TVV IN 800 SONGS : CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BLOGGING (Part Thirteen)

#320: The Young Knives – The Decision

These posts for the 20th anniversary of the blog have involved me digging deep to try and find some of the stuff which was written for the old blog, with some material still available thanks to The Wayback Machine, an internet archive.  I found a posting from 9 November 2006, when the blog was less than six weeks old, boasting that, just the day before, I had purchased a brand-new real-life 7” vinyl record for the first time in some time in something like 20 years.  Seems only right to include the A-side of that single in the rundown.

#319 : Marc Almond – Jacky (12″)

The lyrics were penned by Jaques Brel who recorded and released it, in French, in 1965. Three years later, Scott Walker recorded an English-language version that went Top 20. The spelling of Scott’s version was ‘Jackie’.  In 1991, Marc Almond turned it into one of his finest solo singles, thanks in the main to an incredible production by uber-producer Trevor Horn who included all sorts of sampling as well as a 70-piece orchestra. Completely over the top and wonderful.

#318: Kid Canaveral – Good Morning

Kid Canaveral formed in 2005 through students studying in St Andrews.  They were together until 2019 after which lead singer David MacGregor announced the formation of Broken Chanter (but’s that’s another story for elsewhere in the rundown).  KC delivered three very good albums of intelligent and enjoyable indie-pop during their time, and this is from the debut album, ‘Shouting At Wildlife’.

#317: Bee Gees – Night Fever

The old blog had a guest contributor known as The Ghost Of Troubled Joe.  He was a contrarian, always looking to stir things up.  I think a lot of people did work it out, but Joe was your humble scribe in disguise.  The other half of the Gemini, so to speak.  Joe posted this on the old blog : “The soundtrack of 1977 for most teens was not as JC likes to claim, The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones or The Jam. It was the Bee Gees”

#316: Suede – Metal Mickey

The UK music press were adamant that Suede were going to be the next big thing.  There was a sense of disbelief when debut 45 ‘The Drowners’ was a relative flop (it only reached #49 in May 1992), and it looked as if Suede were going to be yet another band who promised much but commercially delivered nowt.  In effect, ‘Metal Mickey’ (#17 some four months later) provided the breakthrough.

#315: Wild Billy Childish And The Musicians of the British Empire – He’s Making A Tape

There’s surely a case to be made that this is the ultimate break-up song for serious musos.  Surely, all of us have spent hour upon hour in our bedrooms/bedsits trying to perfect the art of filling up both sides of a C90 cassette in order to attract the attention of someone with whom we hope intimacy will later appear on the agenda.

#314: 10,000 Maniacs – Like The Weather

I can only trace a small proportion of posts on the old blog, and sadly I can’t quote verbatim from the time when I wrote about how I discovered 10,000 Maniacs.  It came courtesy of standing on a picket line outside my office in 1987 when we were on strike in protest about the terms of the latest pay offer.  A portable cassette was on hand for which five or six of us had brought along tapes to see us through the day.  One of the handmade compilations from a comrade on the picket line had this on it, and it really stuck in my mind as yes, the rain was pissing down!

#313: Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Bhindi Bhagee

Dave Martin, in July 2016, contributed ICA #82 in which looked at the career of Joe Strummer after The Clash had imploded.  A number of the songs came from the four albums released with The Mescaleros, and here’s what he had to say about ‘Bhindi Bhagee’:-

” Despite never being released as a single, this track can be argued to be the defining sound of the band. The album had a genre-melding folk-rock sound a million miles from Steeleye Span, and this track is at first a celebration of the diverse and exciting ethnic and multi-cultural areas of the local London High Streets, principally through the foods on offer, and then describes the band’s sound in a similar manner.

#312: M.I.A. – Paper Planes

Once I had determined the M.I.A. was going to miss out on the Top 120, this was always going to appear immediately after Joe in the rundown.

#311: Sabres of Paradise – The Theme

Just about everything I now know about the late Andrew Weatherall has come from reading the many thousands of words that have been written over the decades by Adam, either over at Bagging Area or here at TVV usually via a guest posting but also via the comments section.  Turns out, however, and thanks to its inclusion on the ‘NME Singles of The Week’ 1994 compilation CD, that I had long owned this tune that Adam included in his epic four-sided Weatherall ICA, which was published in December 2016 as #102 in the series.

