Before we go any further, my apologies for the absence of a new mix for you last week. I messed up and scheduled the post for Saturday instead of Friday night, and that would never do. Sorry about that.
So, I’ll not mess around, let’s get straight into this week’s shenanigans:
And here’s your tracklisting, along with sleevenotes:
Petula Clark – Downtown
A few months ago, this song seemed to be following me everywhere. I took this as a sign; Petula may as well have been singing “Stick me in a mix and release me to the world on a Friday night, yer bastard!” at me. Who could resist?
Besides, from experience of flat-sharing with young people, they tend not to actually go out until older flops like me are starting to think about going home; since I never publish these mixes until 9pm on a Friday night (UK time), this seemed an entirely appropriate and classy way to kick things off this week.
2. La Roux – Uptight Downtown
A roux is a combination of flour and fat (yummy!) which is commonly used as a thickening agent in cooking of stews and sauces.
It is not to be confused with La Roux, an 80s-infused synthpop duo (at least, they were when their first eponymously titled album came out in 2009, but they weren’t by the time their second long-player Trouble in Paradise came out in 2012, founder member Ben Langmaid having jumped ship and left singer Elly Jackson all on her Jack Jones). Their first album was beloved by public and critics alike, producing four singles, two of which – Bulletproof and In For The Kill – are genuinely magnificent. The second album was less fondly received, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any bangers on it. I really like this one for example.
3. Microdisney – Town to Town
I know many will point to their earlier releases, but for me, Microdisney’s Crooked Mile album is the best thing they ever released. This was probably because it was the first record by them that I ever heard; I instantly loved it, and when I investigated their back catalogue, I found it to be largely impenetrable. Crooked Mile is by far their most commercial release, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This, the opening track and lead single, is simply superb. It even has a joke in it about people mispronouncing Cathal Coughlan’s name – and the much-missed Coughlan was not exactly renowned for being funny.
4. Talulah Gosh – My Best Friend
Before I drift into making this a Town-themed presentation, an intervention of the twee-est variety. This lot’s biggest claim to fame is they were the first band to feature Amelia Fletcher, the favourite of every late-80s/early 90s indie acts, appearing on releases by The Wedding Present, The Pooh Sticks, and The Brilliant Corners to name just a few.
5. The Dead Milkmen – Punk Rock Girl
A not very well-known one, this, but one I was introduced to by an old mate Ian Drake, who lived about three doors down from my room in the halls of residence in my first two terms at college. I went to my first festival with Ian. In 1989 we went to the Reading Festival. It was the first time it predominantly featured indie music – main stage headliners were New Order, The Pogues and The Mission – the change in direction coming when, a year earlier, Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler had to cut short their set and run for cover when a multiple of bottles of warm piss were thrown at them by an unimpressed crowd. When I was Social Secretary at the Students Union, I gave Ian paid work, even though he was no longer a student, and a few years later he returned the favour by getting me a job at Cardiff’s Virgin Megastore, probably the most enjoyable job I ever had, even if it was just for one Christmas.
Anyway, The Dead Milkmen didn’t play Reading in ’89, but Ian would often play this to me, when he wasn’t assaulting my eardrums with the likes of Lawnmower Deth, Napalm Death, or Extreme Noise Terror. Which is probably why I like this record all these years later: partly because it remind me of Ian, but also because it reminds me him playing a proper record for a change.
6. The Colorblind James Experience – Considering A Move To Memphis
Speaking of Ian, he played this at the Graduates’ Ball on the night that I, finally, graduated. And he played it just for me. And I know that because a) he announced it was for me, b) he knew that I wouldn’t be able resist dancing to it, and c) he also knew that everyone else most definitely would be able to resist, leaving me all alone and strutting my awkward stuff for all six-and-a-half bloody (marvellous) minutes of it.
7. Piranhas – Zambezi
Staying in the 80s for a while at least, with this horny (stop it!) number. I’ve always loved this one; not only is it catchy as hell, it contains one eternal truth: landlords and bank managers are gits and we shouldn’t worry about them anywhere near as much as we do.
8. The Larks – Billy Graham’s Going to Heaven
More horny (no, seriously, stop sniggering) brilliance. I look back with great pride on the fact that I posted this song on the day that Billy Graham did die and go to heaven (supposedly).
