Friday Night Music Club Vol 29

And we’re back in the room.

So after (almost) a week off, I was going to do a mix of stuff I saw (on TV) at Glastonbury last weekend, but I figured there’s probably more who didn’t attend the Mother of All Festivals may read this than did, and you’re probably as sick of hearing how amazing it was from those who were lucky enough to be there as I am, so instead I looked around to see what was happening in the world, and realised that next week it’s 4th July, a day of great signifigance to our special relationship (but not when striking up trade deals – can’t say we weren’t warned, eh?) buddies over the Atlantic.

So, I figured I’d do a mix to celebrate all things American. Well, almost all things. I mean, I’m not about to celebrate the emboldening of the far right, or the next/latest mass shooting. Nosireebob, as our Yankee friends say (possibly). Rather, tonight we’ll be celebrating (almost) all things American and musical.

Unfortunately the old Gregorian calendar hasn’t seen fit to let this fall on a Friday this year, preferring to plop it down on Tuesday, right in the middle between Fridays. The question is: Friday before, or Friday after?

There’s only one way to find out:

No, of course not. The answer is obviously the Friday before, or it will seem like an afterthought and, moreover, can’t be played by either person who wants to listen to it on the big day.

And don’t worry: I’m not going to resort to lazy stereotypes by making cheap jokes about Americans being stupid and obese, because that simply isn’t true (obese means fat, by the way), in the same way that all French folk aren’t cheese easting surrender-monkeys who wear berets, stripey jumpers nor do they have onions permanently draped around their necks; English folks don’t all wear bowler hats, speak like they have a plum in their mouth and are definitely not sexually repressed (I wear a titfer, don’t you know); Germans don’t…ah, let’s not, eh?

So no jokes of that nature here. This is a celebration.

So here you go, America. I hope you enjoy this:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 29

And here’s your tracklisting and yes, I’ve actually bothered with sleevenotes this week:

1. John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.

“Hello? Is that Trading Standards? I’d like to report a rock star purporting to be a camp melon, and he is clearly neither.”

I love this record. Genuinely, I do. It tells how musicians in the 50s and 60s rose up to create modern music as we know it now. It also contains a roll-call of American artists (“There was Frankie Lyman, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Ryder (They were rockin’)/Jackie Wilson-Shangra-Las-Young Rascals (They were rockin’)/Spotlight on Martha Reeves, Let’s don’t forget James Brown”) and this simplified narrowing down my extremely long list of acts who should be in this mix, as all those named are now immediately precluded from appearing later in this playlist, because as any mix-tape/playlist maker worth their salt knows, the same artist cannot appear twice in the same mix/playlist. So, cheers Mr Camp-Melons, you just made this a whole lot easier!

2. Bangles – Hazy Shade of Winter

The easiest way to include as many American artists as possible in this just-shy-of-an-hour mix, in which it is of course impossible to include everything, was to include a few US acts covering other US acts. And so here we are with the Bangles frankly breath-taking romp through Simon & Garfunkel’s tune.

Oh, and as is compulsory round these parts: *sighs* oh, Susanna! Still looking great in her *checks notes* sixties (!). I’m 53. Perhaps she’d enjoy a younger man, even if it is one riddled with a skin complaint and arthritis. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. Ready and waiting if required Susanna!

3. The Black Crowes – Hard to Handle

More cover version shenanigans with this Otis Redding tune given the Southern Rock work out. They never sounded as good as they do here again.

4. The Long Ryders – Looking For Lewis And Clark

Before I knew anything much about American history, I’d always assumed this was about the DC Comics alter-ego of Superman and his sort-of girlfriend, deliberately mis-spelt to avoid copyright issues. I was wrong, of course. The titular Lewis & Clark are in fact Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, best known for the Corps of Discovery, an expedition from the Mississippi River to the West Coast and back, between May 1804 and September 1806. Look it up yourself if you want to know more, what am I, your teacher?

5. The Georgia Satellites – Battleship Chains

Tune. That is all.

