Day 228 The Mississipi Sheiks :Sitting On Top Of The World"

My last missive for a while - the computer is being packed in a box in the next few minutes. Postings will be sporadic for a while. For some of you that will be a relief. For the rest, here's a song I never get tired of, despite the fact I've been listening to it since 1928, or thereabouts...

Day 227 Aly-us "Follow Me"

Whatever happened to Strictly Rhythm? They put out some fine records.

Day 226 Elvis Costello "I Hope You're Happy Now"

Never one to bear a grudge, was he?

Day 225 Richard Hawley "Coles Corner"

Saying goodbye to lots of good friends last night was melancholy, in a way this song encapsulates perfectly. Beautiful.

Day 224 Pleasure "Joyous"

Weather permitting I'll be DJ-ing tonight - for the last time in god knows how long. So here's one that's always in the bag, and will certainly get an airing tonight. Love the (soft) metal-esque guitar at the end...

Day 223 The Ethiopians "Train To Skaville"

The sun's out - a good time for a bit of ska, I think...

Day 222 Funkadelic "Maggot Brain"

This is the song that, on reflection, I should have played last on the Soul Affair...

Day 221 Mavis Staples "I Have Learned To Do Without You"

The last song I played on my last Soul Affair last night. So long listeners - it was good knowing you...not that I did know many of you. Or that you exist at all, outside the hopeful imagination of a late night DJ. but you get the point...

Day 220 Smokey Robinson "What's So Good About Goodbye?"

This is my last day as a radio Dj, after (is it 5?) years on the Soul Affair. It's been a great ride, and I'm really lucky to have had the chance to do it. I just hope active's listeners have had half as much joy out of the show as I have.

Day 219 Donovan "Hurdy Gurdy Man"

Featuring Jimmy Page on guitar...

Day 218 Womack & Womack "Life Is Just A Ballgame"

First day of the RWC: Why not, eh?

Day 217 The Cocteau Twins "Cherry Coloured Funk (Seefeel Remix)"

Some musical balm for you - and me - after a long day...

Day 216 Camille Yarborough "Take Yo' Praise"

Great song. In fact, the whole "Iron Pot Cooker" album is amazing. It rivals Nina Simone in places.

Day 215 Tim Buckley "Buzzin' Fly"

Yet another artist that I discovered working at Record & Tape Exchange. Reminds me of sitting in the Camden Basement while the (invariably smelly) customers looked through the grade two's in desultory fashion. Believe it or not, it's a good memory...

Day 213 The Clean "Slug Song"

One for Paul Ward - not "Point that Thing...", but The Clean nonetheless. Wonderful.

Day 213 Paul Simon "Still Crazy After All These Years"

There's something very ungenuine about Paul Simon which really puts me off him, except on this song.

Day 212 Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy "Television"

Angry, articulate and a cracking tune. Michael Franti has mellowed out a bit these days, more's the pity.

Day 211 Hot Chip "Boy From School"

Fantastic melancholy electronica - melantronica, if you will...

Day 210 the Beta Band "Push It Out"

So much promise in those first 3 Ep's, and much as I love the first 'proper album' and hot shots, they never quite scaled the heights again, did they?

Day 209 Shirley & Dolly Collins "Are You Going To Leave Me?"

A bit of old, wyrd England today. I love the fact that the only comment on YouTube is "this is the worst piece of music ever recorded!" - My kind of music...

Day 208 Crazy Horse "Going Down Again"

I've been tunelessly singing this to myself all morning...not for any reason I can fathom. Great band, great guitar and slow motion drums.

Days 208 and 209 Graham Gouldman "No Milk Today" & Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders "Game Of Love"

On the day Manchester put 13 goals past London, let's have a couple of tunes from the rock 'n' goal capital of England, shall we?

Day 207 The Lotus Eaters "The First Picture Of You"

Off to an 80's themed party tonight - hope the DJ plays this...

Day 206 Mustafa Ozkent "Burcak"

A musical answer to the question posed by Colynjah - "Is there any funk in Istanbul"?

Days 204 and 205 Rose Batiste "Hit And Run" & Chuck Wood "Seven Days Too Long"

Gearing up for tomorrow night's Souled Out at Happy with a couple of Northern gems...

Day 203 Elmore James "Look On Yonder Wall"

It's one of those musical moments I'll never forget. I was 16. After hearing Nick Cave's "The Firstborn Is Dead", I'd decided I liked the blues (or maybe the blooze, as Nick would have had it.) I bought a cheapo Elmore James comp (10 tracks per side) from Plato Plaaten in Leiden and this was the first track. The voice and guitar just came BOOMING out of the speakers. I remember being genuinely taken aback. Loved it ever since...

Day 202 The Hot 8 Brass Band "It's Real"

I first heard this on fellow Soul Affairian Kenese's show years ago, and have loved it ever since. A guaranteed party-starter...

Day 201 Slim Dusty "A Pub With No Beer"

The Lucky Country's alternative national anthem...

Day 200 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Tupelo"

Here's Nick, "pursued by the band at their fugitive best" as the sleevenotes for "The Firstborn Is Dead" had it. I don't think there's a drum and bass guitar sound on any record to rival that on the first two Nick cave albums. So loping and queasy...I love it.

Day 199 The Hoodoo Gurus "What's My Scene?"

Like Alistair Cook, I'm approaching my double century calmly, in singles. Here's the next instalment in Aussie week...

Day 198 AC/DC "Shoot To Thrill"

My favourite album of all time changes quite frequently, but the best gig I've ever been to never does. AC/DC, Wembley Arena 1995. 'Nuff said, i think...

Day 197 Kylie Minogue "Shocked"

Australia week...I have fond memories of dancing badly to this at a party in Dalston with Matt H back in the early nineties.

Day 196 The Gordons "Adults and Children"

Continuing the antipodean theme, this is a fantastic slice of NZ post-punk that I suspect my Northern Hemisphere chums won't have heard...

Day 195 The Go-Betweens "Part Company"

OK, I may have been wrong about the Aussie thing - Queensland's finest...

