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.