Friday 10 May 2024. The date when this blog’s chief steward dug deep into the 7″ singles and more than likely lost hundreds of previously faithful regular readers. mp3 : Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short mp3 : Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short (version) Feel free to mock. … Continue reading THE 7″ LUCKY DIP (15) : Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short
Search Results for: short story
…. this is a cracking bit of pop music. mp3 : Spandau Ballet – The Freeze While making my way through Mad World (see yesterday’s posting), I got to the chapter on Spandau Ballet which sadly concentrated on the slushy hit single True as it is the song they are best known for over in … Continue reading TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT….
A GUEST POSTING by WALTER http://afewgoodtimesinmylife.blogspot.com/ Hi Jim There is one song I came back a few days ago that accompanied me during the last decades. Bruce Springsteen was the big thing in the late 70’s before he was called the future of R’n’R. In 1978, he was nothing more or less the one who … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 62)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds got to appear on Top of The Pops back in 1995, thanks, in the main, to the Kylie Minogue effect. Where The Wild Roses Grow got as high as #11 in the singles chart. One of the two extra tracks on the CD single is a wonderful short story … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 61)
Yard Act, from Leeds, are another new band that I’ve got all excited about in 2022. James Smith (vocals), Ryan Needham (bass), Sam Shjipstone (guitar) and Jay Russell (drums) haven’t quite come from nowhere as they’ve all been in other bands previously. But there’s something genuinely superb about their new collective which has made their … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 59)
Last time up in this series, Jonny the Friendly Lawyer presented us with Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event, recalling it as a song that took him back to 1985 when he found out his girlfriend had been cheating on him. It got me thinking about a song I’d long been considering, reluctant … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 58)
I make no apologies for bringing back Aidan Moffat for a second successive chapter, but this is more of a horror story than anything else. Arab Strap really did come back with a huge bang in 2021. As Days Get Dark, the first album in sixteen years, is superb. This is one of its stand-out … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 56)
I can’t put it any better than what you can find over at 2-tone info. This is slightly edited down to concentrate on the music and leaves out details about some TV appearances, and stops the story at the band’s break-up, although there’s some very interesting stuff beyond that I might return to with a … Continue reading THE FORGOTTEN BAND OF THE 2 TONE SUCCESS STORY
The Monday morning high-quality rip will return in seven days, with the slot being taken up by the return of The Affectionate Punch. The world of DIY home recordings is now offering a new EP, and as far as I’m concerned, two of its tracks make for ‘Great Short Stories’. Somebody Sometimes features three songs, … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapters 52 & 53)
It was back in 2014 that I wrote these words about this particular song:- “…a truly astonishing single that remains my particular favourite from the band. A soap-opera in just under three minutes. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl have sex…baby gets created. Parents of the boy and girl react with anger … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 51)
A GUEST POSTING by KHAYEM This is another one of those moments where I wish I’d kept a record of the gigs I’ve been to over the years… I saw James Yorkston & The Athletes in Bristol back in 2002. I have no recollection of the actual gig itself (I was clearly under the influence) … Continue reading SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 48)
It was away back in October 2013 that I tried to get folk interested in Jonathan Fire*Eater with the posting of three tracks from Tremble Under Boomlights, the one CD of theirs that I had at the time. The effort attracted one comment….thanks Charity Chic….and it was to say that he had enjoyed one of … Continue reading A SECOND GO AT GRABBING YOUR INTEREST/SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 47)
This came up via the i-player while I was away in world of my own last Sunday, out stretching my legs in an effort to avoid boredom. I made a mental note to check on my return and, true enough, I hadn’t previously included it in this series, albeit a couple of other Arab Strap … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 44)
A couple of days ago, the latest instalment of the R.E.M. singles series made reference to the acoustic version of New Test Leper that had featured as one of the b-sides to Bittersweet Me. I got thinking that perhaps not everyone will be familiar with the songs which appeared on New Adventures In Hi-Fi, and … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 43)
A GUEST POSTING by KHAYEM Les ailes de la Rolls effleuraient des pylônes Quand m’étant malgré moi égaré Nous arrivâmes ma Rolls et moi dans une zone Dangereuse Un endroit isolé Là-bas, sur le capot de cette Silver Ghost de 1910 S’avance en éclaireur La Vénus d’argent du radiateur Dont les voiles légers volent aux … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 42)
I made the promise a while back, when featuring Labelled With Love as an example of a song being a great short story, that I’d offer up some thoughts on its parent album, East Side Story. As an adolescent teenage lad, I enjoyed listening to Squeeze as there really was something mischievous about them, with … Continue reading EAST SIDE STORY
I remember as a 16-year old at school back in 1979 getting really excited about all the guitar-led New Wave bands that were springing up and wondering if there might be someone local to hook on to. That’s when I first became aware of Fingerprintz when they were mentioned in a local paper as having … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 39)
This one is a sad short story. The country-style tune propelled the single all the way to #4 in 1981. It was the third, and thus far last, time the last time Squeeze would enjoy a Top 10 hit in the UK. The parent album, East Side Story, is one of my all-time favourites from … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 37)
A GUEST POSTING by flimflamfan Following a rather down-beat post I provided to this very series (Antony and the Johnson’s – Paddy’s Gone) I became somewhat fixated by a much-loved song which is almost as down-beat as it is sparse with its evocative storytelling: James King and the Lonewolves – Lost. Released in 1983 (Thrush … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 34)
As I said in the previous entry in this series, some songs make for the very saddest of short stories. Particularly when they are true. Between Marx and marzipan in the dictionary there was Mary Between the Deep Blue Sea and the Devil that was me If ever anyone could help me with my obsession … Continue reading SOME SONGS ARE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 30)
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 