#310: Sandie Shaw – Hand In Glove

It was a great idea to ask 60s chanteuse Sandie Shaw to cover the debut single by The Smiths less than a year after the Mancunians had released it.  The band had long been irked that it had failed to chart, with a lot of the blame attached to their label Rough Trade.  Riding very high on the wave of adulation, it would have been really easy to simply offer up ‘Hand In Glove’ as a re-release in 1984 as it would, without question, have sold well. But it was re-recorded with Sandie on lead vocal, leading to her first brush with fame in fifteen years.

#309: Revenge – I’m Not Your Slave (US Remix)

There’s a lot of Factory Records within the rundown and as many New Order associated songs as I could squeeze in without breaking the rule of one song per singer or band.  I’ve said before that much of the material released by Revenge hasn’t aged well, but for some strange reason I still have something of a soft spot of this remix of a single that was released in 1990.

#308: Section 25 – Looking From A Hilltop (Restructure)

This single, from 1984, has the catalogue number of FAC 108.  A much deserved underground club hit that still sounds great all these years later.

#307: Luna – Great Jones Street

Back in 2016, two of blog’s biggest supporters – JTFL and Echorich – collaborated on a short series celebrating New York City. One of their posts featured ten great songs which highlight streets in Manhattan.  Johnny told us that this is a quiet number by a quiet band about a quiet street and explained that Great Jones is actually 3rd Street between Broadway and the Bowery.  Echorich offered his view of Luna having a knack for taking their brand of Dreampop and infusing it with an arty Downtown NYC vibe that really REALLY has its origins in the sounds of The Velvets.

#306: Fatboy Slim – Kalifornia

The Golden State on the west coast of the USA has had more than its share of musical namechecks over the decades, with all sorts of lyrics penned to describe its lifestyle. According to this, it is druggy, down by law and right from the core.  Which seems fair enough.

#305: The Indelicates – We Hate The Kids

Two of my favourite guest contributors have offered their thoughts on the single from 2006.

Rol, as part of ICA #146 in November 2017, believes it to be “the best single released in the 21st Century”. Dirk, in his 111 singles series called it “the perfect mixture of cynicism, disaffection and cleverness, well-packed in a lo-fi tune that make you want to jump along with it; what more could you possibly ask for?’ ” Indeed.

#304: Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene

Once again, SWC proved to be responsible for coming up with the perfect words for this song, courtesy of its inclusion ICA #312, submitted in May 2022.

“The band’s most popular, and most talked about song, and the song that more indie club nights were named after in the 90s than any other. Of all the alternative rock songs about alienation, self-esteem and generally moodiness that came out thirty odd years ago, this is probably the greatest of them all.”

#303: Close Lobsters – Foxheads

By the time I had even heard of Close Lobsters, they had come and gone, breaking up in 1989 and leaving behind a body of work consisting of two LPs and six singles. Indeed, the first time I ever got to listen to any of their songs was when The Wedding Present did a cover version on a b-side. But I’ve more than made up for it since, buying everything since they reformed in 2012 and making sure I got to see them play live on a handful of occasions.  This is a track from their 1987 debut album.

#302: Spare Snare – Ring To Me

The most recent time I saw Close Lobsters was during the At The Edge of The Sea Festival in Brighton in 2024.  There’s two stages at this festival, which is curated by David Gedge.  No sooner had Close Lobsters finished on the main stage did Dundee-based Spare Snare take to the smaller stage from where they proceded to deliver the most memorable set of the entire weekend, one that was worthy of headlining Glasgow Barrowlands and not the second and temporary stage at Concorde 2 in Brighton.

#301: The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So

The Hives burst out of Sweden just after the turn of the century when the media decided it was time for guitar music to be briefly fashionable again. The band had already released two albums, four singles and two EPs to almost near universal failure – even in their native land where they were a cult more than a commercial success – until Alan McGhee decided to sprinkle his magic fairy dust and proclaim them as the biggest thing he’d heard since the last biggest thing he’d heard.