Day 194 Elmer Bernstein "Return Of The Magnificent Seven (Main Theme)"

Wet sunday afternoon, Western on the telly...bliss.

Day 193 The Triffids "Wide Open Road"

Other than Nick Cave, here's the only Australians who will feature on this blog. Unless I go for "A Pub With No Beer"....great song

Day 192 Trouble Funk "Still Smokin'"

Hey, if we're going to have an eighties revival - mass unemployment, riots, economic crises, right wing governments - then we may as well have some Go-Go, mightn't we?

Day 191 Smog "Bloodflow"

I'd listen to pretty much anything Bill Callahan put out. Like with Morrissey, he's funny, not bleak. This is him at his humour at it's blackest...

Day 190 Transglobal Underground "Templehead"

More London memories - good ones, of course...

Day 189 James Hunter "No Smoke Without Fire"

Lovely mid-60's James Brown vibe to this...

Day 188 Roots Manuva "Witness The Fitness"

My favourite UK rap song. Great video, too - very 'Superstars'...

Day 187 Amazon II "King Of the Beats"

I was thinking about London a lot today - specifically how sad it is how little has changed. Heavy handed policing, shooting an unarmed man...it's the children of those who responded to this kind of thing at Broadwater Farm who are having to do the same thing again.

But then I thought happier memories of London, and this came to mind.

Day 186 Bob Dylan "Desolation Row"

Saw Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" at the film festival tonight, and had this going through my head whilst watching...

Day 185 Main Ingredient "Everybody Plays The Fool"

ah, Sunday afternoons listening to the tranny in the kitchen - Billy Butler on Radio City, normally. Positively Proustian...

Day 184 Neu! "Isi"

Germany's best...outside of Kraftwerk of course.

Day 183 Warren Zevon "Lawyers, Guns And Money"

What a supremely twisted individual he was...

Day 182 Nina Simone "Mississippi Goddam"

After watching the excellent 'Black Power Mix Tape' at the film festival today, this seemed appropriate...

Day 181 The Violent Femmes "Kiss Off"

...and talking of classic debut albums never lived up to...

Day 180 Ryan Adams "To Be Young"

Ah, Ryan - what happened? Those first two solo albums were amazing, and while I love the morose Grams Parsons-y ballads, what I love more is the way this swings in a Tombstone Blues kind of way.

Day 179 The Bluestars "Social End Product"

Tonight I went - as part of the Wellington Film Festival - to a fantastic documentary about Chants R&B, Chch's finest 60's garage band, and a match for any band from anywhere at that time. As I've already posted a song of their's, here's another kiwi garage classic...

Day 177 Howlin' Wolf "How Many More Years"

Sam Phillips thought he was better than Elvis, and who am I to disagree with Sam Phillips?

Day 176 The Folksmen "Old Joe's Place"

Possibly a better film than 'Spinal Tap', what do you reckon?

Day 175 The Proclaimers "Throw The 'R' Away"

great stuff...The Proclaimers live debut - looking only slightly like sandy-haired replicants - and sticking it to the English for trying to change the way they speak. This was in the eighties, the days before every bank & insurance ad had a reassuring Scottish voiceover.

Day 174 The Redskins "Keep On Keepin' On"

Nobody mixed pop & politics better than the Redskins, and if Weller had half the political nous of X Moore (or was half the singer) he would have been a very dangerous proposition in the 80's.

This was recorded on The Tube, and half way through they invited out a striking miner to talk to the crowd. His microphone cut out, myseriously coming back on after he'd left. Insert your own conspiracy theory here.

Day 173 Lee Dorsey "Give It Up"

Probably the record I have played the most times while disc jockeying. And with good reason.

Day 172 Loop "Straight To Your Heart"

More 80's musical byways...reminds me of squatting in Viccy Park Road in the late 80's. I went down to a small South Island Town last year (Hanmer Springs, in fact), went to a restaurant there and got talking to the proprietor. Turns out he was the bar manager at the Falcon & Firkin back then and remembered the squatters from across the road. Bizarre but true.

Day 171 Tortoise "Gamera"

Something long and absorbing to get through this damp, dull day...

Day 170 Cabaret Voltaire "Sensoria"

Someone help me out of the 80's please...this is fantastic, though. And it used to get a regular airing on Music Box (pre MTV music channel)

Day 169 Billy Bragg "Walk Away Renee (Version)"

I'm stuck in an eighties rut this week - here's some of the best guitar playing you'll hear, from Johnny Marr - who else?

Day 168 Kid Creole & The Coconuts "I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby"

Further mining of that early 80's musical seam. Dig that proto-italo-house piano...

Day 167 Fun Boy Three "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum"

More early 80's gloom, albeit rather less manic than yesterday's...

Day 166 The Birthday Party "Wild World"

Nick Cave is great, of course, but there's something more genuinely scary about The Birthday Party. If I had a time machine, seeing this lot in 1982 or so would be high on my list

Days 164 & 165 Jeru Tha Damaja "Ya Playin Yourself" and Mos Def "Umi Says"

I missed yesterday's post - no excuse other than laziness, really - so a twofer today, both from the golden age of hip hop. Enjoy...

Day 163 Was (Not Was) "(Return To The Valley Of) Out Come The Freaks"

I've no idea where I heard this first, but I would have been about 14 or 15. I remember being grimly fascinated by it - the contrast between the sweetness of the tune and the bleakness of the lyrics. It still works, I think...

Day 162 Robotman "Do Da Doo (Plastikman's Acid House Remix)

He may be the ultimate chin stroking white boy techno conehead, but when Richie Hawtin doesn't have his head up his arse he can make some amazing records...

Day 161 Feelstyle "Suamalie/Ain't Mad At You"

After that bout of Englishness yesterday, here's something that could only have come from this side of the world. Samoan suits hip hop, don't you think?

Day 160 The Jam "A Town Called Malice"

It seems impossible to be a British male of a certain age and not to have an almost pathological love of Weller and The Jam. I'm no exception.

I imagine a scene like one out of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", where thousands of little boys - all in tiny Ben Sherman shirts, Levis and bowling shoes - listen to The Jam piped into their cots until "at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too-all his life long."

