to the check-in desk.
She says, “no way”, but William begs on his knees,
“Please, please, please”. “Well OK”.
Come home Billy Bird, international business traveller.
Come home Billy Bird.
Drenched in sweat he finds his seat
And with the luggage squeezed down beneath his feet
He begins to think that things can’t get no worse.
But then a voice says, “bags that can’t be stowed
In the overhead locker must go below in the hold,
Please let go, thank-you sir”.
Come home Billy Bird, international business traveller.
Come home Billy Bird.
He runs on past the carousel
Screaming, “damn my luggage all to hell.
I can buy a new shirt and tie any day”.
He rides from the airport into town,
To the high-school football ground
Where his son has just begun his big football game.
Come home Billy Bird, international business traveller.
Come home Billy Bird.

“Oi! iTunes!! Wotcha got for me today?”

• “Behind Blue Eyes” by the Who (from Who’s Next)
• “Triad” by Jefferson Airplane (from The Best of Jefferson Airplane)
• “Grind Me Baby” by DJ Rush (from Keoki – DJmixed.com)
• “Accident on 3rd Street” by Al Stewart (from Russians & Americans)
• “Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard” by the KLF (from Chill Out)
• “Nota Bossa” by The Funky Lowlives (from Buddha Bar 2)
• “Travelling Song” by Pentangle (from The Pentangle Family)
• “The Lord Is In This Place” by Fairport Convention (from What We Did On Our Holidays)
• “What You Are Listening To” by Porcupine Tree (from Up The Downstair)
• “Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (from Electric Ladyland)

For as long as I can remember, the music business has been in the habit of releasing different versions of albums in different countries. Back in the 1960s, British LPs were typically longer than those issued in the USA, so American customers got hacked and butchered versions of British albums, and British customers got US releases padded out with filler. Later on the practice was used to discourage import buying: the US distributor of a British artist would try to discourage American fans from ordering from the UK by making sure that the US version had a couple of extra tracks. This was frustrating to hard-core “completist” fans: do you wait, buy both versions, or what?
Last year Saint Etienne released an excellent CD in the UK, “Tales from Turnpike House”. 12 tracks, plus a bonus CD of children’s songs. Now their US label has released the album with 4 extra tracks, 1 deleted, different sequencing, and no bonus material. But today this presents no real problem. I’ve just downloaded the extra tracks from iTunes*, and assembled a playlist with all 15 tracks in the US sequencing.
Of course this scheme could have been foiled if one of the four new tracks had been tagged “Album only” (i.e. not available on its own). So who makes that call – Apple or the distributor?
—
* The only gotcha was that I had to change the album title for the four new tracks, to prevent iTunes from merging them into the UK album – I want to be able to access the original version unchanged.

Another Sunday, another i-ching thrown by iTunes:

• “Ghostly Horses Of The Plain” by Al Stewart (from Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time)
• “Suite in G Major, HWV 441 – Adagio” played by Trevor Pinnock (from Handel: Chaconne in G Major, Keyboard Suites)
• “Precious Heart (Joshua Ryan Remix)” by Tall Paul (from Music Through Me)
• “The Merciful One” by Zohar (from Buddha Bar 1)
• “Perfect Way” by Scritti Politti (from Cupid & Psyche 85)
• “Drifting Away” by Faithless (from Reverence)
• “Answering Machine” by Marillion (from anorak in the uk live)
• “Underneath The Rainbow” by Men Without Hats (from …In The 21st Century)
• “End Of A Century (Live)” by Blur (from Best Of Blur)
• “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin (from Led Zeppelin Remasters)

Here we go:

• “Una Musica Brutal” by Gotan Project (from Buddha Bar 4)
• “Always On My Mind” by the Pet Shop Boys
• “Observations From A Hill” by Family
• “The Light In My Little Girl’s Eyes” by the Legendary Pink Dots
• “Mekkanikk” by the Legendary Pink Dots
• “Charmless Man” by Blur
• “Sylvie” by Bert Jansch
• “Bleed” by No-Man
• “Network Twenty Three” by Tangerine Dream (from Back To Mine: Orbital)
• “Railway Jam” by Saint Etienne

The multiple appearances by the Legendary Pink Dots shouldn’t be a surprise. My iTunes library presently contains 387 tracks by the LPD, with a total playing time of 1 day, 10 hours, 15 minutes and 21 seconds. No other artist breaks the 300 track barrier. And I’ve only ripped 33 of their albums; there are more. (Plus all of the side projects….)