Friday Night Music Club Vol 54

The more astute of you will have spotted that each week, when I can find one, I include an image or gif related to the number of the volume of Music Club we’ve reached. Usually, the image will have no bearing whatsoever on the contents of the mix that is to follow, and never has that been truer than this week.

For, had it occured to me that the obvious choice this week would be hedonistic 70s New York nightclub Studio 54’s logo, then this week’s mix would have been suitably disco and diva-ish. But the penny didn’t drop until I came to write this and did a Google Image seach for something with 54 in it, letting out an audible groan when the realisation dawned.

So, if you’re new to these pages, have stumbled across if because of the Studio 54 emblem, then I’m sorry to disppoint you, but there’s barely a whiff of glitter or poppers in this week’s mix. If I can misquote Sheryl Crow: This ain’t no disco/It ain’t no country club either/This is…Friday Night Music Club.

But stick around, you never know, you may find there’s something you like in what’s to come: 18 songs squeezed into 63 minutes, as this week more than any other we skid around the circuit of musical genres with barely a gear-grind in earshot.

No sleeve-notes this week, partly because I’ve not had time, but mostly because of a last-minute change of heart as to which mix to post this week. I know you may find this hard to believe, but I do exercise a little quality control around here, and having listened to the mix that was scheduled to appear I decided it was just a little bit…well, shit is probably the kindest way to describe it, so it got bumped. Now you may listen to this mix and think: this is better than the other one?? which is fair enough, can’t please all the people all the time and all that. In particular, we kick off this week with a tune by a band who, whenever I feature them on these pages, are consistently met with absolute indifference.

But stick around, you never know, you may find there’s something you like in what’s to come: 18 songs squeezed into 63 minutes blahblahblahblahblah you get the gist.

Let’s crack on, shall we?

Friday Night Music Club Vol 54

1. The Beautiful South – Tonight I Fancy Myself
2. The Mighty Wah! – Come Back
3. The Coral – Dreaming Of You
4. Echo & The Bunnymen – The Back Of Love
5. Eat – Fecund
6. Jenny Wilson – Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward (The Knife Remix)
7. Jungle – All of the Time
8. Da Hool – Meet Her at The Love Parade
9. Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound
10. Greyhound – Black and White
11. The Mighty Diamonds – Pass The Kouchie
12. LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
13. Stereo Total – I Love You, Ono
14. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
15. Juliana Hatfield – Totally Hot
16. Wings – Goodnight Tonight
17. Hot Hot Heat – Goodnight Goodnight
18. We Are Scientists – After Hours

Now, you’ll have to excuse me; I’ve got to prepare a new mix for next week now, and also write a post about disc 2 of Now That’s What I Call Music Volume 1 to annoy you all with tomorrow, if the reaction to last week’s post is anything to go by.

In other words: more soon.

Friday Night Music Club

It’s Friday night (at least it is here in the UK), and not just any old Friday night. Nosireebob. This Friday night is the best type of Friday night: the type that kicks off a Bank Holiday weekend. Hoorah! No! Work! Til! Tuesday!

So here’s your weekly 60 minutes or so of tunes curated and mixed by yours truly into some semblance of a coherent playlist. As is often the case, it’s a slow burner at the start, before we get into some tunes that should make you want to dance and/or sing, before we have a little break so you can have a nice sit down for a bit before we’re up and at ’em again for the last few choices.

So, with the usual apologies for a couple of skips and jumps which happened either during the recording or uploading process, let’s get your weekend started:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 17

Look out, here comes your tracklisting (complete with sleeve notes):

I’ve been on a bit of a Paul Fab-Macca-Wacky-Thumbs-Aloft McCartney trip since his headlining slot at Glastonbury this year, so I thought this, from “the band The Beatles could have been”, would be quite a nice way to kick things off this week:

1. Wings – Let ‘Em In

This is one I’ve been meaning to have as an opening track on one of these for a while, simply because the title fits the mood of things. And also because of Simon’s unintentionally hilarious, trying to sound hip, description of him popping “outside to smoke myself a J”. Oh, you are outrageous, Paul!