9. Fishbone – Ma & Pa
More in the same vein. As with the last track, I’ve posted this before, they both always remind me of my DJ’ing at Uni days, specifically right at the very start when I was being mentored by Jolly Jim, who, lest we forget, was the man who first called me Jez and broadcast it to the world (well, to about 30 people attending the indie disco that night). Should you be so inclined, you can read about that here.
10. K7 – Come Baby Come
Gear change ahoy! I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this one, which reached the dizzy heights of #3 in the UK charts back in 1993. I was most impressed that before I checked the chart placing, I guessed it got to #4 in 1992. One year out – hey, Ken Bruce, where’s my t-shirt? (Also, my immature funny bone was tickled to find learn that Louis Sharpe (aka K7) hails from the city of Ponce in Puerto Rico. I’ll let you make your own jokes up about that.)
11. Kriss Kross – Jump
Since we’re on slightly cheesy hip hop tunes from the early 1990s, here’s Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac with their biggest hit in the UK. Coats-on-backwards-ahoy!
12. House Of Pain – Jump Around
More jumping, more (less cheesy) hip hop. Doubtless you’ll be aware that the opening of this is a sample of Bob & Earl’s 1963 Harlem Shuffle, a bit of trivia which allowed me to win a tie-break Name That Tune/Spot the Intro question in a quiz night at a pub I spent far too much time at back in my Cardiff days. Possibly my second finest moment ever (after the Billy Graham thing from earlier).
13. George Baker Selection – Little Green Bag
There was a time when this, along with the rest of the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack, was simply everywhere. I’ve tagged Steven Wright’s dialogue intro to the start, so I don’t think this needs any further explanation. Iconic.
14. The Isley Brothers – Fight the Power, Pts. 1 & 2
To my eternal shame, until I watched the rather brilliant series Fight the Power:How Hip Hop Changed the World which aired on the BBC a few months ago, I’d never heard this before. If you’ve never seen it, even if you’re not fussed on hip hop – actually especially if you’re not fussed on hip hop – it’s essential viewing, and its still up on the BBC iPlayer, so you’ve got no excuse (unless you’re not in the UK, in which case, switch your VPN to UK and pretend).
15. Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street
I shot my bolt by using the word “iconic” too soon with the George Baker Selection. Ah, what the heck. This is iconic too.
16. The James Taylor Quartet – Theme From ‘Starsky And Hutch’
I may have mentioned this before, but when I first moved to London, I had quite the commute to get to my new job. This involved going on the London Underground, and one day my dutiful iPod decided to play me these two tracks – Bobby followed by The JTQ – in the sequence I’ve placed them here. And now I can’t hear one without hearing the other, for on that day, I was not a bloke in a suit and tie heading to the office, I felt like I was in New York, dressed like Sly Stone, resplendant in flowery shirt open to the navel, massive flares and a huge floppy hat, strutting my stuff out of the subway. Such is the power of music.
17. David Soul – Silver Lady
Since we’re on Starsky & Hutch, here’s one from the pile marked There’s No Such Thing as a Guilty Pleasure to wrap things up. Back in the 70s, Soul was a hunk, a pin-up, and I will forever remember the whispers that went round school when a classmate’s mother was seen placing a big sloppy kiss on a poster of him. Such is the power of music. And chunky cardigans.
I know I have often moaned in the past about how time-consuming it is to write The Chain, but this morning, at around 2am, having put off writing it every day this week, it suddenly occured to me that there are three reasons why it takes me so long:
1. You won’t be surprised to learn that I don’t own every record that gets suggested, so I have to track down a copy to post here. I quite enjoy this aspect, as it goes;
2. As I’m going through all of your suggestions, I put all the songs on a playlist so I can familiarise myself with them, and hopefully come up with either some decent jokes (I’ll let you be the judge of how succcesful I am with that) and/or some funny video clips to include in the post. This latter aspect, as I’m sure you can imagine, often leads me down a YouTube rabbithole. That said, I quite enjoy this aspect too;
3. For practically every song you suggest, I manage to think of at least one more to link to either the source record, or your suggestion. That’s not meant to sound like a boast, more a statement of fact: people who write music-based blogs tend to know quite a lot of records. I try to exert some kind of control over the amount of my own suggestions I include but sometimes I just can’t resist. I really like this aspect as well.
