Rachel’s ‘Wintersongs’ Mix

1. Tori Amos — Winter’s Carol
2. Enya — Trains and Winter
3. Rachel Unthank – Felton Lonnin
4. Delius -  Winter landscape
5. Loreena McKennit – The King
6. mumford & Sons – Winter Wind
7. Bill Caddick – Winter Fair
8. King Crimson – The Night Watch
9. Kate Bush – Oh, England, My Lionheart
10. Bond – Wintersun
11. Ira Stein – Medieval Memory II
12. Nightnoise – Nollaig
13. Paul Macandless – Coventry Carol
14. NicRachel Unthank – Raven Girl
15. Richard Stoltzman – Sonata for two Clarinets
16. Joni Mitchell – River
17. Peter Aubade – Shadowfax
18. Sting – And now Winter comes Slowly

I’m sorry, but it wasn’t until after I’d burned the CDs and was making the cover that I realised I’d put  King Crimson’s ‘Night Watch’ on again. Sorry about that. It was in my head.

 

Remembrance

1.    Korean War Memorial – Princeton

I lived with one of the twins from this band for a year. His bedroom was right underneath mine and he used to practice every night, at gig volume, until the early hours of the morning. In remembrance of a year’s lost sleep…

 2.    Everything Reminds Me of You – Emmy the Great

‘Oh but the fire will carry less higher in time.’ What great lyrics.

3.    You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes) – Bonnie “Prince” Billy

Scott, I think perhaps Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s beard is something for you to aim for.

4.    Moments Last Forever – Drever, McCusker, Woomble

These guys recorded their album over 7 afternoons and demo’ed it on a latop. It’s one of my favourites this year.

5.    Remember Me – The Zutons

There had to be something a bit upbeat on here…

6.    This is Just a Modern Rock Song – Belle & Sebastian

This is just a sorry lament.

7.    For Emma – Bon Iver

No, this isn’t on here because it contains my name. Reeling from the break-up of his long-time band, Justin Vernon moved to a remote cabin deep in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin for 4 months. The album this is taken from was the result.

8.    Remember Me – British Sea Power

Upbeat, yet about the decline into old age…

9.    Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl – Broken Social Scene

I’m sure there’s a very tragic story behind this, but I can’t remember what it is.

10.    Memorial – Explosions in the Sky

This band garnered some media attention with their second album due to rumours linking it to the September 11 attacks. The album art shows an aeroplane with the caption ‘This plane will crash tomorrow.’  There were false reports that the last track’s title was the same as the caption, and that the album was released on September 10, 2001 (The concept had actually originated in 2000, and the album was released in August 2001). Bassist Michael James was detained in an airport as a threat to security, and had to explain why his guitar had the words ‘this plane will crash tomorrow’ written on it.

11.    Long Live The Queen – Frank Turner

This track was released as a benefit single for the Breast Cancer Campaign, in memory of a close friend Turner lost to the disease

12.    Gravestones – Monkey Swallows the Universe

There’s nothing worse than to not know.

13.    Every Line of A Long Moment – Roddy Woomble

I still can’t quite believe such great folk can come out of the lead singer of Idlewild, so Woomble is making a second appearance on this disc… (Plus he has a pretty awesome name)

14.    There is a Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths

An obvious choice I know. But my cousin died in Toronto a few years ago…very shortly afterwards the entire Eastern seaboard had a power cut. It turned out to be the second most widespread blackout in history. So this is his song.

 

Scott: Remembrance

OK, I have made a bit more of an effort for this one and haven’t just gone for songs with the theme in the title.

Noah & The Whale – The First Days Of Spring. Their entire new album is basically a eulogy for the lead singer’s relationship with Laura Marling. This is a very good track to start any CD with.

The Delgados – The Past That Suits You Best. OK, perhaps some of the songs are on here because the titles fit.

Hello Saferide – Lund. Hello Saferide are my current obsession. I am staggered at how good the lyrics are, especially when you consider that English is not her first language (she’s Swedish). This is a wonderful evocation of teenage heartbreak.

Arvo Part – Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Well, it is in memoriam so perfect. Takes while to get going so don’t be put off by the quiet start.

Band Of Horses – Funeral. A great band that should be huge.

Stina Nordenstam – The End Of The Affair. Ahh, you knew I’d have to put some Stina on, didn’t you?