2. Paul Simon – Late in the Evening

There’s no Bowie this week, so I figured a bit of T. Rex would be the next best thing. I try to avoid posting the obvious, famous ones when I’m doing these playlists, but sometimes it the obvious, famous ones which are just screaming out to be included. I couldn’t resist:

3. T. Rex – Get It On

There’s no Bowie this week, so I figured a bit of Suede would be the next best thing.

4. Suede – The Drowners

There’s no Bowie this week, so…oh wait, that doesn’t work with this one. Bring on the lovely Ms Wener and her Sleeperblokes!

5. Sleeper – Nice Guy Eddie

I wanted to pick the tempo up a bit more here, and the Kaisers doing their standard “Woah! Woooah! Woooooaaaaaaah! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooah!” routine seemed as good a way as any:

6. Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict a Riot

Contrary to popular belief, Kula Shaker didn’t just release ropey singles. When they weren’t referencing Hinduism or dropping covers of Deep Purple singles, they managed to release at least one decent one:

7. Kula Shaker – Hey Dude

There’s no effin’ & jeffin’ warning on this week’s playlist, but let’s be honest, genius that he was, can we ever be sure exactly what Mark E. Smith was singing all the time? Sacrilege, I know, I know. Chances are we’re on safe ground here, though, with this blistering cover of an old Tommy Blake number:

8. The Fall – F-‘oldin’ Money

If I ever had to name a band that had single-handedly introduced me to the most other bands, then it would be The Wedding Present, via their dazzling array of cover versions. This one cropped up on as an extra track on their 1994 single Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, and it’s easy to see – and hear – what drew Mr Gedge to it:

9. Paul Revere & The Raiders – Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?

This next one is included purely because the intro to it reminded me of the Paul Revere tune, although now I listen to them both, I’m really not sure why:

10. The Monkees – Last Train to Clarksville

I had the pleasure of catching this next lot at Glastonbury back in 2010, playing in the Acoustic Tent (I think); there was only about 15 people there to see what was a blistering set, which was fine for us as there was more room to wig out in; it was probably a little disheartening for the band to have to play to such depleted numbers though.

In the context of this mix, this is a bridging song, by which I mean one which links nicely with what follows, as I slow things down for a bit. The fact that it has the word “Train” in the title is entirely coincidental, a theme is not about to emerge:

11. The Woodentops – Love Train

There’s no effin’ & jeffin’ warning on this week’s playlist, but you should ensure any minors’ eyes are averted from the saucy old name of this band. Time to put your feet up and have a breather for a bit:

12. Starfucker – Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second

I’m genuinely surprised when I hear that this R.E.M. track isn’t universally loved. Sure, it’s from the first post-Bill Berry album Up, which is patchy at best, but I think this is a rare moment of beauty from the band’s late period of ever decreasing circles and diminishing rewards:

13. R.E.M. – Suspicion

Ok, I’ll admit it. There’s another reason I picked that R.E.M. tune: for some reason which I can’t quite fathom, it pleased me greatly to have that song title next to this one. Maybe it’s because it then echoes Supernatural Superserious, the lead single from their Accelerate album. I dunno. Maybe. Does it matter?

Anyway, should you ever you get chance, check out some of the footage of Stevie playing this one when it was released back in 1972; he looks as cool as cool can be:

14. Stevie Wonder – Superstition

We’re on to the home straight now, and Stevie acts as the first part of a pair of Seventies classics used to book-end a couple of belters from the Eighties. No further notes required, I think:

15. New Order – True Faith

16. Pet Shop Boys – Heart

17. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back

That’s yer lot til next Friday, although all of the previous mixes should be available to download should you need a long varied soundtrack for your Bank Holiday weekend BBQs. Fill your boots.

Oh, and: More soon.