So next time I moan about what a pain it is to write The Chain, ignore me. Once I get going on it, I bloody love it.
As can be seen by the amount of suggestions I’ve made this time.
And that’s despite the source record being, in my opinion, one of the worst singles by – well, I’m not going to say the worst bands, not when Black Eyed Peas and Coldplay are both things – but certainly by a band that I don’t much care for.
In case you’ve forgotten, said source record this time around was this:
As usual, the suggestions can be split into categories, one for each word: ‘U2’, ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Day’, with a few tangents thrown in for good measure.
We’ll save the vitriol of links to U2 for later I think, so let’s start with a suggestion from PhonicPat:
“[Beautiful Day] is from their ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind” album which leads nicely to…:”
Over to C from Sun Dried Sparrows to kick off all the nominations linked to the word ‘Day’ and complete the cleansing of the palate:
“I think ‘keeping it simple’ will be my mantra from now on, so… Beautiful Day takes me to beautiful Days. I’ve just been through your back pages and I couldn’t see Kirsty MacColl’s sublime cover version appearing here before, so can we have that one please?”
Next up is a clutch of suggestions/songs mentioned in passing – which you all know I can’t resist – from Kay. For those of you who don’t know, Kay is my manager at work, but also a friend. She, too, wants to keep things simple:
“I’m a simple soul [I’m saying nothing – Ed], so I immediately started thinking of songs about a particular day of the week. First thought was…”:
“…then remembered [Look out, folks, she’s off. Experience tells me to get comfy and look like you’re paying attention – Ed] Foals had a song called Sunday, and I thought I would choose that, so you’d have to post it (much to your disgust)…”
Allow me to explain that “much to your disgust” comment: I’m not a Foals fan. I don’t dislike them either, to be honest. I just find them a bit “meh”. I don’t understand why anyone would want to pay money to go and see them, unless they need to pick up a new Yasser Arafat-type scarf from the merchandise stall, that is.
Anyway, carry on.
“…but then thought neither a Monday or a Sunday is a beautiful day. So I’m going for…”
I’m not sure if this has any bearing, but before we all had to work from home, Friday would be the day when someone was most likely to bring cakes into the office.
In the spirit of full disclosure, Kay’s email to me with her suggestions began like this:
“Here’s my suggestion…(it’s a bit basic, so doubt I’ll win the Showboating prize)…I have an alternative (that could be a Worst Record of the Week Award contender)…”
You know me, dear reader. I was intrigued and pressed Kay as to what that might be.
Time for a clip, and I imagine most of you will know that popular comic creations Lou & Andy from Little Britain…:
…are based on Lou Reed and Andy Warhol as played by David Walliams and Matt Lucas in an old Rock Profile sketch, reprised here on The Ralf Little Show (no, me neither):
Anyhoo. Kirsty MacColl also covered Perfect Day, with the Lemonheads’ Evan Dando, of course. But I’d be overdoing it if I posted that too, so we’ll save that for another…erm…day.
Instead, here’s Kirsty doing something which just begs to be played right after that:
That’s all the ‘Day’ suggestions, and before we move let’s move on to the “Beautiful” links, a suggestion which covers both, and I’ll hand you over to The Robster from on/off/on-again/no-he’s-definitely-gone-this-time Is This The Life?
“Beautiful Day was used by ITV for their ill-fated coverage of The Premiership back in, erm, I don’t remember. Quite a few years ago. The song I always associate with football on TV is Life Of Riley by the Lightning Seeds which Match Of The Day used for its Goal Of The Month feature.”
Ill-fated it certainly was, for two reasons: firstly, given an alternative, I don’t know anyone who would elect to watch football on ITV, and secondly, tactical analysis was provided by former professional footballer Andy Townsend, not from the comfort of a warm studio, but from what was know as The Tactics Truck, for no other reason, it seemed, than alliteration.
Whilst we’re on the subject of football, here’s PhonicPat with a couple of suggestions which I’ll allow, even though they link to The Robster’s suggestion more than to the source record:
“Late to the party this time around and some of my thoughts already reflected in the comments [but I haven’t got to them yet in this post, in case you were wondering – Ed]…More footy with…”:
Sorry, Pat. I can’t say I enjoyed that one. Worst Record of the Week, in my book.
