There isn't really a lot to conclude about this album, save for the unexpected realisation that it's probably my favourite of the three we've covered so far. I wouldn't have said unprompted that I liked 1987 music more than 1999 or 1983, but this one seems more carefully selected, with a better balance of different styles: notably there's more rock on this than on 1 or 44, even if hardly any of it is good. No Tina Turner though.
See you next week in the 1990s.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Monday, 30 March 2009
The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl 'Fairytale Of New York'
Chart Peak: 2
YouTube
"...And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day". Well, for the 31st of March anyway. Still, I suppose it's enough of a tribute to this song that I knowingly chose to do this album now, knowing what was at the end of it: I wouldn't have done that for Shakin' Stevens. In fact, this is the only Christmas song I can think of ever to appear on a regular Now album (as opposed to the various Now Christmas releases over the year), even though it wouldn't have had the legendary status it now has when the album was originally compiled in October or November of 1987. Perhaps that's because, unlike most successful Christmas songs in pop, this wasn't specifically recorded for the season: not that the release date was a coincidence, obviously, but it was a trailer for an album to be issued early in 1988. Indeed, I don't remember this one having the reputation it now has as the nation's favourite for the festive season until much later. For a while, it seemed to be viewed as the alternative to all the other big songs of the season, but now, through no fault of its own it's become almost as obvious as the others, which is another advantage of listening to it now.
All that said, it's not an easy one to review because it's so hard to make any original observations about it. Er... maybe Kirsty MacColl's vocals are a bit too good to be strictly in character, but they do add to the quality of the record itself, particularly as a contrast to Shane MacGowan. Apparently hers were only intended as guide vocals at first, but somebody had the right idea. "I could have been someone/Well so could anyone" is one of my favourite pieces of dialogue in any lyric ever. But maybe this song is a little too famous for its own good.
Kirsty MacColl also appears on: Now 8 [with Billy Bragg and Johnny Marr], 15, 13
Available on: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Remastered & Expanded)
YouTube
"...And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day". Well, for the 31st of March anyway. Still, I suppose it's enough of a tribute to this song that I knowingly chose to do this album now, knowing what was at the end of it: I wouldn't have done that for Shakin' Stevens. In fact, this is the only Christmas song I can think of ever to appear on a regular Now album (as opposed to the various Now Christmas releases over the year), even though it wouldn't have had the legendary status it now has when the album was originally compiled in October or November of 1987. Perhaps that's because, unlike most successful Christmas songs in pop, this wasn't specifically recorded for the season: not that the release date was a coincidence, obviously, but it was a trailer for an album to be issued early in 1988. Indeed, I don't remember this one having the reputation it now has as the nation's favourite for the festive season until much later. For a while, it seemed to be viewed as the alternative to all the other big songs of the season, but now, through no fault of its own it's become almost as obvious as the others, which is another advantage of listening to it now.
All that said, it's not an easy one to review because it's so hard to make any original observations about it. Er... maybe Kirsty MacColl's vocals are a bit too good to be strictly in character, but they do add to the quality of the record itself, particularly as a contrast to Shane MacGowan. Apparently hers were only intended as guide vocals at first, but somebody had the right idea. "I could have been someone/Well so could anyone" is one of my favourite pieces of dialogue in any lyric ever. But maybe this song is a little too famous for its own good.
Kirsty MacColl also appears on: Now 8 [with Billy Bragg and Johnny Marr], 15, 13
Available on: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Remastered & Expanded)
Squeeze 'Hourglass'
YouTube [Top Of The Pops performance]
It might seem odd that this was the only Squeeze song to appear on a Now album, except that it was their only Top 20 hit in the relevant time period: in fact, it was their first single to breach even the Top 40 since 1981, and they didn't manage another until 1993. Not in the UK, anyway: in the US 'Hourglass' was such a big hit it brought them a second Top 40 with, of all things, '853-5937', which stiffed at 91 back home.
'Hourglass' is, to me, a rare case of a group taking on 80s production values and winning. It's hard to say exactly why it works here when it often didn't, even on other Squeeze records: their previous album Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti is almost unlistenably gloopy and even some of the rest of Babylon And On sounds wrong today, but in this one case the taut sound of the recording, the compressed drumming and even the synthesised brass seem to hit the spot, lending it a sense of nervous energy (also captured by Ade Edmonson's MC Escher-style video, which alas you'll have to find for yourself thanks to certain business disputes at the moment). Although the catchy, almost chant-like chorus was immediately appealing to radio listeners on both sides of the Atlantic, including my younger self, there's also a darker heart to the lyric, with hindsight another of Chris Difford's more honest depictions of his own mental state. For his part, Glenn Tilbrook described the music as an attempt to emulate Prince, which wouldn't have occurred to me (either as a description of this or as something Squeeze might want to do) but makes perfect sense when you hear it.
I'm aware that this is one of the longest posts I've ever put here, but even though this track doesn't need my cheerleading I was determined to do it justice.
