Buy Nothing Day...

Tomorrow might be 'Black Friday', a desperate attempt to persuade us to buy crap we don't need that's no cheaper tomorrow than it is on any other day of the year, but it's also International Buy Nothing Day too. I know which I prefer. Anyway, above are two rather fine songs to soundtrack all of your non buying...unless you end up purchasing the albums they come from...but that's allowed.

Elton John - Are You Ready For Love (2003 remix)

Picked up a mint CD single copy of this track over the weekend for roughly 33 and a third pence. Nothing remarkable in that these days but the original price sticker was still on the cover...£3.99...blimey you could buy a house for £3.99 back in 2003. Incredible to think that we've gone from a time when people would part with four quid for a single track to a time when we pretty much expect music to be free. Kids today, mutter mutter, grumble grumble etc etc...

PS: Just in case you think I'm getting mellow in my old age I picked up System Of A Down's Chop Suey too. Hell yes.

Marc Almond - Toreador In The Rain

Given the kind of rainfall that would keep Noah awake at nights that we're having in the UK right now lets enjoy a lovely stripped back version of Almond's Toreador In The Rain, taken from the (in my humble opinion) somewhat overproduced Enchanted album. I much prefer this take on the track...

Uffie - Pop The Glock

Blast from the past time courtesy of 6 Music this morning. I seem to recall discovering Uffie through Pig Radio and/or MySpace waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2006/7 when the world was still relatively sane. Ahhhhh happy days. After a bit of a hiatus (maybe her glock was popped?) Uffie stated releasing new stuff back in 2016 and came out with this (Ed) banger back in 2018.

Matthew Sweet - Come To California

My seemingly insatiable appetite for buying CDs shows no signs of waning. A few weeks ago I saw four albums by Matthew Sweet in a charity shop, a name I kind of recognised but couldn't recall ever listening to. I suspect he's better known in the US of A than he is over here which is a shame as he sprang from the same fertile ground that spawned REM (in fact Sweet and Stipe were briefly a duo called Community Trolls...who knew eh?). Anyway, at the time I didn't buy them but at the weekend I popped back in and there they were...so I took that to be a sign. I've yet to listen to the albums (now there's a surprise eh?) but I came across this track on You Tube and if it's anything like the rest of the stuff at £4 for the lot that's a pretty sweet deal eh?

PS: Here's another goody...a little light grunge meets REM and Teenage Fanclub.

La Roux - International Woman Of Leisure

Now that's the job for me...International Woman Of Leisure...I've sure got the boobs and ass for it these days. Anyway...good to have La Roux back channelling her inner Glenn Gregory on this video (no?...just me then). Trawling through The Hearing Aid archives I was staggered to discover that I first saw her live at The Rainbow (Digbeth) waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in February 2009. Good grief.

Better Being Lucky - The Wonderstuff

There are a handful of bands from the 80s, 90s and 00s that I genuinely think produced some truly classic music that's sadly criminally ignored these days and The Stuffies are one of 'em. Perhaps splitting at arguably the height of their power and fame wasn't the smartest career move but as I'm sure Miles Hunt (The Wonderstuff's lead singer and driving force) would say, since when has music been about a career eh? Anyway, they're back with their fifth album, Better Being Lucky, since reforming back in 2000 and you can cop a listen of the whole glorious shebang on t'You Tube.

Vivian Stanshall's Big Grunt - 11 Moustachioed Daughters

I heard a version of this on 6Music earlier in the week but this visuals take it to a whooooooole new level of wonderful weirdness. Apparently this was filmed and broadcast in the year (maybe even the month) I was born...which explains a lot. There must have been something in the water back then.

George Michael - This Is How (We Want You To Get High)

First and I'm guessing last new material from George Michael and it's a blend of his more ballad style stuff with a bit of a Fast Love dancefloor chorus. A touch autobiographical too maybe?

Not sure how complete it was when he sadly went to that great gig in the sky but it's still great to hear something new from an artist whose true value and loss still ain't properly appreciated.

What's even sadder is that he sounded like a ruddy nice bloke too, giving away millions and popping down his local for a few cheeky drinks...no doubt searching for the normality, stability and love that seemingly eluded him down here on planet earth. 

Sports Team - Fishing

This is the second or third track by Sports Team that I've felt compelled to stick up here. Good work chaps and chapette. It's sodding raining here in Devon so much today I'll probably be able to go fishing from the comfort of my sofa before the day's out...

Egyptian Blue / The Happy Couple + another support act whose name I can't remember...sorry @ The Prince Albert, Brighton

Back in Brighton for a 30th anniversary uni reunion and managed to fit in a gig (yes...I know...that's a rarity these days eh?) at The Prince Albert. The hotly tipped (by St Yannis of Foals no less) Egyptian Blue have a little bit of an early Foals-ish vibe but with more of post punk edge (think Wire/Gang of Four). In better times this would have seen 'em nibble away at the charts amidst a torrent of critical acclaim but we live in strange days indeed so who knows. I was impressed with their mighty riffage, complex rhythms and meaty vocals though, the sound of young dudes who've already taken enough and can take no more which, again, says a lot about the times we're living on. Stick 'em on a bill with Slaves or Idles and get 'em out on the festival scene next year and hopefully they'll win the following they so obviously deserve on tonight's showing...and you can't say 'pharaoh' than that. Oh dear...there was no need for that was there eh? 