Bic Runga – And No More Shall We Part. Bic is from New Zealand and this is a live version of a Nick Cave song with orchestral backing. Lovely.

Big Star – Thirteen. Because it reminds me of what my teenage years might have been like if I had gone to an American high school. Which I didn’t.

Laura Marling – Ghosts. Got to allow her a response to Noah & The Whale.

Gabriel Yared – C’est Le Vent, Betty. From Betty Blue. Ahh, the memories.

Dot Allison – Tomorrow Never Comes. I have basically included music that makes me think back. This is one song that does that every time.

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Ghost Of A Dog. One for all you animal lovers out there.

Nina Kinert – Memories Fading Out. More from Scandinavia.

The Go-Betweens – Dusty In Here. Written by Grant McLennan about going through his father’s things.

Hilliard Ensemble – Requiem Aeternam. Adding a bit of class.

Joni Mitchell – The Last Time I Saw Richard. Sort of fits the theme, I think.

Susanna & The Magical Orchestra – Love Will Tear Us Apart. For all sorts of reasons.

So, there you go. Not the happiest bunch of songs but hopefully will get you thinking.

 

Homeland/Hometown

Quite a tricky one, this, so I’ve largely gone for songs that tell an autobiographical tale about the places I’ve lived.

1. This Land Is Your Land – The Waterboys. Fifty-five seconds of titting about from the Waterboys to start.

2. Born in the UK – Badly Drawn Boy. I can’t have been the only one to include this this month, can I?

3. I’m Moving To Wales – Eberg. At the age of three I moved to Wales, so here’s a song to mark that.  Don’t worry, the rest of this CD is not this literal.

4. Timeless Melody (BBC Session) – The La’s. At age 18 I moved to Liverpool.  This is what Liverpool sounds like.

5. Near The Moon – Animals That Swim. At the age of 23 I moved to London.  This is what – well, London sounds like a lot of things, but this is what London sounded like to me.

6. Pull Shapes – The Pipettes. At the age of 31 I moved to Brighton.  This is what Brighton sounds like.

7. A Hazy Shade of Winter – Simon & Garfunkel. I almost put ‘Homeward Bound’ on this compilation, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Instead, have Hazy Shade of Winter. It doesn’t have any link to the CDs theme that I can spot, but it is ace.

8. Boggy Home – Stump. It is good to follow Simon & Garfunkel with Stump, I think.  Notice how this song cuts out just before the end?  Thanks for that, Stump Complete Anthology 3-CD boxset.

9. Dacw Hi – Super Furry Animals. Having moved to Wales, primary teachers made a half-hearted attempt to teach me Welsh. To commemerate this, here we have a song about a primary school teacher. In Welsh.

10. Dolphins – Tim Buckley. Really, I wanted to find a song about the place I grew up – Buckley, the shining metropolis of North-East Wales. Unfortunately, no-one has ever written a song about Buckley.  So here’s Tim Buckley instead.

11. Heartland – The The. Matt Johnson’s State of the Nation address from, ooh, 1986 or so. Back then, it sounded left wing, now it sounds right wing.  But still apt.

12. Londinium – Catatonia. London is the best place in the world, if you are young, single and carelessly rich. This is a song for everyone else.

13. Goin Home – Dinosaur Jr. I love the way J. Mascis sounds like he just can’t be bothered singing.  He is the anti-X Factor.

14. All We Need is The Money – Black. This song was dedicated ‘to the people of Liverpool’, and probably describes them better than any other, for good or ill.

15. Panther Dash – The Go! Team. And to end, a clattering slab of Brighton joyfullness.

 

John’s Rookie Effort: Summer Songs

It is now September. Autumn is definitely here. I finally post up my Summer Songs playlist. I am not very good with calendars.

The Thrills – Big Sur. I like to think it is always summer at Big Sur. I went there in December once and it felt like summer, even if the huge Christmas Tree Farms they have there ruined the illusion a little.

Juxtaposed With U – Super Furry Animals. Included despite being sunnier than summer.

The Summerhouse – The Divine Comedy. Always reminds me of The Go Between.

Hanging Around The Day – The Polyphonic Spree. Listening to the Polyphonic Spree gives you all the fun of joining a cult, but without the drawbacks.

Summer Here Kids – Grandaddy. Kudos to Grandaddy for two entries on this compilation and one on Sarah’s. They own Summer.