Day 159 Tom Waits "What's He Building In There?"

Laptop, fixed, back in the game...this is inspired by the people across the street and their constant renovations

Day 158 Kraftwerk "Computerliebe"

Last one for a while as computer up the spout and has to go into the shop for a couple of weeks. Best make it an appropriate one,eh?

Day 157 New Order "Temptation"

My favourite period New Order - no longer gloomy, but not yet larging it - reaching for that quarter of a tab euphoric feel. They nailed it here...

Day 156 Bob James "Angela (Theme From Taxi)"

No song says 'it's the end of the night, there's a solitary man sweeping up and it's time to go home' more than this classic from Bob james. Evocative.

Day 155 Gift Of Gab "Flashback"

great piece of 'back in the day' hip hop from Gift Of Gab..

...and the original, for those who are old enough to remember

Day 154 Maximo Park "The Coast Is Always Changing"

The steel grey sea in Wellington's harbour, and the frozen rain coming down in sheets remind me of a nice summer's day on the North East coast. Which in turn made me think of this.

Day 153 The Weavers "Lonesome Traveller"

I'm just reading Elijah Wald's wonderful book “How The Beatles Destroyed Rock & Roll”, and am up to the part about pop novelty producer Mitch Miller (an amazing character, well worth looking up) and how The Weavers worked with him, bizarrely, on “Goodnight Irene”. That's a good enough excuse for me to post this up. It's a hell of a lot better than “Goodnight, Irene”, that's for sure.

Day 152 Electrelane "The Valleys"

I love Electrelane - bluestockings who (occasionally) sing in Latin, ripping off Stereolab and The Slits in equal measure; a triumph of ideas of virtuosity.

For this particular track they seem to have nicked the choir from Scott Walker's "The Old Man's Back Again". To fine effect, too

Day 151 Arthur Russell "Arm Around You"

It's been a long day...

Day 150 Roy Montgomery "At The Intersection Of Herzog & Wenders"

I haven't posted very much New Zealand music yet, have I? I have to say a lot of the cannon leaves me cold. And, anyway, you don't need me to post it here - you can hear it while the ball's out of play at your local super rugby game.

There is some great NZ music around, of course - from the Chants R&B through Billy TK to The Dead C and this guy. Magical guitar...

Day 149 Nico "These Days"

Suitably bleak for the shortest day of the year I think...

Day 148 Chas 'n' Dave "Margate"

Before Pete Doherty and Blur these were the most most successful mockneys around, and I loved them as a kid. They were also the highlight of the best Xmas party I've ever been, when they played live at Key Production's cockney themed one back in the late 90's. Jellied eels, pie & mash and beer.Mmmm...

In a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon type thing, Chas & Dave played on Labbi Siffre's "I Got The", subsequently sampled by Dre for Eminem.

Day 147 Flowered Up "Weekender"

In honour of what - for me, these days - is a big weekend, here's Flowered Up's finest moment. Whatever happened to Barry Mooncult & pals?

Day 146 Crass "Do They Owe Us A Living?"

Steve Ignorant coming to Wellington soon - I'm seriously thinking about going, although I do';t really do live gigs these days, and am broke.

all together now.."of course they fucking do!"

Day 145 Dusty Springfield "I'll Try Anything"

This may be the perfect pop song. Especially as it includes use of the phrase "minding my p's & q's"

The backing vocals in the bridge are sublime.

Day 144 Field Music "If Only the Moon Were Up"

Cracking single from the Sunderland's answer to Steely Dan (or, less kindly, Supertramp). The latest album is great too...

Day 143 Hall & Oates "Sara Smile"

We all have our guilty pleasures - this is one of mine...John Oates' moustache is an 80's icon, no?

Day 142 The Animals "Inside Looking Out"

Snarly, snotty garage punk. Oh yes!

Day 141 Betty Everett "Getting Mighty Crowded"

There seem to be a disproportionate number of soul singers called Betty. Betty Davis, Betty Lavette, Betty Harris and, of course, Betty Everett. Funny, because when I was young and I heard the name Betty, I used to think of her from the Rover's Return (Betty Turpin, was it?) I can't imagine her belting this out.

Day 140 Kenny Rogers & The First Edition "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"

What was Kenny thinking – or taking - when he did this psychedelic oddity? Sharon Jones does a great cover version which – if you tune in tonight - you can hear on The Soul Affair.

Day 139 The Four Tops "It's All In The Game"

I could have picked pretty much any track off “Still Waters Run Deep”. It is objectively a superb album. Reasons? Levi Stubbs sings the shit out of every song on there. It has touches of psychedelia (the guitar at the start of 'Bring Me Together', for one) without being faddish. And it has an uncountable number of great little moments that make you want to listen to it over and over again. In this song alone, Levi's exhortation to “sing it for me” and the repeating string pattern at the end are the perfect mix of rough and smooth. Wonderful.

Day 138 Boris with Michio Kurihara "Rainbow"

Thanks to Tim Hall for persuading me to listen to this lot when I would probably have dismissed them as boring stoner rock. This is viscerating, elegaic (and other music journo words) stuff.

Day 137 Tom Waits "On the Nickel"

It's almost impossible to pick just one Tom Waits song, but this seems the quintessential early TW song, before he discovered Beefheart and started banging old tin cans and the like.

Day 136 Yeah Yeah Noh "Another Side To Mrs Quill

One of the great unsung bands of the eighties (along with The Nightingales), if you ask me. Their lyrics pop into my head most days, and when they moved from the one string guitar Fall-a-billy of the early EPs to the curtain-twitching English psych of this single and accompanying album, I thought they were going to be serious contenders. Then they split up. Life is full of such little disappointments.

Day 135 The The "Uncertain Smile"

'Soul Mining' is an incredibly bleak record, full of self loathing and pummelling drum machine rhythms (and an accordian.) So it perfectly suited my mood when I discovered it at the age of 15. It's certainly not adolescent, though, in fact its world-weariness is probably why it's aged so well.

on a side note, it's difficult to believe that the person behind the amazing piano solo on this is professional irritant Jools Holland.

