Stiff little fingers – Alternative Ulster
This seems like the right track to post today. It is sort of strange to be in London, where it is just a regular day with no one batting an eyelid. No parades, lambeg drums or bowler hats. I am not sure I miss it too much.
This is one of the few punk songs that ever spoke to me. It has a killer opening few bars. While times have changes significantly since it was released in 1979 the song’s message still rings true today.
Patti Smith – Gloria
This is a very interesting cover of a Them (Van Morrison’s first band) song. I came across while looking at a list of the 50 greatest cover versions. I don’t know if I like it better than the original (probably not) but it is cool to hear it reimagined and taken from Van Morrison’s innocent and pure early-60’s Belfast to Patti Smith’s vital, edgy and trailblazing mid-70’s NYC:
Van:
Patti:
America – Horse with no name
America seemed like the right band to post on July 4th. Happy Independence Day to my American friends.
It’s also a pretty good song in it’s own right. It has a quintessentially 70’s sound, and I love it’s mellow sound and eccentric lyrics. It’s another track I know well from my father’s mixes which we listened to during long (and hot) car journeys to and from France and Spain on family holidays in my youth.
Althea and Donna – Uptown top ranking
Another track I have wanted to post for ages. It is a classic tunes with an all time great riff. It is languid. funky and irresistible when heard in the vicinity of a dance floor.
Gil Scott-Heron – The Bottle
Sorry I have been slack in posting over the past few days. It has been a hectic week.
I was sorry to hear that Gil Scott-Heron had passed away last night. He was one of the pioneers of rap music, making socially conscious and challenging music. The revolution will not be televised made a big impression on me the first time I heard it as a very green teenager unaware of much outside my bucolic immediate surroundings.
This, however, is my favourite track of his. It strikes the perfect chord between funky and profound.
Joy Division – Love will tear us apart
Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division died this day 31 years ago. They are a little too relentlessly bleak for me to listen to too much of them but this is a stupendous track. Clips in the video are taken from Control, a biopic of his life, which is enjoyable despite being as melancholy as you would imagine.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Don’t do me like that
I think this is a great rock and roll song. It really reminds of a very happy year I spent having the time of my life in Berkeley, California.
Steely Dan – Reelin’ in the years
As it was Record Store Day today I thought I would post something off the last record I bought in my local record store. A pretty good album apart from the horrendous sleeve.
It took me a while to realise how good Steely Dan were. For a long time I thought they were incredibly naff. It was only when I heard 3 feet high and rising (an album which changed the way I listened to music forever) and placed the sample that I got it.
Elton John – Benny and The Jets
Thought this was apt to post today. I hope your pranks were successful…
/RjK