6. The Hooters – Satellite

An excellent satirical swipe at the evangelical right and all they promise in return for as large a donation as you can possibly afford. And if you can’t afford, send it anyway. God will love you more. As will their pockets.

Incidentally, despite much research, I’ve not been able to establish if this lot are called The Hooters because they all have big noses, or comical car horns, or all used to work in a bar where tight-fitting t-shirts are the uniform (so I’m told). Probably none of the above, if I’m honest.

7. The Rainmakers – Let My People Go-Go

More (anti) biblical stuff here. My love of this record is well-documented (on these pages), so I’ll not wang on about how great it is this time out. (It is though.)

8. Rick Springfield – Jessie’s Girl

For my money, one of the finest forbidden/unrequited rock songs ever. So there.

9. The Strokes – New York City Cops

This isn’t on the US version of 2001’s debut album Is This It?,  replaced with the far-inferior track When It Started on the American CD edition following the September 11 attacks due to its lyrics regarding the New York City Police Department. Attacking heroes does not lead to a long career.

10. Nirvana – On A Plain

This lot should be massive, and will be as long as the lead singer and songwriter doesn’t do anything stupid, like shoot his own face off after releasing the band’s Difficult Third Album.

Seriously though, were it not for this band then Dave Grohl wouldn’t have had as much fun at Glastonbury as he clearly did, so…y’know….little victories….

11. R.E.M. – Little America

You didn’t really think I’d get through a playlist of America’s finest without featuring this lot, did you? As with many of Stipe’s early lyrics, I’ve no idea what he’s singing about, but I assume from the title it’s a swipe at some of his fellow countryfolk.

12. The B-52s – Roam

The follow-up to the absolutely massive world-wide smasheroo Love Shack, and nowhere near as massive commercially, is still much loved around Dubious Towers. Suck it up.

13. Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

Mr Blue Collar himself, included because a) is there an act more representative of the average American? and b) to please long-term reader George, who *coughs* is a massive fan of Brooce’s work….

14. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Summer Wine

Had I not done an emergency post last weekend about Lana Del Rey, then she would have featured here. Instead, something by the woman who has clearly been a massive influence (she’s even covered this one).

15. Pearl Jam – Daughter

Pearl Jam in not-posted-immedately-after-Nirvana-tune shocker!

Forgive me, something about posting a song which contains the words “Don’t call me daughter” immediately after a song by the daughter of one of the most famous Americans ever tickled me somehow.

16. The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this record, co-penned by Go-Go Jane Weidlin and Special Terry Hall, is one of the greatest pop singles ever. Period.

17. Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Prayer

Speaking of The Greatest: Aretha is the greatest singer ever to grace this world. Right? (Right!)

That’s yer lot. More soon.

Friday Night Music Club Vol 5.3

Well, we seem to have made it to Friday Night again, which means it’s time for the next session of Music Club mixes, and speifically, Volume 5.3.

And you’ll be surprised to learn that, despite that dancing Darth gif up there, I haven’t included Can You Feel The Force? or any other Star Wars related tunes, nor anything by The Beautiful Sith in this one. Trust me though, had I stumbled across the gif earlier than I did, I would probably have redone the mix to include any and all of them.

“So what have I got lined up for you this time?” I sense you yawn.

Oh you know, just the usual mish-mash carefully crafted mix of house classics, unforgiveable Europop, a bunch of truly great 60s and 70s cover versions by 60s and 70s artists, followed by a veritable deluge of indie classics before rounding things off with an utterly filthy (even by their standards) tune by GLC which definitely deserves one of these:

Sounds good, no? No? What do you mean “no”?

*Sits in the corner, arms folded, glowering*

Right, let’s crack on then shall we? Off we pop with 19 songs and 2 guest vocalists in 62 minutes:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 5.3

And here’s your track-listing and sleeve notes:

1. Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk feat. Darryl Pandy – Love Can’t Turn Around

Eschewing my usual slow-burner start for this House classic, and part of a two-header of songs with guest vocalists. I hated this when I first heard it, on an edition of Top of the Pops back in 1986, which is no surprise given my aversion to any record which didn’t feature guitars. At the time I considered it just a fat sweaty bloke bellowing over some synths. How wrong is it possible to be?