Day 134 Bobby Womack "Across 110th Street"

A candidate for the best film theme song. As is often the way with these things, the film itself is nowhere near as good as the music.

Day 133 McGough & McGear "So Much In Love"

Macca's brother & the bloke from the Scaffold - not a combination that inspires excitement, but this is rumoured to be Hendrix on guitar...

Day 132 Ray Columbus And The Art Collection "Kick Me"

He may be NZ's answer to Cliff Richard, but he did produce this one slice of Nuggetsy goodness

Day 131 The Buzzcocks "Time's Up"

“Cos that’s it now…time is up”

See you anon, all my PSA people. It’s been a blast working, drinking, laughing, crying and arguing with you over the last 4 years.

Day 130 Smith & Mighty "Walk On By (Mellow Mix)"

Ship shape and Bristol fashion…

Day 129 Nas "Memory Lane"

An amazing record – The sample in particular. If you hear Reuben Wilson's "We're In Love" it's a plodding soul jazz ballad with nothing much to recommend it, but take those few seconds here and there and stitch them together - genius.

Day 128 Etta James "Tell Mama"

The second appearance for Etta on this blog. Play it loud!

Day 128 The Ballistic Brothers "Blacker"

Ashley Beedle’s finest moment (don’t call it trip hop though). Reminds me of Camden in the mid-90's. It feels tinged with sadness now, as it features the voice of the great, and sadly now late, Gil Scott-Heron.

Day 127 Ten Benson "The Claw"

Rather good Johnny Cash meets early Fall thing from 1998 – the sort of one off that the Peel show was made for. Great band name, too.

Day 126 The Carpenters "Rainy Days & Mondays"

I have vague, awful memories of Soju and karaoke last night. Massacring this may have been involved. Apologies to all concerned.

Day 125 Miles Davis "It's About That Time"

Happy Birthday, Miles.

Day 124 The Seeds "Pushin' Too Hard"

I saw the Seeds in LA back in the early part of this century – Sky Saxon was wonderfully odd, the band were amazing. I was worried they’d be too polished, but they were as raw and loud as you like – a triumph of enthusiasm over aptitude.

Day 123 Bob Dylan "Mississippi"

Happy Birthday, Bob. I’ve been listening to your music for 30 years, and hope to be listening to it for the next 30.

I could quite easily just listen to this song for 30 years.

Day 122 Black Grape 'In The Name Of The Father"

There was life after the Happy Mondays. Though sadly not enough. Is that idiot at the beginning Mark Goodier?

Day 121 Nina Simone "Mr Bojangles"

I played this on the radio last night, and it reminded me how moving it was. Being the consumate professional, I of course kept it together.

Check out the live version if you can (from "It Is Finished")- if anything, it's even better.

Day 120 Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle "I Wish I Could Sprechen Sie Deutsch"

I'm doing a show of cover versions tonight on the radio, so here's an old favourite that is fantatstic (and proves that Germans do have a sense of humour) but wouldn't quite fit, even in the broad church that is The Soul Affair.

Day 119 Peter Gabriel "Solsbury Hill"

I'm just reading Stuart Maconie's “Adventures On the High Teas”, a journey through Middle England. The book is good in places; in others it has the feel of a man writing to pay the bills, and the shadow of Bill Bryson looms large over it. Anyway, it make me think of this – the song that evokes Middle England for me (in a good way)

Day 118 Dave Berry "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child"

Mod-tastic !

Day 117 John Cooper-Clarke "Beasley Street"

Once National's spending cuts announced in the Budget today kick in we can change to words of this to "John Key smiles/ and a baby dies/ in a box on Beasley Street"

See you at the rally

Day 116 Teenage Fanclub "Fallen Leaves"

TFC - They’re like your favourite comfy old jumper, aren’t they?

Day 115 A Guy Called Gerald "Voodoo Ray"

Best. House record. Ever.

Day 114 Double Exposure "My Love Is Free"

One song, 2 versions (Double Exposure, you see.) And an argument for DJ’s and producers getting the props. The 7" version is a good tune



Whereas the Tom Moulton mix is just the best piece of music ever created for the dancefloor. Those big piano chords, the strings, that chicken-scratch guitar…Euphoric.

Day 113 Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins "Ain't that Always The Way

A favourite of mine from back at the dawn of time, when Music Box (a kind of poor man's MTV, but better than nothing at the time) played the 6 videos it had in constant rotation. Unlike 'Sledgehammer' or the Blow Monkeys, I never got sick of this one...

Days 111 and 112 Bill Fay "Come A Day" and Van Morrison "Sweet Thing"

A technical hitch yesterday, so two for the price of one today.

The are songs from albums - Bill Fay's "Time Of the Last Persecution" and van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" - that transcend music, that head into the realm of the miraculous - something that has been touched. Listening to these is the closest this dyed in the wool athiest will get to a religious experience.

Day 110 Prince Far I "Black Man Land"

I once had a dream where Prince Far I, Captain Beefheart and Howlin’ Wolf sang together – it was even scarier than you are imagining it to be….

Day 109 Ivor Cutler "Beautiful Cosmos"

I feel like something soothing…but strange. So here’s the great Ivor Cutler

Day 108 Orange Juice "L.O.V.E. Love"

Edwyn Collins is not only a great songwriter and (during the early mid-eighties) owner of the best haircut going. He also had the chutzpa to cover an Al Green song on his debut album and make it his own. Wonderful.

Day 107 Victor Lundberg "To The Flower Power"

Proof positive that you can find anything on the internet.

I got this from a junk shop on the Holloway Road and – scratched as it was - it was the soundtrack to the phenomenal amount of smoking that went on in our house.

“The communists will be telling you to make all the love you want…after a ten-hour ‘gig’ in the salt mine.”

Day 106 Richard & Linda Thompson "End Of The Rainbow"

It took me a long while to get around to liking Richard Thompson. He's so beloved of that English public school breed of self-satisfied rock snobs ( you know – Bob Harris, David Hepworth, Mark Ellis. All that crowd) that I'd steered well clear of him until the last couple of years. I've missed a treat.