Available on:Essential Squeeze
It might seem odd that this was the only Squeeze song to appear on a Now album, except that it was their only Top 20 hit in the relevant time period: in fact, it was their first single to breach even the Top 40 since 1981, and they didn't manage another until 1993. Not in the UK, anyway: in the US 'Hourglass' was such a big hit it brought them a second Top 40 with, of all things, '853-5937', which stiffed at 91 back home.
'Hourglass' is, to me, a rare case of a group taking on 80s production values and winning. It's hard to say exactly why it works here when it often didn't, even on other Squeeze records: their previous album Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti is almost unlistenably gloopy and even some of the rest of Babylon And On sounds wrong today, but in this one case the taut sound of the recording, the compressed drumming and even the synthesised brass seem to hit the spot, lending it a sense of nervous energy (also captured by Ade Edmonson's MC Escher-style video, which alas you'll have to find for yourself thanks to certain business disputes at the moment). Although the catchy, almost chant-like chorus was immediately appealing to radio listeners on both sides of the Atlantic, including my younger self, there's also a darker heart to the lyric, with hindsight another of Chris Difford's more honest depictions of his own mental state. For his part, Glenn Tilbrook described the music as an attempt to emulate Prince, which wouldn't have occurred to me (either as a description of this or as something Squeeze might want to do) but makes perfect sense when you hear it.
I'm aware that this is one of the longest posts I've ever put here, but even though this track doesn't need my cheerleading I was determined to do it justice.
Available on:Essential Squeeze
Saturday, 28 March 2009
ABC 'When Smokey Sings'
Chart Peak: 11
YouTube
ABC are a difficult act to react to, given their fondness for teetering on the borderline between the smart and the knowingly tacky, and the overall archness around a lot of their material. Of course, all of this was going over my head at the time, of course, when this was the first ABC song I could recall hearing since 'The Look Of Love' (it was indeed their biggest hit since 1982). I did know who Smokey was, of course, although I don't think it had yet occurred to me that there was something a bit odd about singing a song about how good somebody else is at singing.
Looking at the video now (I'm pretty sure I didn't see it then) it's clear that Martin Fry wasn't taking all this entirely seriously - he can barely keep a straight face - though I'm sure his appreciation of Motown is genuine. I'd also never noticed before how clunky some of the lyrics are: that "sings/violins" rhyme, "the back door it rings" and so on. The saxophone solo is naff in the extreme, and possibly not on purpose. Even so, though, it's a hard record to dislike entirely, even if it seems a bit of a calculated move, even going so far as to quote the 'Tears Of A Clown' melody in places. Perhaps that's just because I agree with them.
Available on: The Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC
YouTube
ABC are a difficult act to react to, given their fondness for teetering on the borderline between the smart and the knowingly tacky, and the overall archness around a lot of their material. Of course, all of this was going over my head at the time, of course, when this was the first ABC song I could recall hearing since 'The Look Of Love' (it was indeed their biggest hit since 1982). I did know who Smokey was, of course, although I don't think it had yet occurred to me that there was something a bit odd about singing a song about how good somebody else is at singing.
Looking at the video now (I'm pretty sure I didn't see it then) it's clear that Martin Fry wasn't taking all this entirely seriously - he can barely keep a straight face - though I'm sure his appreciation of Motown is genuine. I'd also never noticed before how clunky some of the lyrics are: that "sings/violins" rhyme, "the back door it rings" and so on. The saxophone solo is naff in the extreme, and possibly not on purpose. Even so, though, it's a hard record to dislike entirely, even if it seems a bit of a calculated move, even going so far as to quote the 'Tears Of A Clown' melody in places. Perhaps that's just because I agree with them.
Available on: The Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC
Friday, 27 March 2009
Level 42 'It's Over'
Chart Peak: 10
YouTube
More childhood memories here, albeit somewhat less cool ones. The tape of Running In The Family was often on in the car, and I remember the song for that more than its actual chart appearance, although looking it up now I see it was Level 42's last Top 10 single, though they continued to have hits well into the 1990s.
Doubtless to the annoyance of fans of their earlier jazz-funk material, 'It's Over' finds the group at their most smoothly commercial, a ballad with the obligatory video filmed in a canyon. Obviously, deep emotional impact isn't on the agenda, although it's just about possible that they're aiming for an unemotive effect: that would at least make sense in terms of the lyrical content. I'd struggle to call this more than inoffensive, but it's well put together.
Also appearing on: Now 4, 6, 7, 13, 14
Available on:The Very Best Of Level 42
YouTube
More childhood memories here, albeit somewhat less cool ones. The tape of Running In The Family was often on in the car, and I remember the song for that more than its actual chart appearance, although looking it up now I see it was Level 42's last Top 10 single, though they continued to have hits well into the 1990s.
Doubtless to the annoyance of fans of their earlier jazz-funk material, 'It's Over' finds the group at their most smoothly commercial, a ballad with the obligatory video filmed in a canyon. Obviously, deep emotional impact isn't on the agenda, although it's just about possible that they're aiming for an unemotive effect: that would at least make sense in terms of the lyrical content. I'd struggle to call this more than inoffensive, but it's well put together.