2. Bran Van 3000 – Astounded

And that’s none other than Curtis Mayfield providing the vocals. OK, strictly speaking it’s a sample, but it’s not quite as straight-forwards as that; this explanation from wiki: “Bran Van 3000 member James Di Salvio approached Curtis Mayfield with the idea of collaborating months before his death in 1999. Mayfield was too ill to contribute a vocal, but weeks before his death, he gave Di Salvio permission to pull through his archives, which is where he discovered an unused vocal Mayfield recorded in the 1980s. With Mayfield’s permission, that vocal was incorporated into “Astounded.”

3. Moony – Dove [I’ll Be Loving You] (T&F vs Moltosugo Radio Mix)

Cheesy Europop ahoy! Actually, I really like this one, especially this mix, which is the bestest of all the mixes, with the possible exception of the Almighty Records remix, which I definitely didn’t try and blag a free copy of from Hel when she used to work there.

4. DB Boulevard – Point of View

Ok, you could argue that this is a tad on the Europop side too, but it contains a sample from ultra-cool French band Phoenix’s Heatwave, which lifts it above other songs which fall into that category.

5. Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out

On to some cover versions, and a bit of class. This is from Wonder’s wonderful 1970 Signed, Sealed, Delivered album, which also contains a song called Never Had a Dream Come True, which is definitely not the same song as the one S Club 7 had a hit with in 2000.

6. Nancy Sinatra – Day Tripper

Nancy turned 83 this week. And this sassy, parping version of The Beatles tune is just fabulous. So there.

7. Yvonne Elliman – I Can’t Explain

If ever a singer needed to have her career written about, then it’s Elliman. Born in Honalulu, she moved to London and began singing in bars and clubs in 1969. She was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who asked her to sing Mary Magdalene’s part for the original audio recording of Jesus Christ Superstar which featured Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan singing as Jesus. She later joined the stage show’s traveling cast, and moved to New York in 1971 for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, and sang backing vocals on Eric Clapton’s version of Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff, went on to tour as part of Clapton’s band and appears on four of his albums. In 1977, the Bee Gees wrote How Deep is Your Love for her, but they were over-ruled by record boss Robert Stigwood who wanted the Gibb brothers to record it. Instead, she was given If I Can’t Have You; both songs appear on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, and her song went to #1.

This cover of The Who song features on her 1973 album Food of Love, and you can spot the influence of living in early 70s New York; Fatboy Slim certainly could, sampling it on his single Going Out of My Head, which was the third and final single from his ruddy-brilliant debut album Better Living Through Chemistry.

8. Clout – Substitute

I bloody love this record so much. And it’s a cover of a song by The Righteous Brothers. No, really.

9. Erasure – Stop!

What were/are Erasure, the fourth or fifth stage (after Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly…did I miss anything from his highly prolific career…?) in Vince Clarke’s plan for world domination? Of course, his most succesful and enduring collaboration came when he paired up with flamboyant son of Peterborough Andy Bell (not to be confused with the Ride/Oasis/Hurricane #1 guitarist of the same name, of course). I did a search to see how many other famous people come from Peterborough, and namaged to track down about 15 of them. My name was not included (yet).

10. The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song

American psyche-rock group in political song shocker! The main thrust of this seems to be: you think politicians are all corrupt, power-mad warmongers? How well would you do in their position?

11. Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun

Opening track from an actually perfect debut album. But you knew that already, right? Gawd knows I’ve mentioned it enought times on these pages.

12. Idlewild – You Held The World In Your Arms

The biggest hit from these Scottish indie scallywags (not that it’s up against much competition…)

13. Pixies – Allison

You don’t need me to tell you why this is ace, do you? (Part 1)

14. Primal Scream – Ivy Ivy Ivy

Should you ever need confirming just how influential Andrew Weatherall was on the Scream’s 1991 classic Screamadelica, then just cock an ear in the direction of the albums they released before it, like their eponymously-titled second album, relesed two years earlier, from wnce this is lifted.