This is a cheery number from one of his best albums...

Day 105 Johnny Leyton "Johnny Remember Me"

Strangeness from Holloway Road's finest, Joe Meek. I'm not sure the backing singers are so into it, though...

Day 104 Jean Michel Jarre "Oxygene IV"

This is what the future sounded like when I was riding round on my Grifter, looking forward to a Fray Bentos pie for tea

Day 103 Crosby, Stills & Nash "Wooden Ships"

Spooky

Day 102 Barry Stoller "Match Of The Day"

Still on the sports theme - A tune that never fails to make me feel happy

Day 101 Mel & Tim "Backfield In Motion"

Continuing the sport theme from yesterday, but taking it Stateside today.

Great song as it is, I think Mel & Tim are mixing their sports metaphors here -I spotted gridiron, baseball & boxing references in there.

Day 100 Roy Harper "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease"

A century of posts, so I will raise my bat and post a song about cricket.

I originally heard this when John Peel played it on the first show after the death of his producer and long-time pal John Walters. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house – at least, not in my house.

Like the game, it’s silly & beautiful.

Day 99 The Almanac Singers "Roll The Union On"

Happy International Workers’ Day, brothers & sisters!

Day 98 The Monkees "Porpoise Song"

If you’ve never seen the Monkees’ film “Head”, you should – it’s a psychedelic piece of slapstick intercut with brutal footage from the Vietnam war, Ronnie Reagan and assorted other strangeness.

It also has this fantastic song in it.

Day 97 Leon Rosselson "World Turned Upside Down"

I searched on the internet for “Paris Night”, David Brent’s moving tribute to Princess Diana, and a song that has special significance on the day that her sprog drags a coalminer’s daughter up the aisle to start the process of creating a new generation of inbred parasites.

But I couldn’t find it.

So instead, here’s a song set during the last time Britons had the right idea about how to deal with the monarchy. Off with their heads!

Day 96 Nomeansno "Small Parts Isolated And Destroyed"

Saw them live once. Phenomenal.

Day 95 Tim Buckley "Song To The Siren"

My favourite Tim Buckley song on my favourite TV programme (well, it was when I was 10): "The Monkees"

Day 94 Chris Clark "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)"

It’s Susan’s birthday today, so no fancy pants stuff – just a great northern soul track that says it all. Happy birthday, my love.

Day 93 Steve Earle "Masters Of War"

“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori”

Wilfred Owen

Day 92 Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers "Jesus Done Just What He Said"

It's Jesus' day today, this is for Jesus

Day 91 Jerry Lee Lewis "Mean Woman Blues ("Live" At The Star Club Hamburg)"

What's better than finding a vinyl copy of this at Slowboat? Finding a copy of this with a gatefold pop-up map of St Pauli in it, is the answer you're looking for. Throw in a conversation about listening to gay, confessional songwriters while watching the rugby and Hinderwell dissing all live albums, and you've got the perfect shopping experience. You certainly don't get that on ebay.

Anyway, this is ferocious. The backing band (the Nashville Teens) are equal parts hyped up at playing with the Killer and shit scared of him. They race along in breakneck pursuit of Jerry Lee, who sounds about ready to kill. If you like rock n roll in any form, you have to like this...

Day 90 Patti Smith "Gloria"

Happy Easter, everyone...

Day 89 TV On The Radio "Crying"

I had to post something from this lot, on hearing of the sad death of bassist Gerard Smith. 34 – jesus, that’s far too young.

Day 88 The Memphis Jug Band "Whitewash Station Blues"

I love this kind of thing. It sounds like it’s falling apart at the seams.

Day 87 Loudon Wainwright III "The Back Nine"

Like it says, Golf as a metaphor for life. From his album "More Love Songs", one of the darkest & most bitter comedy records you'll ever hear.

Day 86 Christy Moore & Shane MacGowan "Spancil Hill"

For Rachel, who’s birthday it is today…something to remind you of the old country. Christy Moore, Shane McGowan and Gay Byrne – it doesn’t get much more Irish than this, does it? Breithlá sona álainn !

Day 85 Solomon Burke "Got To Get You Off My Mind"

It was International Record Shop Day yesterday, so I hope you all went out and supported your local store, if indeed you still have one. Now record shops are essentially a thing of the past, I often wonder where this generation's music geeks are going to spend their time . Maybe there aren't music geeks anymore. As for myself, I mooched around Slowboat for a bit, then trooped up to Real Groovy and felt like a vulture picking over a carcass. Good pickings, though.

The story behind this song – should you want to know – goes like this. I'd moved on from working at Going For A Song (not a record shop that had the patina of cool of your Rough Trades or Sister Rays, but a job's a job)but was still in touch with my old workmate from there, Graeme. Graeme was a great laugh, but intense and very highly strung. We met for a beer one night at the Blue Posts. It's one of three Blue Posts in central London, I think. This was the really, really shitty one in an alley round the back of the Oxford Street Virgin Megastore. A couple of pints of warm flat lager into the evening, and talk turned to Nick Hornby's “High Fidelity”, which had just come out. I asked Graeme his opinion.

“Alright, I suppose”

Given that he specialised in “this is the best/worst thing ever “ type opinions, I pressed him on it. Yes, the characters were well drawn, Hornby had nailed the geekiness and pointless obsessiveness of us and ours, and yes it was pretty funny too. He obviously liked it, but he was holding something back. What's wrong with the book, Graeme?

“Well, you know that Solomon Burke track he talks about all the way through the book?”
“Yes?”
“It's crap. I can't believe he chose that one.”

And if there's a more High Fidelity-esque reason for not liking “High Fidelity”, I'd love to hear it.

So here it is in all its 'crap' glory...

Day 84 The Holmes Brothers "We Meet, We Part..."

Yes, they look like a black American version of Frank Skinner's Skinnerettes. But I love them to bits. Their music seems instantly familiar yet you can't quite put your finger on what it is - it's not quite soul, not quite blues, not quite gospel. It's great stuff, whatever you call it.

