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