15. The Jesus & Mary Chain – Taste of Cindy

You don’t need me to tell you why this is ace, do you? (Part 2)

16. Manic Street Preachers – Faster

When they burst onto the scene with their feather-boas and eyeliner back in 1992, they announced their debut album Generation Terrorists would be their only record. The idea of making one great record and then disappearing completely seemed impossibly cool. Thank goodness they resisted the temptation, or we would never have got the utterly brilliant in-your-face The Holy Bible two years later, and by extension, this.

17. The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make

Still gives me goose-bumps and makes me want to whirl my cardigan around the room all these years later, irrespective of what a twat he is these days.

18. Echo & The Bunnymen – The Cutter

Ditto, only substitue whirling my cardigan for standing in a raincoat looking dour.

19. Goldie Lookin Chain – Sister

Utter filth. You’ve been warned.

That’s yer lot for another week. Next time, I’ll be polishing off the admin that is posting these split down Volume 5’s, and we can get back to normal again.

By which I mean: more soon.

Friday Night Music Club

I had to travel into the office in London today; on the way home, I checked to see what time I had scheduled tonight’s post for, only to find that, to my horror, I hadn’t written it last weekend as I thought I had.

So, I’m afraid this week, there’s no sleeve notes or tediously long preamble, because I’ve messed up and I don’t have time. Besides, you know how this works by now: it’s an hour of tunes, starting off slowly, some (hopefully) unexpected selections, the occasional link between songs (some more obvious than others), reintroducing some long-forgotten old buddies and throwing in more than one banger.

Which is a shame, because tonight is the 21st edition of Friday Night Music Club (if you ignore all of the additonal mixes) and I had wanted to mark the occasion appropriately, but that will have to keep for the next milestone, I guess.

Woo-hoo!

That’ll have to do.

So, here’s this week’s mixed bag of genre-jumping mixedness. I hope you enjoy it:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 21

And here’s your track-listing:

1. The Stone Roses – Made of Stone
2. Aztec Camera – This Boy Wonders
3. It’s Immaterial – Ed’s Funky Diner
4. Talking Heads – And She Was
5. Ofra Haza – Im Nin’Alu
6. The Sisters of Mercy – Temple of Love (1992)
7. The Cult – Nirvana
8. Nirvana – Lounge Act
9. Beastie Boys – Sure Shot
10. Dream Warriors – Wash Your Face in My Sink
11. Missy Elliott – Work It
12. Audio Bullys Featuring Nancy Sinatra – Shot You Down (Radio Edit)
13. Deep Dish – Flashdance (Original Club Mix)
14. The Source Featuring Candi Station – You’ve Got the Love (Original Mix)

Oops. Probably should have stuck one of these in erlier:

Ho hum.

More (done properly, hopefully) soon.

The 100 Greatest UK Number 1 Singles – #92

This is the series where I feature The Guardian’s idea of the 100 best UK #1s ever, and we see what I have to say about them (which usually isn’t much, to be honest).

We’re staying in the 60s for this week’s entry. Here’s what The Guardian had to say about it:

Had These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ been sung by a man, as its author, Lee Hazlewood, had intended, it would just have been nasty. Sung with insouciant cool by the recently divorced Nancy Sinatra, however, it became something else entirely: camp but tough, funny but fierce, completely irresistible.

Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’

I love a bit of Nancy, but have always thought it a shame that this remains her best known, most loved and most iconic songs. For my money, her recorded collaborations with Lee Hazlewood – who, as The Guardian point out, wrote “…Boots…” – are much more interesting, and way better than this, great though it is.