Love Generation – Bob Sinclair. Summer is for dancing out of doors to wild utopian fancies.

How ‘Bout I Love You More – Mull Historically Society. Staying utopian, Mull Historical Society here give us the answer to everything.

Summer Rain – Meri Everitt. Great song from someone who you always used to see playing in the pubs of Brighton, but who seems to have disappeared recently. Lovely voice & marvellously tactless lyrics.

California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas. Actually a song about winter, but what the hell.

The Beach Is Free – Billy Bragg. I’m not normally one for Billy Bragg but you can’t argue with this.

The Great Gig In The Sky – Easy Star All Stars. Dub reggae covers of Pink Floyd = summer.

It’s Summertime – The Flaming Lips. Too obvious?

Days – Kirsty MacColl. Takes me back to a long ago summer, anyway.

Higher Than The Sun – Bat For Lashes. Very lovely cover, from a BBC session I think.  I sometime worry that I like this song a little bit too much.

Summer… It’s Gone – Grandaddy. It’s only fitting to finish with an ‘end of summer’ song.  But I couldn’t resist…

Indian Summer – Glenn Miller. …bringing in a surprise Indian Summer at the end. Indian Summers are tied up with nostalgia, so why not Glenn Miller?

 

Scott: Summer Songs

Lovely weather we’ve been having.

Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun. One of my all-time favourites and perfect washing the car music. Not that I ever wash the car.

Leona Naess – Mexico. I do like a good female singer-songwriter and am surprised that Leona hasn’t been more successful. She’s extremely attractive, writes catchy songs and seems to tick all the right boxes but she remains a bit of an unknown.

Blake Babies – Out There. I can still remember the first time I heard this on the radio and fell in love with Juliana Hatfield’s voice. This is probably my all time favourite summer song.

Buffalo Tom – Summer. Alt.Rock bands can do summer songs just as well as pop stars can. This is a cracker.

The Cardigan – Rise & Shine. Although some pop groups do them very well.

Ane Brun – Treehouse Song. I think treehouses and summer go together.

Little Cow – The Chocky is Melting. Terrible when that happens.

Amiina – Hilli. It just sounds quite light and breezy.

Big Star – Thirteen. I imagine the events described in this song take place on a hot summer’s day in the 1970s.

The Ting Tings – Traffic Light. Perhaps the most surprising song on their album. Sounds like The Sundays.

De La Soul – Eye Know. They have to be on a summer compilation.

No Doubt – Underneath It All. I think you have to see the video to really get the summer vibe on this one.

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Black & Blue. I took the day off work when this album came out and played it all day long with the sun shining through the skylight of my attic flat.

Feist – Mushaboom. Just sounds quite summery.

Lisa Hannigan – I Don’t Know. I am playing this album quite a lot and this song is stuck in my head so it had to go on the CD.

The Go-Betweens – Streets of Your Town. Or maybe this is my favourite summer song?

Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray. This album was the soundtrack of at least two summers for me back in the early 90s.

Les Negresses Vertes – Voila L’ete. School trips to France.

New Order – Regret. Just because they sang this on TOTP from the set of Baywatch.

Vashti Bunyan – Glow Worms. I think you need to be sitting by a pond for this one.

Victoria Williams – What a Wonderful World. No reason necessary.

Papua New Guinea String Band – Alir Pukai. It is sunny over there.

Hope this one made the sun come out wherever you are.

 

Scott: Guilty Pleasures

OK, a decade at HMV means I have all the typical muso prejudices but also that I can spot a good pop tune when I hear one. Hours behind the counter while the stereo churned out endless repetitions of Adamski’s Killer or The Power by Snap made Roxette seem like godlike genius. My guilty pleasures are mostly from the pop end of the spectrum.

Amiina – Souvenir. Amiina are from Iceland, starting out as the string quartet on Sigor Ros albums, and this cover of the OMD classic was a free download.

Sugababes – Soul Sound. The Sugababes Best Of should be in every record collection. Personally, I prefer their first album when the ginger one was still in the band.

Alice Martineau – If I Fall. Sad one this, get your hankies ready. Martineau was an up and coming pop-ish singer-songwriter about a decade ago but she died of cystic fibrosis shortly after her debut album was released. It isn’t a classic but it has some nice songs and I can never quite bring myself to chuck it out.