#300: Peter Gabriel – No Self Control

One of the reasons I began to listen to Peter Gabriel was that he was championing the end of apartheid at a time in my life when I was just beginning to become more socially and politically aware of what was going on in the world. And from the same 1980 album on which he included ‘Biko’, comes ‘No Self Control’ which, when released as a single somehow made it to #33, despite being radio unfriendly, as a rather dark number that focuses in on lust. The fact that it has the utterly delicious Kate Bush singing away rather erotically on backing vocals somehow only adds to its intensity.

#299: Aidan John Moffat & The Best Ofs – Big Blonde

Aidan Moffat is the most diversely talented and intriguing Scottish musician of my generation. He’s been a staple part of the music scene in my part of the world for 30 years ever since Arab Strap came to prominence. It would take forever to list all that he’s been involved in.  In short, he’s a one-off and a national treasure. This one is from the 2009 LP, ‘How To Get To Heaven From Scotland’.

#298: Carla J Easton – Get Lost

Carla J Easton is another on whom the title of national treasure could be decreed. A musician and now an acclaimed documentary co-director who has been a part of the Scottish music and creative scenes going all the way back to 2006.  She’s already featured in the rundown as part of Poster Paints, while another of her bands will pop up in due course.  There’s been five solo albums, and this is taken from ‘Weirdo’, released in 2020.

#297: The Cranberries – How (Radical Mix)

A last second change of mind as to which song should represent The Cranberries in the rundown.  I’ve chosen the first of theirs I ever heard when Jacques the Kipper included it on a homemade C90.  The original version of ‘How’ is on the debut album ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ while this forceful mix was included as an extra track on the CD single of ‘Linger’.

#296: Jack Butler – He Got No Game!

Not a solo artist, but in fact a four-piece indie band from Stirling, right here in the heart of Scotland.  Oh, and the first names of the four musicians were Allan, Chris, Greg, and Liam.  Not a Jack among them.  There were a handful of releases in the 00s on their own Whimsical Records.  The song included in the rundown is actually a b-side of a single released in 2006; it sounds as if the Associates had reformed.

#295: 39 Lyon Street – Kites

In which the Associates exercised an unusual clause in their recording contract allowing them to issue singles for any label they desired, so long as the A-side was not credited to Associates and Billy Mackenzie didn’t sing lead vocal.   39 Lyon Street was the address in Dundee where the band lived, and ‘Kites’ is a cover of a song that had been a Top 10 hit for Simon Dupree back in 1967.  The lead vocal is quietly delivered by Christine Beveridge, a friend of the band, while Billy belts out the choruses.

#294: Marine Girls – Don’t Come Back

The Marine Girls fully embraced the DIY recording culture promoted by the punk/new wave scene. Their first collection of songs was a self-financed cassette-only release, recorded while the four band members were still attending school. The second collection was another that was set for a cassette-only release before it was picked up by Dan Treacy’s Whaam! Records.  The third collection, which proved to be their last, was released on vinyl by Cherry Red Records in 1983.

#293: Moloko – Fun For Me

A single that was bought for 99p back in 1996 after I’d seen the promo video. The CD was great value in that it has seven tracks on it and lasted nearly 40 minutes (which is longer than quite a few of the albums in my collection). But then again all seven were a variant on ‘Fun For Me’, and to be honest, while I liked the song, this was stretching things a bit far.  It did reach #36 in the UK singles charts, but Moloko would find fame and fortune in 1999 with handbag classic ‘Sing It Back’.

#292: The Nightingales – Use Your Loaf

The Nightingales, a post-punk band from Birmingham, played eight John Peel sessions between 1980 and 1986, a period in which there were also three studio albums. ‘Use Your Loaf’ is taken from the 1983 debut ‘Pigs On Purpose’.  The band reformed in 2004, since when there have been ten more LPs. Comedian Stewart Lee is one of their best-known fans and in 2020, he was responsible for writing and producing ‘King Rocker’, an excellent documentary film about the band and its lead singer………………………..