Hazlewood doesn’t appear on Nancy’s version – not singing, anyway, though he is credited as being the “supervisor” of the sessions during which it was recorded – but he did record a version of it himself. Let’s see how on the money The Guardian were when they said it would sound “nasty”:

Lee Hazlewood – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’

I’m not sure that “nasty” is quite the way to describe it. Oddly paced and full of weird spoken asides, sure – but nasty? Nah. Although I see how it could have been, if sung by someone with a seedier reputation. Frank Bough, for example. (Young people: look him up, but remember to clear your browsing history immediately afterwards.)

Anyway, Nancy’s version happened to come up on her Twitter feed the other day when she retweeted an invitation to recreate her video for the song as it had “taken over TikTok“. You know TikTok, right? With all the young people, filming themselves?

I had a look on TikTok to see what the fuss is about; I found 132 very short videos, none of which are worthy of your time (admittedly, I didn’t check all 132).

I did track down (by which I mean: typed the words “Nancy” and “boots” into YouTube) the original video in question, which pretty much just shows Nancy strutting her stuff in a pair of boots (not wellingtons) whilst a group of sub-Pan’s People dancers who appear to have forgotten to put their trousers on flail about around her.

See for yourself:

That’s iconic, alrighty.

More soon.

Friday Night Music Club

For quite some time now, I’ve been pondering what it is that is preventing me from posting with the same regularity as I was last year.

I’ve worked it out.

Regular readers will know that I generally sit on a Friday night, have a few drinks and write posts for the next week. But for a while now, I’ve become preoccupied on doing a new mix.

Warning: artist at work excuse incoming.

See, whilst they seem remarkably unpopular, I really enjoy piecing together a long playlist/mix/call it what you will, and that inevitably means a few drafts which don’t quite, to quote Echo & The Bunnymen, cut the mustard.

So, I’ve been working on this mix for some time now, but somehow something always seemed to prevent me from finishing it, be it me tinkering with the running order, or thinking of new tunes to toss in, or some kind of technical calamity, or (more often) listening to it and realising I’ve utterly messed up a mix and I simply can’t bear to have anyone else listen to it.

I’m not going to pretend all of the mixes between tunes here are perfect – there’s at least one which I know isn’t – but I’ve reached the point where it’s close enough to let it go and move on to something else, before I drive myself mad searching for perfection.

So here’s my latest mix, imperfect though it may be; frustrating as it has been, I really like this one, which starts off in the usual way – slowly – before getting into a groove which includes Kings of Leon from before they went stadium and knew how to use a cowbell, a new(ish) track by The Chemical Brothers, an obligatory Soulwax remix, two of the finest female pop stars going: Miley Cyrus & Dua Lipa (not on the same tune, sadly), the occasional hidden ‘joke’ (by which I mean it seemed funny when I first put the songs together, less so now), via Madonna having a short chat with Johnny Cash.

It’s the usual mix of songs you love, songs you’ve forgotten about, and songs which make you think “What the hell has he put this on here for??”. Some might say eclectic, but I couldn’t possibly comment. Think mainly Indie guitar stuff, with a few dance tunes, 80s pop songs and a couple of timeless classics – at least one of which you probably won’t have heard before – thrown in.

As always, no track-listing – I like to imagine your faces when the next song kicks in – but there’s a list of featured artists on the right hand side in case you want to see what you’re letting yourself in for. Which is a treat, obviously. If you desperately need to know what a track is, either Shazam it or, if you’d like to feed my ego, ask me via the Comments at the bottom of this post.

Usual disclaimer: any skips and jumps are down to the mixing software; any mis-timed mixes (and, as I say, there is at least one) is down to me. Either way: Sorry!

One more thing: you may recall that last time out I mentioned that my brother had said he managed to predict what I was going to play next, which annoyed me greatly. No such criticism of the last mix, although he told me he listened to it whilst out on his morning run, so some of the sudden gear changes weren’t helpful. I’ve tried to rectify that this time, with a relatively steady beat and tempo maintained throughout (after you’ve got past the traditional slow start) for those of you who listen to this whilst doing your exercises (not that I really understand what that means). The danger was that it would denigrate into either a Ministry of Sound pumping dance mix or a Top Gear/Best Driving Songs…in the World…Ever! playlist, but I think the song choices just about keep us on the right side of that happening.