Gwen Stefani – Cool. So retro it could have come from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.

Fergie – Mary Jane Shoes. I must confess that I have a huge crush on Fergie. I cannot explain why.

Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend. Everyone in the family likes this song.

The Cardigans – Lovefool. Nothing guilty in loving Nina and the band but this is their most poppy song and it felt like the right CD to put it on.

Cat Stevens – Don’t Be Shy. Not my normal cup of tea but it makes me think of Harold & Maude, one of the greatest movies ever.

Catatonia – Road Rage. It’s the wah Cerys rolls her Rrrrrrrrrrrrrs.

Eve & Gwen Stefani – Let Me Blow Ya Mind. I’ve gone all hippity hoppy.

De La Soul – The Magic Number. Told you.

P!nk – Don’t Let Me Get Me. I have a crush on P!nk as well. It might be that !.

The Dream Academy – Life In A Northern Town. Actually this remains a cracking album, some amazing stuff on there. They did a great cover of Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want which was used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but was never released. Must see if I can hunt it down.

Lauryn Hill – X-Factor. Hasn’t she gone a bit mental?

Natalie Imbruglia – Glorious. She lives round the corner. So does Anna Friel.

Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me. Perfect pop.

Doris – Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby? A 1960s album from Sweden that I picked up in my HMV days. It is all this good.

Lene Marlin – Sitting Down Here. More Scandinavian ladies, this one a bit more recent.

US3 – Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia). Used to be a popular track in HMV Cambridge when we were cashing up the tills.

Charles Trenet – Boom! You should hear me singing along to this. Actually…

There you go. A pleasure from start to finish I am sure.

 

Rachel’s Guilty Pleasures

There! Now you know my guilty pleasures!

I love music from the early thirties and forties. I hope you don’t cringe too much!

01 Toot Toot Tootsie – Hoosier Hotshots

02 Blue Moon – Boswell Sisters

03 Tiger Rag – Bix Beiderbecke

04 Anything Goes – Cole Porter

05 Stormy Monday – Earl Hines

06 Puttin’ on the Ritz – Fred Astaire

07 I Wanna be Loved By You  – Helen Kane (Betty Boop)

08 Pennies from Heaven – Bing Crosby

09 Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies – Larry Clinton Orchestra

10 Devil with the Devil – Larry Clinton Orchestra

11 Ain’t No Sin to Take Off your Skin – Lee Morse

12 Proper Cup of Coffee – Cosmotheka

13 Frankie and Johnny – Mae West

14 Feelin’ Gay – Mills Blue Rhythm Orchestra

15 Minnie the Moocher – Cab Calloway

16 I Can’t Give You Anything but Love – Valieda Snow

17 Toot Toot Tootsie – Brent Spiner

 

Words Rule

Ok, my first post here. Hello all, thanks for letting me play. I was excited by this theme, not least because lyrics are essential to me (until I fell in love with Animal Collective, that is). I knew some tracks I immediately wanted to include but I realised as I went on that I was going for a whole narrative, rather than individual lines or rhyme schemes. Also that just concentrating on lyrics meant the whole CD feels a bit like an assault, even though I tried to mix some of the sad ones with more jollier ones.

Words rule…

 

1.      We Don’t Own It / Joan as Police Woman -  I could just listen to her words all day.

2.      In Spite of Ourselves / John Prine and Iris DeMent – I inherited a passion for John Prine from Dan Rhodes – what could be better than the line  ’caught him once sniffing my panties’, but this is strangely sweet. I like strange sweet. Plus I love how you can hear them trying not to laugh as they sing.

3.      I Don’t Want to Get over You / The Magnetic Fields – now these are rhymes I like.

4.      Venice / The Books – this makes me laugh and laugh, that pompous announcer as the ultimate unreliable narrator – he’s going to get back to the studio and swear at the maestro. Eat your heart out Frida.

5.      Divorce Song / Liz Phair – couldn’t stop listening to Guyville when it came out, and I love the internal/external female voice here. Feels painfully honest.

6.      Slow Show / The National – perfect love/longing lyrics.

7.      Nobody Knows You when You’re Down /  Nina Simone – poor bankers.

8.      Compilation Cassette / Darren Hayman and The Secondary Modern – anything from Pram Town could have gone here, but this is so touching, I particularly like how you know he won’t have a first class ticket, and that he knows she doesn’t really like his cassette.