Day 83 Johnny Osbourne "We Need Love"

Perfect for a damp, cool Friday afternoon, and the end of Reggae week

Day 82 Shinehead "Who The Cap Fit"

Pertinent lyrics. Not the most exciting video ever, though. Mikie Dread TV probably only makes sense when you're stoned...

Day 81 Wayne Smith 'Under Me Sleng Teng"

Simple as fuck, sounds like it cost 10p to record, and still sounds great 20-odd years on

Day 80 Linton Kwesi Johnson "Bass Culture"

Probably his least obviously political song, but the lyrics are amazing.

“Music of blood black reared pain rooted heart geared”

Day 79 Lee Perry "People Funny Boy"

I managed to get a 7" copy of this at Hackney MVE back in the day. It was in an absolute state. It still has that eggs frying background sound that all reggae 7"s should have. And it's still one of my prized posessions.

Day 78 Gregory Isaacs "Mr Cop"

There’s been far too little reggae on here for my liking, and - as I’m in charge – here’s something from the Cool Ruler himself. You can almost see the blustering plod getting hotter under the collar as Greg tells him to “cool down your temper”…

Days 75-77 Georgia Anne Muldrow 'King's Ballad"; The Minutemen "Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing"; The Jackson 5 "I Want You Back"

I have a bit of catching up to do, as I've been away for a few days. I don't know why I was thinking about Michael Jackson today, but here's two very different songs about him...







...and here's what the fuss is all about

Day 74 Renegade Soundwave "Renegade Soundwave (Leftfield Mix)"

All I’ve got to say? Tune!

Day 73 Hardfloor "Acperience 1"

Simple. Brilliant.

Day 72 Phuture "Your Only Friend"

House music all week long…

I speak from personal experience when I say that hearing this in a hot, dark club at two in the morning, out of your gourd on a cocktail of god-knows-what, makes a lasting impression on you. Enjoy...

Day 71 Liberty City "If You Really Love Someone (MURK Strikes Again Mix)"

I haven't had anywhere near enough house music on the blog so far. To remedy that, here's a deep & dark Murk classic.

Day 70 John Coltrane "Alabama" and part of "Ascension"

What do you say about Coltrane that hasn't been said a million times before by people far more articulate and clever than me? He made music that (to quote Karl Marx) feels like “the heart of a heartless world”.

So, after that slightly prentious intro, here's my last twofer. The First track, “Alabama” was written in response to the Klan bombings which took place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 (so there is a Brum connection.) The second is the ultimate piece of Jazz noise – and I like a jazz noise much more than a rock noise these days, for some reason.

Day 69 The Beat "Stand Down Margaret"

As the week ends, here's the final instalment of Brum beat. That first Beat album was a cracker, wasn't it?

Day 68 Dexy's Midnight Runners "My National Pride"

Using Brum beat as a good reason / excuse to put up a song by the mighty Dexy’s.

They say never meet your heroes, and they are probably right. Mind you, I met Kevin Rowland at a media do for EMI ‘Director’s Cut’ reissue of this album. Having kept my cool for the first, oh, 30 seconds or so, I found myself welling up as I tried to tell him how much this song in particular meant to me – Irish heritage blah blah blah. I think he was genuinely taken aback by my fanboy gushing, but not unhappy. I ended up talking to him and his lovely (though mad) missus for a good while and giving him some insightful tips based on my judgement as a music business professional (“Make some more records – they’d be great!” etc)

He went off to the bar after a while, but when I went to leave, I heard a voice behind me shout “Hey, John” I turned around and Kev (as I now know him) told me to “look after yourself, alright?”

I know it's all a bit Nick Hornby, but it the best moments of my time in the music biz.

Day 67 ELO "Mr Blue Sky"

Brum-beat, part 3

Best song ever to come out of England’s second city. Perfect pop

*dons tin hat and ducks for cover*

Day 66 The Streets "Let's Push Things Forward"

More Brum-beat....

I've always thought that this track sounds like a 21st century re-make of something off “In The Studio” by Special AKA. Which can't be a bad thing, can it?

Day 65

Part of a series, started yesterday, exploring Brum's musical heritage (I know, it'll be short).

Here's the Black Country's Lou Reed himself, Lawrence from Felt. He shoulda been a contender, y'know...

Day 64 The Move "Blackberry Way"

Inspired by a slightly drunken conversation with the Martins last night about Birmingham's musical heritage, here's an old favourite from Roy Wood..

Day 63 Can "Halleluwah"

There was a time in the mid to late nineties when I thought Can were the best band ever – better than The Beatles, even. I’ve since revised that view somewhat, but they are amazing - Jaki Liebezeit’s drumming in particular. Imagine seeing them live at the height of their powers...

Day 62 Etta James "Something's Got A Hold On Me" & "In The Basement, Part One"

Couldn’t decide between these two great Etta James songs, so here’s both of them.


She looks a fright – some kind of peroxide roadkill perched on her head, enough eyeliner to sink the titanic and a dead man’s cardigan – but man, she can sing.”





Also check out “In The Basement” - just the best party record ever. If you don’t move to this, rigor mortis must have set in.

Day 61 Loleatta Holloway "Love Sensation"

Another of the great voices is gone. RIP Loleatta

Day 60 Freddie Scott "(You) Got What I Need"

As sampled by Biz Markie and (very recently) Kanye West.

Has the same effect on me as Jackie Wilson’s “Higher & Higher” - it puts a bit of hope in my soul.

Day 59 Cass McCombs "I Went To The Hospital"

Great song. Should have been a hit, but wasn’t. The world’s not fair, is it?

Day 58 Datblygu “Casserol Effeillaid”

Welsh-language, Fall-inspired oddly brilliant number. First heard on Peel – where else? – and loved ever since. I often find myself singing along to this in a series of noises that have no link to the Welsh language.

Day 57 Harry McClintock "Big Rock Candy Mountain"

I first heard this of course on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soudntrack. Great film, great soundtrack, but this is the highlight for me.

“Where they hung the jerk / who invented work” could be the finest sentiment ever expressed in song.

Day 56 The Faces "If I'm On The Late Side"

I love a bit of Rod Stewart. Not "Tonight I'm Yours" or any of that shit, you understand, but the stuff from before, to paraphrase Griel Marcus, he betrayed his talent completely*. And particularly his time with The Faces.




