Wonderbread
Dr Zen
Blur [1]. I have been rediscovering them recently, after realising
that I have all their albums but rarely listen to them. So sometimes I
burn a CD of favourites, so that I can make a tape for the car, and
this is the song I chose of theirs. Do you know the song? I love
singing along with it. There is something truly uplifting about it.
That's Albarn. Thinking back on the Oasis/Blur thing (about which I
was completely neutral, a fan of both), it seems that the Stones/
Beatles comparison was rather accurate. On the one hand, underpowered
copyists; on the other, genuine talents -- the posturing of hardboy
rock against the quality of adult, literate pop. The first gives you a
thrill, sure, but it's the thrill of a kneetrembler, a back-alley
blowjob. The second is the kiss you remember a week later, a touch
from someone you had not realised wanted to touch you.
Oasis are real enough, but Blur are with-a-big-R Romantic. Real will
never stir my soul the way the slightly unreal will. Well, it's to be
expected: souls themselves are not real.
The tape will be a belter. I lead off with Heartbeats by the Knife
[2]. At first glance, it sounds like the bastid child of Ace of Base,
but there is something slightly dark about it. It's very retro,
although you couldn't have made music like this in the eighties. It's
curious that a lot of backward-looking stuff just wouldn't have been
possible back in the day. On that same tip, I followed Blur with Song
4 Mutya by Groove Armada [3], which is the greatest eighties song
evah. It sounds like Belouis Some crashed into New Order and Pepsi and
Shirley and instead of screeching grinding noises, a monster tune
issued forth.
Next up is Do it better by the Happy Mondays [4]. It's easy to
believe, these days, that Shaun Ryder never did actually live up to
the hype, and was always just a boring cunt who'd done too many drugs.
But no, once upon a time he really was the answer. Of course, we were
all so fucked then that we couldn't remember the question. Still, it
makes me happy, if I don't listen to them too often, to listen to the
Happy Mondays.
Next is Good times by the Hoodoo Gurus [5]. Of course, you own this.
You at least have a compilation of their hits, because you recognise
that Dave Faulkner is one of those great indie talents whom the
mainstream never quite pick up on, don't you? Don't you?
Speaking of which... well, I suppose that Jake Burns was talented in
his way, but Stiff Little Fingers were better when talent was not
needed (a laboured way of saying that like most punk bands, they were
better before they mellowed). But what Jake did very well was describe
life in a small town (even bigger towns can be small towns, IYKWIM,
and his Belfast sounds a lot like my Brisbane, or my home town, but
with more bombs). Gotta gettaway [6] is the quintessential small-town
anthem, and man, I'm still singing that shit!
Crystal [7] is the obligatory New Order inclusion. Look, we're not
going to debate this: New Order are the greatest pop band evah, end of
fucking discussion.
One criticism of the Maps album that I've read is that every song is
the same. Which is true. Luckily, it's a good song. Its incarnation as
It will find you [8] is a wonderful instance of Maps' breathy pop.
This isn't quite as singalong as some of the other stuff on this tape
but it will give the kids a break from my tuneless squalling.
Is it not time that Paul Weller got his big gong? Okay, his solo work
has mostly been dire, and the Style Council defined meh, but the Jam
are the kind of band you don't often listen to, but when you do, you
are like fuck me, this is fantastic. I could have chosen any of a ton
of great songs on the hits thing I have, particularly personal
favourites such as Going underground or Eton rifles, but I opted for
That's entertainment [9], because it is simply one of the greatest
lyrics you're ever going to hear. If you have lived the life Weller is
singing -- and I have -- you will feel it in your heart (if you have
one).
Not quite such a revelatory band, Space nonetheless made some nice
tunes. I stumbled across a few because I'd filled up a disc that I'd
burned, of all things, Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables onto with
some of their better songs. Female of the species [10] is practically
a novelty record -- by which, I mean it is self-consciously quirky,
but I have to tell you, I have a soft spot for novelty records. I
suppose that's for two reasons: first, that a novelty record is by
definition something different, and I always craved the different;
second, novelty acts rarely hit twice, and I like that notion of once
tasting it but never again. It seems gloriously sad. The picture of a
faded neverwas singing their one hit, to rapturous acclaim, at Butlins
or some other very downmarket venue appeals to me as a lesson in
hubris. Or pathos. (And if you're thinking, yeah, and bathos too,
you're not far wrong.)
I end the tape with Can't be sure [11] by the Sundays. Why? Because it
sounds like hope. And it sounds like England, almost more than any
other thing I've heard.
PS. On the subject of Blur, you tell me that this [12] is not fucking
wonderful! I'm including it for P, because if we ever walk a mile
together, this will be the soundtrack.
...
[1] On the way to the club
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7w3xpI4pZc
[2] Heartbeats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZatCZ1YWQeI
[3] Song 4 Mutya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lMJW4V49Yc
[4] Do it better by the Happy Mondays
[5] Good times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYwuPqnCKI
[6] Gotta gettaway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkkVymRPVHM
[7] Crystal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipbobacFiUY
[8] It will find you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ltcDfZMA3U
[9] That's entertainment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcfEXeNzgdI
[10] Female of the species
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-wIvsZBFhQ
[11] Can't be sure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG6R3pFCtk0