9.      Brompton Oratory / Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – as a convent school girl, this does it for me everytime.

10.  The Ballad of Lucy Jordan / Marianne Faithfull – makes me want to write a film with this as a soundtrack.

11.  Look at Miss Ohio / Gillian Welch – my ultimate sing-a-long at the moment – and always makes me immediately want to write because of that ‘wants to do right, but not right now’ – so much story potential

12  Where Do You Go To (My lovely) / Peter Starstedt – the original inspiration for Something Beginning With so had to go in here. Have never listened it to anyone without everyone doing that ‘hahahah’ racehorse bit.

13   Oxygen / Willy Mason – always makes me feel positive and hopeful

14   Here Comes That Man Again / Kirsty MacColl – toss up between the stalker one and this, but I like the word jokes here

15   Money Made You Mean / Indigo Girls – another credit crunch one that seems to increase in meaning

16   My Sister / Tindersticks – I put this at the end because it’s so depressing although it makes me laugh a lot every time.

 

Scott: I’m The Lyrical Jesse James

This was a really easy CD to pull together. I just whizzed through my iTunes library and picked out the songs with my favourite lyrics. I think it kind of hangs together musically reasonably well. Did anyone identify the song my title is taken from? I am sure somebody did.

Cold War Kids – We Used To Vacation. There are some great songs on this album but after a few listens the lyrics really started to jump out at me. My kids know this one by heart and can sing it all the way through, which is a little disconcerting.

The Go-Betweens – Draining The Pool For You. Grant McLennan wrote the catchier songs but Robert Forster had the best lyrics. This is my favourite opening line in popular music.

Martha Wainwright – Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole. In here for the title alone.

Cowboy Junkies – Sun Comes Up Its Tuesday Morning. Once I had compiled this CD I realised that a lot of the songs told stories. This has always been one of my favourite songs lyrically. It conjours a mood, has a great narrative and it scans wonderfully.

K’s Choice – Breakfast. More storytelling, and a very funny story it is too.

Aimee Mann – 4th Of July. Gives Robert Forster a run for his money in the opening line competition. Poetry.

Arctic Monkeys – Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured. I could have picked almost any song from either album. I know they are hugely popular with the yoof and the media love them but for me their songs are some of the few in current popular music that can carry the contemporary idiom beautifully. They write it like they speak it and it is more thought provoking and poetic than almost anyone else around.

Billy Bragg – Moving The Goalposts. And I am guessing they owe a great deal to this man. I am willing to bet that Billy, Leonard and Bob will feature heavily on everyone’s CDs this month. None of them can actually sing but Billy is the only one I can really listen to with any pleasure.

Blake Babies – Girl In A Box. I got into this band because of Juliana Hatfield who usually sang lead vocals but John Strohm takes a turn on this one and I like it a lot.

Evan Dando – Stove. A love song to a cooker. And it is entirely believable. I chose this live solo version as it can be hard to pick out the words in the Lemonheads original.

The Flaming Lips – She Don’t Use Jelly. Jokes work in music, they really do.

Frank Sinatra – You Make Me Feel So Young. From the golden age of lyrics. Nothing since has come close to the amazing words written for songs in this era.

Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue. No explanation required.

Mary Lou Lord – His Indie World. A long list of obscure indie bands that scans. I am impressed by things like that. She has another song with an even more impressive lyric – ‘all of her ex-boyfriends went and formed a band / to play the kind of music that she could never stand’.

Hailey Wojcik – Fuck You. It is big and it is clever.

Jill Sobule – I Kissed A Girl. Another wonderful storyteller and woefully underrated songwriter.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – God Is In The House. There was a remarkable performance of this on Jools Holland some years back. Beautifully crafted lyrics.

Nina Simone – Strange Fruit. I actually find this very hard to listen to. Frightening stuff.

Poi Dog Pondering – Spending The Day In The Shirt That You Wore. A bit silly but captures those first days of being in love like very few songs have managed.

Red House Painters – Summer Dress. Perhaps more of a mood piece or tone poem but the picture painted with these words is one I find irresistable.

The Replacements – One Wink At A Time. For the opening verse, excellent writing.

Tom Waits – (Looking For) The Heart Of A Saturday Night. A lesson from the master.

Enjoy wordsmiths.