Let’s say it starts slowly, gets into a groove, and then has more false endings than a Status Quo single.

I’m a bit annoyed that since I first decided to include it, at least on song here has popped up in an advert – and you know how I feel about them – for burgers, of all things. Rest assured, the advert in question was not the inspiration for the song’s inclusion. You’ll know it when you hear it, I think.

Oh and there are several songs which feature effing and jeffings – “sexual swear words” as Simon Bates used to say at the start of videos – so please avoid if you are easily offended by unfettered vulgarity and sauciness. Look, there’s a Goldie Lookin’ Chain tune which is probably the rudest and most inappropriate (but funny) thing I’ll ever post, so beware.

For a limited time (until I do another one, so y’know, could be months), you can stream or download it via Soundcloud here.

More soon.

How Not To Do a Cover Version

Writing yesterday’s post, it occurred to me that I used to write a counter-weight series, where I featured bloody awful versions of great records. Checking back, it transpires that I haven’t posted one since December 2017, which at least shows that I’ve been faithful to my mother’s advice that if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.

Time to rectify that.

In 1972, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood released their Did You Ever? album, and this was the title track:

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Did You Ever?

A bona fide classic, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Which leads me here, and may the Good Lord have mercy on my soul for what I am about to post.

Linda Martin, says Wiki, is “…a singer and television presenter from Northern Ireland…best known in Europe as the winner of the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Why Me?”, and in Ireland as a member of the 1970s/1980s band Chips.”

Mick McCarthy, on the other hand, is an ex-footballer who played for Barnsley, Manchester City, Celtic, Lyon and finally Millwall between the late 70s and the early 90s. He went on to manage Millwall and then, as is the natural progression for men born in Yorkshire, the Republic of Ireland.

He’s probably best known for having a spat with RoI captain Roy Keane on the eve of the 2002 World Cup finals which ended up with Keane and McCarthy squaring up to each other, Keane allegedly shouting (apologies in advance for the effing and jeffing): “You’re a fucking wanker. I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person. You’re a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. I’ve got no respect for you. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks.” before either walking out of, or being expelled from, the squad, depending on whose account of events you wish to believe. Classic Keano.

That, and for being startled by, as Young Disciples sang (though I expect it wasn’t about Big Mick), apparently nothin’:

Anyway, in 1991, the stars aligned and Mick & Linda joined forces to cover Did You Ever? and, just like Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, when they met, it was murder:

Linda Martin & Mick McCarthy – Did You Ever?

My ears! My ears!!!

Sorry (I’m not sorry).

More soon.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

It was Nancy Sinatra’s 78th birthday on Friday, which makes this morning’s choice a remarkably simple one.

There’ve been many different versions of this over the years, but if I had to pick a favourite, it’d be Nancy & Lee’s version I’d have to plump for.

Yes, even above Johnny & June’s.

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Jackson

More soon.

The Chain #16

Evening Link Fans!

You know how I said I had a lot to get through last week? Well this week, even more so.

But before we get cracking, and to kill off any semblance of suspense, I’ll tell you that none of you – including me – picked the official record in The Chain. In fact none of you – including me – went down the same route as the person who picked the official one, which when you read it, will have you slapping yourself in the face and saying “Of course!!! Why didn’t I think of that!!”

First out of the traps, so to speak, this week was Charity Chic, proving once and for all why the name of this blog is very appropriate indeed, for I must admit, it was a song which I owned, albeit on a 90s compilation CD I’d picked up for something else entirely, but which also contained his suggestion:

“Dundee Unite fans despairingly sing “You’ve only got one shoe” to the socially deprived fans of Glaswegian clubs. When Gordon Strachan was manager of Celtic he was known as Chesney after a small red headed boy on the soap opera Coronation Street.  So The One and Only by Chesney Hawkes please Jez.  It’s bound to be the winner.”