Also appearing on: Now 4, 6, 7, 13, 14
Available on:The Very Best Of Level 42
Thursday, 26 March 2009
The Housemartins 'Build'
Chart Peak: 15
YouTube
Unlike the Erasure track, this is a song I know very well - indeed it's the first record on this blog that I actually have the original physical single of - so I didn't think there'd be any surprises. Then I looked it up on YouTube and found a version that had been subtitled into Portuguese because it was the theme tune to a Brazilian soap opera.
The Housemartins seem like a big part of my childhood, mainly because I remember my dad buying their first album London 0 Hull 4 and playing it a lot. He didn't actually have the follow-up The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, which this comes from, but one of the first CDs I remember was their compilation Now That's What I Call Quite Good, complete with the classic record company slogan "Go! Discs - makes other labels seem crap". I thought that was really brilliant when I was 11 or 12. But I liked the music too; not that I understood all the political or religious imagery in it, but then I didn't need to. Perhaps more than any of the bands you might compare them with, they wrote brilliant pop songs. And they knew how to make a video too.
'Build' is one of their less frenetic moments, but it's got an impressive melody. It's also notable for the fact that drummer Dave Hemingway sings part of the chorus, prefiguring his co-vocalist role in The Beautiful South. Indeed, 'Build' was almost the final Housemartins single, as you can see at the end of the video, but the record company were less than happy, and insisted on another single (this proved to be the Peel session track 'There Is Always Something There To Remind Me', which I like even more than this but it was never much of a hit). I think this has aged as well as anything the Smiths did. It's just as well I have an excuse to post a picture of this 45 though - it turns out to be almost entirely unplayable.
Also appearing on: Now 7, 8, 9
Available on: The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death
YouTube
Unlike the Erasure track, this is a song I know very well - indeed it's the first record on this blog that I actually have the original physical single of - so I didn't think there'd be any surprises. Then I looked it up on YouTube and found a version that had been subtitled into Portuguese because it was the theme tune to a Brazilian soap opera.
The Housemartins seem like a big part of my childhood, mainly because I remember my dad buying their first album London 0 Hull 4 and playing it a lot. He didn't actually have the follow-up The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, which this comes from, but one of the first CDs I remember was their compilation Now That's What I Call Quite Good, complete with the classic record company slogan "Go! Discs - makes other labels seem crap". I thought that was really brilliant when I was 11 or 12. But I liked the music too; not that I understood all the political or religious imagery in it, but then I didn't need to. Perhaps more than any of the bands you might compare them with, they wrote brilliant pop songs. And they knew how to make a video too.
'Build' is one of their less frenetic moments, but it's got an impressive melody. It's also notable for the fact that drummer Dave Hemingway sings part of the chorus, prefiguring his co-vocalist role in The Beautiful South. Indeed, 'Build' was almost the final Housemartins single, as you can see at the end of the video, but the record company were less than happy, and insisted on another single (this proved to be the Peel session track 'There Is Always Something There To Remind Me', which I like even more than this but it was never much of a hit). I think this has aged as well as anything the Smiths did. It's just as well I have an excuse to post a picture of this 45 though - it turns out to be almost entirely unplayable.Also appearing on: Now 7, 8, 9
Available on: The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Erasure 'The Circus'
Chart Peak: 6
YouTube
It came as a slight surprise that this was only Erasure's third Top 10 single, because I thought I remembered them having being more or less a constant run of the things throughout the second half of the decade. They certainly seemed to be in every Chart Show Indie Chart, while I was trying to work out what that word meant.
Mind you, 'The Circus' isn't a song I remember hearing at the time. And indeed, although I remember that I heard it on the radio a few weeks ago, I don't remember what it sounded like from then either. Even when I've listened to it to this, the tune hasn't stuck with me. In some ways, there's an obvious comparison with 'Hey Matthew', in that they both seem to be trying to make some rather vague point about the travails of modern life, and the style is similar. But somehow the Erasure record charms me less, possibly because I've never cared for Andy Bell as a vocalist, or because I know Vince Clarke could do better than this, or because I've heard so many other Erasure songs that sound similar.
Also appearing on: Now 09, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 54
Available on: Erasure Pop!: The First 20 Hits
YouTube
It came as a slight surprise that this was only Erasure's third Top 10 single, because I thought I remembered them having being more or less a constant run of the things throughout the second half of the decade. They certainly seemed to be in every Chart Show Indie Chart, while I was trying to work out what that word meant.
Mind you, 'The Circus' isn't a song I remember hearing at the time. And indeed, although I remember that I heard it on the radio a few weeks ago, I don't remember what it sounded like from then either. Even when I've listened to it to this, the tune hasn't stuck with me. In some ways, there's an obvious comparison with 'Hey Matthew', in that they both seem to be trying to make some rather vague point about the travails of modern life, and the style is similar. But somehow the Erasure record charms me less, possibly because I've never cared for Andy Bell as a vocalist, or because I know Vince Clarke could do better than this, or because I've heard so many other Erasure songs that sound similar.
Also appearing on: Now 09, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 54
Available on: Erasure Pop!: The First 20 Hits
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