Now we’ll move on to just plain Beautiful, words often used to describe Swiss Adam from Bagging Area, I’m sure:
“There are lots of songs that link to beautiful – Peaking Lights’ Beautiful Dub has the double pleasure of the word in its title and being beautiful to listen to.”
Ok, to break me out of this run, since we’ve now learned that a Beautiful Noise makes Mr Diamond feel good, just like a hand in a glove, I have to post this, don’t I….?
I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a compliment or not. If it is, then frankly that’s not what we expect when asked to comment about U2 round here. Please allow Swiss Adam to show you how it’s done:
“U2 are bad. Really bad. Negativland nailed them and their egos with The U2 Song, daring them to sue. Which they did.”
There’s a little snatch (and no, I don’t mean Bono) of the melody of that, such as it is, which reminds me of Una Paloma Blanca by Jonathan King, but since I’ve banned Morrissey’s solo records from the blog because of his extremist views, I guess I should extend that to convicted paedophiles too. So instead, here’s the George Baker Selection with the titularly-truncated (presumably Ms Stubbs complained) Paloma Blanca:
Going back to expressing one’s…erm…admiration for U2, perhaps one could take a leaf out Stevie from Charity Chic Music who does it in a much more subtle way:
“A mention of U2 leads to You’ve Already Put Big Old Tears in my Eyes (Must You Throw Dirt in my Face) by the Louvin Brothers”
Personally, whenever I hear the name U2, I want to rebel against it, and listen to the complete opposite. So, like a typically confusing clue on 70s game show 3-2-1…
…here we go: The clue mentions the complete opposite and the the opposite of U could be Me or it could be We; the opposite of the opposite of 2 is the number immediately adjacent to it, so it could be 1 or it could be 3; if you want to rebel against something then you want to bring about change, and perhaps the most famous rebels were the French Resistance…so the next suggestion is of course:
I mean, really I should be awarding myself some points for Showboat of the Week. Not that I can be bothered awarding points anymore. Nobody really cares about them, do they?
Here’s Martin again with another song which sort of links to the band’s name:
“Finally I want to mention ‘U Talk 2 Much’ by Sultans of Ping FC, not least for its U2-referencing sleeve art”:
Do you remember when U2 graciously and modestly decided that everyone with iTunes should be blessed with a free copy of their 2014 Songs of Innocence album, whether they wanted it or not? Well, that leads me here:
Time to go off on some (non-football) tangents, I think, and so here’s Alyson from What’s It All About?:
“U-2 is a kind of plane and another plane become the inspiration for a song by OMD, so I’m going for Enola Gay, which very scarily was a big hit for them in 1980, 40 years ago now. The awful event addressed in the song, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, happened only 35 years prior to that. Is it just me or is time running away with us as we get older?”
On the same theme, some suggestions from a couple of first-timers (I think – apologies if you’ve contributed before and I’ve forgotten); firstly, give a big Chain Gang welcome to Devonian:
“U2 is a plane named after a letter and a number. B-52 is also a plane named after a letter and a number. Something by The B-52s, then… let’s say…”
And follow that up with an equally warm hand on his entrance for Stevo Kifaru, who, for a first-time Chain Ganger has certainly got the hang of naming a load of records knowing full-well I won’t be able to resist posting them all:
“U2 were named after an American spy plane, the Lockheed U-2, so I’m going with the theme of Spies for a second. My initial thought was…:”
….which I’m sure you’ll agree is the very best of the mixes, right Chums?
It turns out Stevo is quite the Chatty Cathy (a bit rich, coming from me, granted), for he continues:
“I also thought U2 reminded me of the nomenclature of German submarines, always beginning with a U, & that brought me to Das Boot. Many years ago my friend randomly asked me, what was the number of the sub in Das Boot? I thought for a second & said U96. I have felt like such a nerd since that day, my friend obviously grateful that I answered his question, but the look he gave me was one of shock at my depths of geekness….In reality I just remembered the techno remix of the theme tune that was released under the name of U96….”:
So, having dealt with all things U2-related (was that what we were doing? I’ve lost track…), what about the individual band members?