Yes, folks. This is really happening:

Chesney Hawkes – The One and Only

It’s okay. It’s safe to come out now. The be-moled one has gone.

But hot on his heels, here’s S-WC from When You Can’t Remember Anything, who not content with giving us two suggestions in his first week, goes two better by giving us four this week. So, deep breath, here we go:

“Shoes were made for walking which immediately gives you ‘Fools Gold’….”

The Stone Roses – Fools Gold

(and yes, the full 09:53 version. Of course, the full 09:53 version. Why would anyone want to listen to the short version..??)

“…But it also gives you Nancy Sinatra as well…”

Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walkin’

“…As you walk in shoes you may well gaze down at them. Which is called Shoegaze. So perhaps ‘Sight of You’ by the Pale Saints.

Pale Saints – Sight of You

“…Although ultimately if you have Kirsty singing about one pair of shoes you really need another point of view so you have to go with Fucked Up and ‘The Other Shoe’. Argument over.”

Fucked Up – The Other Shoe

Moving swiftly on before I make really bad joke about that, here’s bagging area with more multiple suggestion mullarky, the third of which is my favourite link of the week:

“The Charlatans walked with no shoes on ‘Tellin’ Stories’…”

The Charlatans – With No Shoes

“…Run DMC’s shoes were their Adidas…”

Run DMC – My Adidas

“…Keith Richards once said ‘I don’t remember much about making Exile On Main Street but I do remember I had this really cool pair of snakeskin shoes’. “Happy” off that album is a blast.”

Yes. Yes, it is:

The Rolling Stones – Happy

Here’s George:

“I was thinking of suggesting this: the Kirsty MacColl track comes from the album Tropical Brainstorm, and Typically Tropical did that single Barbados in 1975.”

This one..?

Typically Tropical – Barbados

But before George has chance to flood me with multiple suggestions, can we give a warm Chain welcome to The Badger, who co-authors the When You Can’t Remember Anything blog with S-WC, who…erm…floods me with multiple suggestions:

“Whilst my esteemed colleague S-WC is probably right about Fucked Up, he should consider this: Kirsty MacColl famously covered ‘A New England’ by Sir Billy Bragg. Billy Bragg also sang about Shoeburyness in the classic A13. So you could go there…”

And we will, for I once got Janice Long to play that for me on her late night Radio 2 show, kicking off – and I know you’ll find it hard to believe I could be behind such a thing – an hour of themed songs about roads:

Billy Bragg – A13, Trunk Road To The Sea

“…Kirsty also sang on The Wonder Stuff’s ‘Welcome to the Cheap Seats’ from the ‘Never Loved Elvis’ album….”

The Wonder Stuff – Welcome To The Cheap Seats

“…Elvis also featured in the title of a Cud album ‘Elvis Belt’. Which contained the classic ‘Only a Prawn in Whitby’.”

Cud – Only (A Prawn in Whitby)

Moving on…no, wait…George hadn’t finished it seems…

“Then I thought of this: one of the other tracks from the Tropical Brainstorm album is “Não Esperando” which is Portuguese for No Waiting (and I didn’t have to look that up!), and the “waiting” bit leads to, yes, one of the 5 best songs ever recorded, Jesus Is Waiting by Al Green, the last track on the Call Me album, and 5-and-a-half-minutes of absolute genius.”

Al Green – Jesus Is Waiting

Next up is Alex G, author of the rather fantastic We Will Have Salad who is kind enough to give my Copy and Paste skills a bit of a break by just suggesting the one song:

“What would you find “In These Shoes?”. If you were a shoemaker, probably a last. And Bob Last was the man behind the legendary late-70s indie label Fast Product, which in its brief existence gave us the debut singles by The Human League (the only reason I know the word “sericulture”), The Mekons, Dead Kennedys and Gang Of Four. Nice one, Bob. My pick: the original Fast Product version of “Damaged Goods” by Gang of Four, which Mr Last also produced. And which is great.”

