I’m putting this blog on hold indefinitely. Much as I enjoy writing about music, I can’t maintain the daily posting – it’s a hell of a lot of effort for three readers and I don’t have the time I once had for self-promotion. Ironically, I had so much more time for this sort of thing back when I had a job…

I’ll still be writing about music over at Sunset Over Slawit (which has at least six readers, so that’s worth while), but if you want to hear more of my new musical discoveries (and a few old favourites), you could always follow me over at This Is My Jam. I’ve only just discovered this site (thanks to Davey) but already it’s my favourite social networking thingy on the web. It’s basically a radio station programmed by all your friends. Simple but brilliant. I’m hooked…

See you there!

In The Bleak Midwinter

…what better to warm our cockles than a slice of classic sunshiney pop from Terry Hall and chums? I stumbled across this in my library the other night and I’ve been listening to it ever since. I’d never seen the video before, but I was taken with the Incredible Hulk candy cigarettes in the seaside grabber machine. Ah, them were the days.

Special Brew

From The Specials to the Fun Boy Three to The Colourfield to songwriting for The Lightning Seeds and an impressive solo career, I’ve long been a fan of Terry Hall. He’s a very English songwriter, like Morrissey without the glum. I was surprised by how much he resembled a young Robert Smith in this video, but then so did a lot of people in the 80s.

Love Is A Wonderful Colour

There Will Be Blood

It begins with Mick’s siren-like “ooo-oohs” and proceeds to document the atrocities of 1969, when, at the height of the Vietnam War, “rape and murder” were “just a shot away”. Featuring guest vocals from Merry Clayton, who allegedly threw so much emotion into her performance she suffered a miscarriage soon after the recording session.

Talking about the song to Rolling Stone (!) in the 90s, Jagger concluded:

“That’s a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It’s apocalypse; the whole record’s like that.”

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Shortly after the song’s release, the band would play it live at Altamont…

I Write The Songs

The debut single for Paul Heaton’s Beautiful South (though it’s co-singer Dave who handles the lion’s share of the vocals on this track) took a cynical swipe at songwriters who love ‘em and leave ‘em… then immortalise ‘em in songs that pay the rent for years to come.

I love you from the bottom of my pencil case…
…And I love the PRS cheques that you bring

Shake Your Money Maker

The list comes from all the girls this particular songwriter has used to make his millions. Altogether now…

Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too…

Never Get Old

Happy birthday, David Bowie – 65 today. You don’t look it, sir, but then… you never looked quite human anyway.

If anyone asks you for proof that the moon landing actually happened in 1969, refer them to the strange and soulful alien Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin brought back with them. He’s been having hits ever since, beginning with the record that gave away his origins: ‘Space Oddity’. (Let’s not mention those pre-1969 records, nobody needs to dwell too long on ‘The Laughing Gnome’.)

All The Young Dudes

Todays challenge then: pick just one David Bowie song. So many great ones to choose from… but this little heard classic from the Scary Monsters album seems to fit the birthday theme. Thanks for the music, Mr. Jones!

Happy birthday to my sister, Trish, too – a huge Bowie fan, always happy to share her birthday with the great man himself.

Ultravox

Ah, Ultrasound – where are you now? (Answer to follow.) Hailing from just down the road in Wakefield, songwriter/guitarist Richard Green and singer Andrew “Tiny” Wood were at the forefront of an exceptional debut album and a raft of cracking singles (of which the amazing ‘Kurt Russell’ is, incredibly, just a b-side) way back in 1998. The following year they split up, and I really thought we’d never see their like again.

But… the great news is, the band recently reformed and they’re working on new material. Their first new double A-side single, ‘Welfare State / Sovereign” was released last August and it’s just as good as their earlier material. I’m looking forward to more. Keep up with the reborn Ultrasound at their website.

Union Of The Snake

I want to be your hero
Kurt Russell, Eastwood and me

Bad Medicine

Feeling the January blues? Dose yourself up with Tom McRae’s End of the World News (sponsored by God).

You wake up to the sound of alarms and you’re
Driving your fabulous car
Listening to the music that reminds you
You used to be young, you used to be young

Taken from his eponymous debut album of 2003… and I’ve yet to hear Tom record a better song.

I used to be young.

A Spoonful Of Sugar

Our Frank

First freebie of 2012, a double A side download from lo-fi noseniks The Give It Ups. I know very little about this band, but I like what I hear.

Download both tracks free here.

Life’s What You Make It

…and so are lyrics. Peter Gabriel never suggested this was an End of the World song, that’s just my interpretation. Largely based on DC’s original Crisis On Infinite Earths in which red rain signalled the end of the multiverse.

Red Sails In The Sunset

Those comics were released around the same time as the album So and they’ve kind of merged together in my memory over the last 25+ years to cast an apocalyptic gloom on Gabriel’s song that probably wasn’t intended. The best art always lets us to bring our own interpretations though…

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

I remember when musical beggars were much less demanding. That’s inflation for you. Aloe Blacc’s album Good Things is my first musical purchase of 2012. ‘I Need A Dollar’ has quietly wormed its way into my ears over the last few months and a funky, 70s-soulful performance on Jools’ Hootenanny (I know, I’m a New Year Party Animal, right?) was the tipping point. Better yet, it’s only £3 to download from Amazon right now… and the guy does need a dollar!