#291: Robert Lloyd – Funeral Stomp

Robert Lloyd, lead singer with The Nightingales, had a short-lived solo career from 1988 to 1990 during which he released four singles and one album, while also recording five sessions for John Peel.  This is one of those singles.  Rather different from the stuff he did with his band, but enjoyable enough.

#290: They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul

They’ve been on the go since 1982 and have released 24 studio albums, 18 compilations, 20 live albums, 25 EPs, and 40 singles. But I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of us can only recall this hit single from 1990.  It must be up there as one of the most surreal hits of all time, being a song about a night-light, which is in the shape of a blue canary, told entirely from the night-light’s point of view.

#289: The Stone Roses – She Bang The Drums

ICA #83, provided by SWC in July 2016.   “Perhaps this is the definitive Stone Roses song – it’s definitely a contender. I love all of this song, the way the hi-hat tingles, the way the bass builds, the way the guitar soars and then that lovesick opening line “I can feel the Earth begin to move/I hear my needle hit the groove”. Basically you get thirty years of guitar pop stripped down to this song.”

#288: The Vaselines – Teenage Superstars

The Vaselines are one of the best examples you can find of a band becoming more famous and influential long after they had initially called it a day. Two EPs and one album between 1987 and 1989 which seemingly had been more-or-less ignored outside Scotland.  And then Kurt Cobain declared his love for them. The duo of Eugene Kelly and Frances McGhee reformed in 2010 after which there would be two further well-received albums.

#287: SPRINTS – Little Fix

Formed in Dublin in 2019, their sound has evolved a great deal over the years. The first few EPs were a mix of straight-up indie songs and garage rock, but many of the songs on 2024 debut album ‘Letter To Self’ were a lot harder edged than before. The follow-up, ‘All That Is Over’ in 2025 moved further to a heavier and more explosive style, lyrically and musically, but then again there is a lot for young folk to be angry about.  ‘Little Fix’ is from 2022.

#286: Barry Adamson – The Last Words Of Sam Cooke

He started out in Magazine, and was later one of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, but arguably Barry Adamson is best known for his solo work as performer and composer of note, with his work expanding into film soundtracks, real and imaginary, encompassing a wide range of genres. I’m a huge fan in particular of his most recent album, ‘Cut To Black’, which came out in 2024.

#285: Biff Bang Pow! – The Whole World Is Turning Brouchard

Biff Bang Pow! were active between 1983 and 1991 during which time there were six singles and six albums released on Creation Records, which is no real surprise given label owner Alan McGhee was on guitar and vocals.  The track in the rundown is a 90-second instrumental named in tribute to French artist, painter, writer and band collaborator JC Brouchard, who himself has been a great supporter of the blog over the decades, including a number of guest postings.  Merci Mon ami.

#284: The La’s – There She Goes

It is, rightly, regarded as a classic. It is kind of astonishing that it took three goes before it was a hit,  November 1988 had been the first attempt, but then perhaps realising it had been lost in the traditionally crazy way of record sales in the run up to any Xmas period, Go-Discs tried again in January 1989. But it wasn’t until October 1990, and thanks in part to a remix by star-producer Steve Lillywhite, that it made it to #13 in the singles chart.

#283: The Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion

Considered by many to be THE greatest goth anthem of all time.  This is the album version. All 11 minutes of it. Lay down your pints of snakebite and get dancing.

#282: Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl

Bikini Girl released three different versions of the song that has become synonymous with the riot grrrl movement of the early 90s, and there’s long been a debate on which is best.  I’ve settled on the second of the versions which appeared as one of three tracks on the ‘New Radio’ single, to which Joan Jett, as producer, adds guitar and backing vocals.

#281: Tom Vek – I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes

This is very much from my MTV2 watching years. A song from 2005 that had long stuck in my head but it wasn’t until 2021 that I picked up the 12″ single.  As with so many things I’ve bought second-hand over the years, it sounded great coming through the speakers but after one or msybe two listens was then filed away in its place (alphabetically among the non-Scottish 12″ singles) unlikely to be given another spin.  I really do have too much vinyl, and at 63 and a bit years of age and with no kids to leave it to, I really should start to give some thought about what to do when the time does come to say my final goodbyes.

 

 

 

JC