Yes.Yes, it is:

Gang of Four – Damaged Goods

And here’s Marie, who rather wonderfully adds an element of creative writing into her suggestion:

“I imagined the title of Kirsty’s “In These Shoes?” as a response to an invite to a Northern Soul All-Nighter. When asked, “What’s wrong with them?”, she might have answered, “Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) (by Major Lance.)”

One of the things I love about running this post (I can’t really claim to write it), is that often I’ll be introduced to a record I’ve never heard before, and which I instantly love. There’s a couple of tunes up there I was unfamiliar with, but my favourite of those this week goes to:

Major Lance – Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes)

Next, the return of another who I think we can now safely call a regular contributor round these parts. Here’s What’s It All About Alfie?

“This Chain could grow arms and legs, but it’s feet we’re interested in this week as feet live in shoes. A pair of shoes has two soles and following Marie’s thinking, how about Soul ll Soul with Keep On Movin’ (in these shoes) – a bit of a “lady” choice but gives The Chain balance perhaps?”

When this came out in 1989, my girlfriend at the time bloody loved it (in fact, we met because of it; she asked me to play it when I was DJ’ing one night, which I did, despite not being all that fond of it myself (No guitars, see..) The following week, I kept an eye out for her arrival, waited for her to get herself a drink and take up a spot kind of near the dancefloor, and then proceeded to play it for her again. Bingo! The oldest trick in the DJ’s Handbook.) but it wasn’t until a good few years later that the penny finally dropped with me about Soul II Soul and what an amazing record Club Classics Vol. One is:

Soul II Soul (feat. Caron Wheeler) – Keep On Movin’

Three more to go, and here’s The Great Gog:

“I shall ignore all this talk of shoes and go with the fact that there is a chain of newsagents called McColl’s (yes, I know the spelling is ever so slightly different). Therefore I think that a song about a newsagent would be appropriate. I can think of no better such ditty (indeed I can think of no other, either) than In The Middle Of The Night from the debut album from Madness.” (Nope, me neither. The Jam’s “Man in a Corner Shop” is about the best I can come up with).

Madness – In the Middle of the Night

Here’s The Swede, who picks up where George left off, linking to the title of the album from which “In These Shoes?” is taken:

“…‘Tropical Brainstorm’, which was co-produced by Dave Ruffy, drummer with The Ruts, one of the few groups of their time with the potential to rival The Clash in terms of passion and musical versatility. Certainly they were the only ‘punk’ band who got anywhere near The Clash when it came to reggae. ‘Give Youth a Chance’ is a good case in point.”

The Ruts – Give Youth a Chance

Which brings us to the last of the suggestions from you guys and girls, and, since we started with a slice of cheese from Chesney, ending with another slice of cheese seems appropriate. I’ll let Kay explain:

“My suggestion is Footloose by Kenny Loggins. Just the thought of Kevin Bacon dancing angrily in a warehouse brings a smile to my face. Can’t remember if he’s dancing to footloose or some other gem in the warehouse – but what a scene!”

Kenny Loggins – Footloose

Ok, cheese is a little unkind. I went to see that in the cinema when it came out in 1984, bloody loved it then, and bloody loved hearing it again now.

And, so to my choice. And mine is nowhere near as clever as all of yours (give yourselves a hearty pat on the back for another excellent week of suggestions, by the way). I’m giving you some breathy camp electro-clash-iness:

Tiga – Shoes

All that’s left for me to do then is spark off a load of face-palms with the big reveal as to the identity of the official link:

“The late Kirsty MacColl’s former husband Steve Lillywhite produced Peter Gabriel’s third eponymous album…”

Grrr. How did none of us think of that??

Anyway, here’s the record they chose from said album:

16. Peter Gabriel – I Don’t Remember

So, your suggestions please, via the Comments box below, for songs that link to Peter Gabriel’s “I Don’t Remember”, along with an explanation as to how you got there too please!

See y’all same time next week.

By which I mean: more soon.