The Chain #2

Well, I must say I hadn’t planned on doing the second post in this series so soon, but something happened which made me reassess what I would do with this thread.

OK, so the plan here wasn’t to take requests, it was to play all of the songs that have been played in the official “The Chain” section of Radcliffe and Maconie’s 6Music show.

But I’ve wanted to make this place a more interactive, communal experience for a while, and this seemed a perfect opportunity, prompted in no small part by the excellent When You Can’t Remember Anything blog, which you should go see if you haven’t already.

But, if you care to pop back to the first post on this thread, you’ll see that it elicited a suggestion – I won’t call it a request – in the Comments.

The reason I won’t call it a request is because I appreciate that the Comment left was a gut reaction, a knee jerk response to the words “Fleetwood Mac”. I do it myself. Often someone will say something to me and I find myself blurting out a lyric or a pop-culture reference that invariably leads to a quizzical brow being raised in my direction.

But it got me thinking: how about we do our own version of The Chain?

So here’s the new plan: whenever I do a post on this thread, I’ll play the next in the official Chain, but I’ll also welcome your suggestions on what to play next. I’ll play the best suggestion along with the “proper” one on the next post. Deal?

Unfortunately, this means that I have no option but to post the song suggested in the Comments from the first post, and I must stress at this point that I had to go out and find this, I didn’t already own it. I mean, I know I say there’s no such thing as a Guilty Pleasure, but everyone’s got a fucking limit.

So, here you go:

The Reynolds Girls – I’d Rather Jack

I’ll be checking to see how many of you download that, by the way.

When I was looking for this record (because I categorically did not already own it, ok?) I found out – and I really don’t know how I managed to miss this, surely there was a national holiday in celebration? – there was a Reynolds Girls reunion in 2007. That said, having watched this, I’m pretty sure it’s a piss-take, but I must admit I’m not 100% sure. Is it still April 1st?

Anyway, that’s enough of that.

Here’s the record which actually followed “The Chain” in…er…The Chain. I can only think the link was TV sports themes:

2. Booker T & The MG’s – Soul Limbo

Ok, so over to you. What record shall we have next, that links with Booker T & The MG’s “Soul Limbo” (and NOT The Reynolds Girls!!!) ? Your suggestions via the Comments box, or tweet me @jezbionic please!

More soon.

Name That Tune

Of course, any mention of William Shatner makes me think of this. Side Two, Track One of one of my favourite albums ever:

The Wedding Present – Shatner

Surely “You can’t say it doesn’t really matter. This isn’t TV, he isn’t William Shatner” has to be one of the greatest rhyming couplets ever, right?

More soon.

How to Do a Cover Version

A few years ago, I used to occasionally co-DJ at a night a mate of mine used to put on, called “Indieoke”.

The premise was simple: karaoke, but only Indie songs. Oh, and a live band, instead of a backing tape.

As you can imagine, these were highly entertaining nights, the allure of singing in front of an actual live band was too much for many to resist, leading to…well, shall we just say varying results?

One chap, having managed to bagsy the song he wanted to do, approached the microphone and said something along the lines of: “I’m not going to do the cover of the version you know of this song. I’m going to do a cover of the better version of it.”

I had to admire his swagger.

And this is what he sang:

Pulp – Common People

Only he did in the style of:

William Shatner – Common People

Fair play. Doubtless the guiding hand of Ben Folds is a necessary influence, but I think Shatner’s version’s alright, and not even in an ironic, so bad it’s good kinda way.

More soon.

The Chain

Mention of Radcliffe and Maconie’s afternoon show on 6Music in my Friday Night Music Club post this week got me thinking of another very regular item on their show: The Chain.

For the uninitiated, every day one of their listeners rings in to suggest a record to play next in the thread of records. The only caveats are that a) you must be able to link it to the previous record in The Chain, and b) it can’t have been played before.

Or, as they say on the BBC website: “The Chain is our never-ending list of records, with every new track somehow connected to the last. Every day Stuart and Mark play three records and discuss the connections that link them.”

There are three records in The Chain per show. So I will never catch up.

I have managed to locate a website which seems to be up-to-date with the tunes selected thus far (it’s on number 5,826, which sounds about right, and having listened back to Friday’s show, we’re bang up to date), so I thought it might be fun if we started looking and listening to each of those. I figured we’d all benefit from it: firstly, we’d all get to hear some tunes we may not be familiar with; secondly, I would have to seek out and find the ones I don’t own or know anything about and think of something to say about them; and thirdly, it means I’ll really have to try quite hard to crowbar a Quo/Super Furry Animals/The Wedding Present reference in.

Also, I will have no idea how they have got from one record to the next, so it’ll be fun trying to work that out. Your suggestions as to what the link is will be most appreciated.

So here’s the first tune that was ever played in The Chain, a fairly predictable one if truth be told:

1. Fleetwood Mac – The Chain

I don’t think I need to insult your intelligence by explaining this to you, do I? Taken from not just one of the greatest break-up albums ever, but one of the greatest albums ever, this song is perhaps best known in the UK as being that record they play on the BBC’s  Formula 1 coverage. (Do they still? I have no clue.)

More soon.

Apropos of Nothing

I should think of a better name for these non-thread songs I have the urge to post every now and then, for, as always, this post is not apropos of nothing at all.

No. Any of you who has read this week’s Friday Night Music Club missive will have just one thought (okay, two if you count “when is he going to shut the fuck up?” Three if you count the one you had about Mega City Four.): what the hell does that Spanky Wilson vs N*E*R*D mash-up sound like?

Like this, as it goes:

Spanky Wilson vs N*E*R*D – She Wants a Spank

Now go and have a cold shower.

More soon.

(With thanks to Llyr for bringing this to my attention all those years ago)