The Sweet - Hell Raiser

Heard this track a couple of times recently and it's glam-solutely fabulous. Sadly The Sweet don't seem to be much than a musical footnote these days but they produced some pretty awesome tracks during their brief heyday. Even more sadly lead singer Brian Connolly hit the bottle as badly as anyone can and suffered more heart attacks and other health problems than a body can stand, finally leaving for that great bar in the sky back in 1997 aged just 51.

For anyone new to The Sweet (or Sweet as they were also known) here are a couple of other classics:

Living Colour - Glamour Boys

Good grief, I don't think I'd heard this for 30 years or so before it came on 6 Music this morning. Living Colour deserved to be so much bigger than they were and this track, one of their poppier numbers, only reached number 83 in the UK. Shocking eh? Happily after a brief hiatus they're still playing. Hopefully they'll make it down to Devon one day...hmmm, not holding my breath on that one sadly. 

David Bowie - Golden Years (The Reflex Revision)

Wicked (as the kids used to say...innit) remix of Bowie's Golden Years that surely the thin white dude himself would have heartily approved of.

Happy Birthday Swordfish Records!

I forget exactly when I first went into Swordfish Records but it was during its time in Needless Alley and I'm guessing it was 1985/86...yes...I know. For almost the next three decades, barring my three years in Brighton, I popped in most weekends spending many happy hours (and pounds) trawling through the racks or chewing the musical fat with Gaz and Mike. Today Swordfish celebrates its 40th birthday and (being based in Devon these days) I'm gutted that I can't be there in person to toast its history, present and...fingers crossed...future. One of the last times I was there was for Record Store Day 2015 featuring Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls which, handily enough, someone filmed (you can just about make me out as the camera pans across the crowd towards the end). Enjoy! And support your local record store.

PS: It's becoming increasingly difficult to recall what the world was like back before the bloody internet, quite possibly the worst thing to have happened to the human race since the bubonic plague (yep, I'm aware of the irony of writing these words on the bloody internet), but back then we actually went out to buy stuff from shops...shops that employed hundreds of thousands of people, created vibrant high streets and fostered a sense of community that's rapidly vanishing. To listen to your music of choice you had to buy it, in turn giving bands and performers the dosh they needed to do their thang. Now...now...I can listen to anything ever recorded for free from the comfort of my pit and do you know what...it doesn't mean shit. I don't mean the music by the way, I mean this bottomless pit of music. Give a thirsty man a glass of water and it will taste like nectar,  pour 50 gallons down his throat and he'll quite possibly never want to drink again. Yes, I appreciate that being able to listen to new stuff can broaden musical tastes but that's what places like Swordfish used to do and, as a result, discovering a new band or artist felt like something special. Clicking on a screen doesn't. End of story. Thankfully some people still want to own a physical thing and hopefully places like Swordfish, rare as they are these days, will survive though. For the sake of our musical culture I really hope so. 

Shed Seven - Dolphin

Going through a bit of a 90s phase at the moment and rediscovering some rather fine singles that had pretty much slipped from what's left of brain, like this little gem from Shed Seven. Love the funky bongos...

Rain special...

I'm not sure what the weather's like where you are but here in Devon it's rained pretty much all week and it looks set to rain until the end of time. So if life gives you rain stick on some rain themed songs that's what I say. Enjoy. 







PS: Yes I resisted the temptation to stick on It's Raining Men again.

Who Really Chose? - Matt Philip Hale

Former Miss Halliwell / The Day Ends frontdude Matt Philip Hale (aka MPH) is back, back BACK with a brand new solo single and, surprise surprise, it's ruddy ace. Perhaps more of a stripped back, lo-fi sound than before but with Matt's unique perspective, delivery and...well...MPH-ness. I've literally gone blue in the face banging on about this bloke but to hell with it, I'm going to keep going as long as he does.

Ginger Baker RIP

You can take your pick of awesome Ginger Baker drum solos out there but this one's got to be one of the best during his time trading as Ginger Baker's Airforce. I had the good fortune to catch Ginger at Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul back in 2014 and, aside from wandering off stage to have a piss half way through, he seemed in remarkably good form (and humour for that matter). 

Du Blonde - Acetone

Heard Du Blonde (aka Beth Jeans Houghton) do a live version of this last night on Riley's 6Music show and was reminded how great she is. Yet another one of those artists who simply isn't given anywhere near as much coverage or appreciation as they deserve...plus she was very complimentary about my dodgy moustache once at Moseley Folk Festival.