*the full quote is “Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart; rarely has anyone betrayed his talent so completely.”

Day 55 The Cramps "Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?" and The Clash "Stay Free"

Another twofer – this time for Chris W, whose birthday it is today. He’ll know the significance…

Day 54 Public Enemy "He Got Game"

They made a righteous noise early on, but for me this is PE’s best moment lyrically. How about this in the theme to a film about basketball?


“White men in suits don't have to jump
Still a thousand and one ways to lose with the shoes
God takes care of the old folks and fools
while the devil takes care of makin’ all the rules
Folks don't even own themselves
payin’ mental rent, to corporate presidents”

Day 53 Smiley Culture "Cockney Translation"

To continue Britain's 80's revival, Black people are again being killed in police raids. RIP Smiley.

Day 52 The Three Johns “English White Boy Engineer”

What a great band and - in retrospect - what a great show The Tube was...

Day 51 The Pentangle “Hunting Song”

Another discovery from my time at the coal face in Record & Tape Exchange. After watching a dodgy video copy of “The Wicker Man” at a workmate’s place, I started trying to hunt down similarly wyrd folk as the music in that film. This lot were, of course, the first ones I came up against.

Danny Thompson’s bass playing is incredible. In fact, everyone in this band is incredible and the interplay between them is so subtle and understated. England's version of The Band, in that sense.

Day 50 Groove Armada "At The River"

It's Sunday, it's hot, the cicadas are chirping... watching this seems the only appropriate thing to do.

Day 49 Phil Ochs "The Ringing Of Revolution"

Phil Ochs – a tragic, wonderful figure who wrote some incredible songs. You wonder where the people are doing the same thing in a time of similar crisis. I'm not idealising the past - I'd genuinely like to hear them.

Day 48 Stereolab & Nurse With Wound "Simple Headphone Mind"

Blissed out motorik goodness. Wonderful. I still have the 12” of this in a kind of shiny wrapper thing.

Day 47 Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance "Debris"

Originally by The Faces, of course, with Ronnie on vocals. But this is a great version - a soothing balm at the end of a long, hard day.

Day 46 The Bees "Chicken Payback"

Sometimes you just feel like a bit of nonsense, don't you?

Day 45 Lucille Bogan “Shave ‘Em Dry”

Carrying on from The Smith’s rather explicit lyrics yesterday, here’s something even more risqué. Don't play this in front of the nippers...

Day 44 The Smiths "Reel Around The Fountain"

Ah, side one, track one of the best album of the 80’s

Day 43 Cymande "Brothers On The Slide"

Brothers from...Harlesden. Who'd of thought it?

Day 42 Aretha Franklin "I Say A Little Prayer"

An obvious choice I know, but sometimes, some songs are obvious choices because they are so good. Griel Marcus famously wrote a whole book about Dylan's “Like A Rolling Stone” - he should have a go at this.

Day 41 Sarandon's german disco song and The Buff Medways "Troubled Mind"

Today’s offering is a twofer (I've some to make up after missing a few last week.) Two musicians: both insanely prolific; both ploughing their own musical furrow regardless of the fickle vagaries of fashion; and both still going…

First up, Sarandon. Being a music fan who can’t play anything, I’ve always been slightly jealous of musicians. So it’s particularly annoying when you meet one who turns out to be a lovely bloke too. I met Crayola from Sarandon when I was unsuccessfully trying to sell the records on the label he worked for. Our high level strategic sales meetings consisted of a few pints at an unfashionable pub on the Portobello Road (yes, there were unfashionable pubs there once). The agenda was normally half an hour spent on work, followed by several hours spent reminiscing about how good bIG fLAME were (we were both at their farewell gig !). Since then we've been firm friends and I've been introduced to a world of fine music I might otherwise have missed.

If you’ve checked out John Robb’s book “Death To Trad Rock” (and you should) Sarandon feature heavily, as the last men standing of those angular, trebly, lurching bands from the mid-eighties. John Robb calls them post-post-punk, and arguably it was the last time ‘indie’ genuinely meant independent, not just in terms of 'attitude' or anything airy-fairy like that, but in terms of recording, distribution, gigs - an alternative network of like-minded people.

Anyway, enough of the waffle and on to the music - here they are at indietracks last year – German Disco!



No need to tell those who know about Billy Childish. The king of Garage, and owner of rock’s finest moustache.

Day 40 Ian Dury & The Blockheads "What A Waste"

I remember seeing this on TOTP and remember thinking it was funny and melancholy. Still do.

What I don't remember is the hairy cornflake introducing it. I must have blanked that trauma from my mind...

Day 39 Madness "Grey Day"

I guess I'm having one of those days when this song seems appropriate. Strange isn't it, that The Nutty Boys, with their comedy trousers, funny walk and general silliness, should produce one of the bleakest records of a very bleak era?

"So begins another weary day..."

Day 38 Special AKA "War Crimes"

Killing your own people - even if they have been given drugs by al-Queda - is a crime.

The numbers are different, the crime is still the same...

Day 37 Common "Be"

Beautiful, thoughtful production from J Dilla, great track.

Watch it here

Day 36 Cliff Nobles "Love Is Alright"

This is for Robert & Rose, whose amazing wedding we went to over the weekend – a much needed fillip after time in Christchurch. This is the song I wanted to play but ran out of time...

Days 31-35 Bill Evans “Peace Piece”

I've been offline for a number of days. After the earthquake hit Christchurch, I headed down there with Susan to help Susan's mum & brother out a little. I've been all over the globe, to all sorts of strange and supposedly dangerous places. I never thought I'd be in a disaster zone in Shirley. We shovelled silt, emptied the house of furniture, and were continully spooked by aftershocks. Christ only knows what it must have been like to go through the big one, and to have to try and rebuild.

I won't add to the lake of ink being used to point out that there was a real spirit of solidarity amongst the people down there, although that struck me too. To adopt a friend's Bertold Brecht quote “everyone needs help from everyone”, and that's how it seems to me there right now.