And by band members, I mean your Bono fide ones, not charlatans like this chap:
Back to you, Robster:
“I’m also going to throw a Half Man Half Biscuit song into the mix, just because it’s Half Man Half Biscuit. Something from their ‘Achtung Bono’ album. How about…:”
In the interest of balance, perhaps I should point out that Bono at least seems to be vaguely self-aware and have a sense of humour about how many people view him, even if that sense of humour has been written by somebody else:
“U2 to Stiff Little Fingers to Grandmaster Flash and back to U2 in 3 moves:
There is a story that Adam Clayton says the bass line for U2’s ‘With Or Without You’ is basically Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Alternative Ulster’ slowed down.”
Now. I know you haven’t suggested it, and I wouldn’t ordinarily post a second song by the source artist (especially when it’s U-Sodding-2), but I don’t think I can let that slide without investigating. So here’s both of those records, to allow us to compare and contrast:
Hmm. I suppose he may have a point. But it’s not exactly the most complicated bass-line in the world is it?
“SLFs 1997 album Tinderbox,” Rigid gamely continues, undeterred, “contains a cover version of ‘The Message’, which includes the lyric: “Don’t push me cos I’m close to the Edge”
So, here’s both the cover and the original. I do like a bit of SLF, but I know which of these I prefer:
Sounds a bit Walk This Way, only not as good to me, no? Imagine the Run DMC boys hadn’t turned up at the studio and so Aerosmith recorded their part too.
Of course, any mention of The Edge being close to the edge means that I’m contractually obliged to share this clip:
Last ones before we find out what the next record in The actual Chain is, and I’ll hand over to The Great Gog to bring things to a thrilling climax as only he can:
“The phrase ‘close to the edge’ has already been mentioned. Of course Bono and the other two are close to The Edge when they play live. Close To The Edge was also an album recorded by Yes in 1972. Later versions of this album include a cover of the Paul Simon-penned America, also recorded in the same year.”
Now, I’m no Yes man, so I checked what Wiki has to say about this, and GG is quite correct:
“In 1987, ‘Close to the Edge’ was reissued by Atlantic Records on CD in the United States and Europe. Another issue of the album was digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt in 1994. In 2003, the album was reissued again on disc in an expanded and remastered edition by Rhino and Elektra Records. Included were two previously unreleased tracks: an alternate version of ‘And You and I’, an early run-through of ‘Siberian Khatru’, and Yes’s 1972 single ‘America’ with its b-side, an edit of ‘Total Mass Retain‘.”
It’s not so much a cover version as a lot of proggy noodling with the Simon & Garfunkel lyrics chucked in after a while.
I should be careful how I phrase that, really; for to describe them as ‘Simon & Garfunkel lyrics’ does rather give the impression that Art had some involvement in the song-writing process, a goof that Annie Nightingale made when she interviewed Paul Simon for The Old Grey Whistle Test many years ago:
“1972 saw Simon record the song ‘Mother & Child Reunion’,” GG continues. “He performed this song on stage (and presumably close to The Edge) with U2 at Madison Square Garden in 2015.The performance is on YouTube but the quality isn’t great and there’s a load of waffle from Bono at the start of it.”
Which seems a good enough reason to just post the Paul Simon version:
And all that leaves me to do is….oh wait. Rigid Digit is back:
“Forgot to include the story of my U2 branded SatNav.It’s terrible – the streets have no names, and I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.
And I think my U2 fridge is on the way out – all it does is Rattle and Hum.”
Thanks Rigid, I trust you’ll be here all week?
Anyway, as I was saying (he says, locking the door behind him to be on the safe side), all that leaves me to do is to give you the next song in The Chain, along with the way the person suggesting it got there. And don’t worry, it’s a waaaaaaaay better record this time:
The link: As PhonicPat said right at the top, Beautiful Day appeared on the band’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind album. What Pat didn’t say was that said album was produced by Brian Eno (and Daniel Lanois); and the album that this is taken from (Fear of Music) was also produced by Brian Eno (without Daniel Lanois):
So, your suggestions, please, for songs which link to Cities by Talking Heads, along with a brief description of the link, via the Comments Section down below or via email to dubioustaste26@gmail.com in time for whenever The Chain circus next rolls into town, in a month or so’s time (probably).
A History of Dubious Taste 