Needless to say, thinking about music seems superfluous at the moment, as do most other things. The most appropriate thing to wish those still toughing it out down there is some peace – peace from the shaking, peace of mind. So here's a little. Good luck, everyone.

Day 30 Prince "Paisley Park"

Much as I love Prince - and growing up in the '80's, how could I not? - I wish he'd made more of this slurred, out of focus, psychedelic rock.

Day 29: N.W.A. "Express Yourself"

I used to regularly put this on the ULU union bar jukebox back in '88. The line "some suckers just tickle me pink" always had me snorting into my subsidised beer.

Day 28: Gayngs "Gaudy Side Of Town"

A track from one of my favourite albums of last year. Just right for a virtually-catatonic day in the sun listening to the cicadas...

Day 27: The Staple Singers "Let's Do It Again"

Ok, so I missed day 27, but it was such a beautful day I couldn't face staying indoors hunched over a keyboard. Here's what I was listening to as the sun shone....

Day 26: Aloe Blacc "I Need A Dollar"

Went to see this guy live last night and it was fantastic. As well as having a great voice, he's got the social conscience to go with the 70's stylings (his comment that "we are fighting a war against capitalism right now" went down particularly well.)

I could have posted one of his lesser known songs, but that would just be wilfully obscure. So, here's the best the best single of last year.

Day 25: The Fall "Lay Of The Land"

This is a cool group…

This is from the first Fall album I ever owned – “The Wonderful & Frightening World of...”, and still my favourite.

I reckon this is the quintessential Fall track: murky and unfathomable, often hilarious, a punkabilly din no-one else can emulate. Genius!

Day 24: The Loft 'Up The Hill & Down The Slope'

Another one from the 'we coulda been contenders' pile. An indie classic that still swings...

Day 23: Dionne Warwicke 'You're Gonna Need Me'

As sampled by J Dilla. I picked up a vinyl copy of this for $10 last night - he shoots, he scores!

Ortography fans will note that this album comes from the short period when Dionne spelt her surname with an 'e' on the end, on the advice of an astrologer. God, why do I remember this crap, or even know it in the first place?

Day 22: The Real Thing "You To Me Are Everything"

Despite what you might think, I'm not totally averse to a bit of a love song on Valentine's Day (sponsored by Hallmark.)

So here it is, courtesy of 4 scousers in preposterous outifts from 1976 - The Year Punk Broke...

Day 21: Guitar Wolf "Summertime Blues"

A hot & sunny Wellington afternoon - blasting this out seems to hit the spot...

Day 20: The Pharoahs "Freedom Road"

For the brave people of Egypt

Day 19: Badly Drawn Boy "Once Around The Block"

"The last great single of the 20th Century", as Tim Hall so memorably put it.

Day 18: Johnny Burnette "Train Kept A-Rollin' "

Vicious rock & roll from Johnny Burnette. Put your cat clothes on...

Day 16: The Pharcyde "Ya Mama"

Ah, the Golden Age of Hip Hop. Or was this after The Golden Age? Bloody good, either way

Day 16: Ruthless Rap Assassins "And It Wasn't A Dream"

Reminds me of the mean streets of Moss Side, where I spent 6 months around the time this came out.

Classic British hip hop - why weren't they huge?

Day 15: Howard Tate "Ain't Nobody Home"

This was the first song i ever played on radio - not on Active, but on a short-lived internet station that Rich Walker worked for and invited me & Clive Johnson on (thanks, Rich). We were so bad the show never went out - but I have the recordings somewhere, and I plan to blackmail Clive with them just as soon as he comes into some money.

Day 14: Julian Cope "Reynard The Fox"

I'm not a massive Copey fan, but I love the 'Fried' album – it has something of the old, weird England about it – and this song in particular.

Day 13: The Beach Boys "God Only Knows"

This is for Stefan and Kat, who got married today.

Day 12: Candi Staton "Young Hearts Run Free"

An achingly melancholy southern soul ballad pretending to be a disco track

Day 11: The Jesus & Mary Chain "Never Understand"

Ah, the Mary Chain. 'The quintessence of adolesence' as someone described them many years ago (me while drunk, actually.)

Great video, too. I'm not sure how many other music videos from '85 would still look this fresh.


I can't embed it, so go here for it.

Day 10: Super Furry Animals "The Man Don't Give A Fuck"

On the day (after) John Key announced the election date, here's one that gets to the heart of Tory policy, at home and abroad.
...

Day 9: John Barry "Theme From Midnight Cowboy"

I had something else planned for today, but given the sad death of John Barry, here's one of the great man's finest moments. Haunting.
...

Day 8: Johnny Paycheck "Take This Job & Shove It"

...Back at work after a month off - it has to be...

Day 7: Gary Clail "Hard Left"

Gary Clail riding round Parliament square firing off a toy gun - you wouldn't get away with that these days, would you?

Day 6: Courtney Pine "I've Known Rivers"

Just the thing for a lazy Saturday morning. I only discovered recently that it's a cover of a Gary Bartz track. One more for the wants list, then.

Day 5: Primal Scream "Come Together"

Proof - if it were needed - that Weatherall is a genius and Primal Scream got lucky...

Day 4: MC5 "The American Ruse"

4/100

MC5 doing what they do best - sticking it to The Man via the medium of rock & roll.

Day 3: Jacques Dutronc "Les Cactus"

A nice bit of fuzzy french beat music from Mr Dutronc.

Day 2: The Pogues 'Transmetropolitan'

100 songs, 100 days

2/100

Some Poguetry from a loooong time ago. When Shane McGowan was still London Irish, not wholly Irish. It makes me kind of homesick for the old place.
.

Day 1: Earthling "First Transmission"

What better way to start these transmissions than with this, erm, 1st transmission (geddit?.) A slice of surrealism from the criminally underrated Earthling. For me it's the musical and lyrical predecessor to Roots Manuva's surreal and funny flow – turning hip hop bluster on its head, as in

“I'm rock,I'm roll, I'm Nat King Cole
I'm Shostakovich standing in a fish bowl”.

Nice Rod Stewart sample, too...