Month: July 2015

My Favourite Record, aged 7


My mum bought this single in 1969 and it soon became known as “my” record because I played it all the time and would dance around the living room to it, singing the words. I think it’s the first pop record that I had some personal attachment to. I know there were lots more musically-interesting things going on in 1969 but I was only 7 so this kind of catchy Bubblegum Pop was right up my alley. Sadly my first pop music obsession came to an end one terrible day when I left the single on our armchair and accidentally sat on it, breaking it in half. I still remember how upset I was about that.

Because I have such warm memories of “Dizzy” I was a bit peeved by Vic Reeves’ 1991 cover version. As novelty records go it’s not terrible, but it reduces the original to a jokey bit of kitsch which feels to me like he’s taking the piss out of my childhood. The original probably is kitsch to modern ears, but even the cheesiest art can have significance to someone.

Download: Dizzy – Tommy Roe (mp3)

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New Monday


I don’t know about you but I think 2015 has been a pretty good year for albums, and we still have new releases from Chromatics, Frank Ocean, and Lana Del Rey to come so it could get even better.

My contenders for best of the year so far include Wolf Alice and Roisin Murphy, but they’re currently being beaten out by Holychild’s terrific debut album The Shape of Brat Pop To Come which is chock-full of big, brash pop songs. I’ve featured the LA duo here before but I’m plugging them again because they’ve released another track as a single, and I don’t want to end the year lamenting the fact that they aren’t more popular — so buy the bloody thing, you won’t regret it.

Commercial Break


One look at an old photo of London will tell you the past was a dirtier place: Soot-covered buildings, smog, everyone smoking. But I never knew it was so bad that sweets came in specially reinforced, anti-dirt wrappers.

Download: Trash 2 – Roxy Music (mp3)

This was the b-side of Roxy’s 1979 comeback single “Trash” and is a mellower take on the same song. I prefer the original but I quite like the broody atmosphere of this version.

Something for the Weekend


One of the best things about the pop charts in the 1970s is that records like this which owe more to Jazz and Edith Piaf could become hits, as this did in 1977 when it got to #1. Most of the “novelty” hits that decade were terrible but this was classier than most and I still have a soft spot for it. Surprised to see them on Whistle Test though.

I had a little crush on their lead singer at the time and she does look rather sexy here.

Getting Too Old For This Shit


Up to my tits in work and really worn out at the moment. I’m lucky enough to like what I do for a living, but there are times when I want to retire and live a life of leisure, blogging, and t-shirt designing. Which is another way of saying don’t expect much here for the next couple of weeks.

Download: Up Against It – Pet Shop Boys (mp3)

This is one of my absolute favourite PSB tracks, from their 1996 album Bilingual. It also has one of my favourite lyrics of theirs in “Such a cold winter, with scenes as slow as Pinter”.

The Singles Box


I say this a lot about my old singles but this time I’m pretty sure I am the only one who bought this.

Skat were better known by their previous name The Chefs (and for their lead singer Helen McCookerybook), a short-lived but influential indie band very popular with John Peel. I don’t know why they changed their name to Skat, but they only ever released this one single under that name in 1982 and then split up soon afterwards which probably wasn’t the desired effect.

It’s a fairly straight cover of the Velvet Underground song but it has a nice jangly “indie” sound, a style that The Chefs helped to invent.

Download: Femme Fatale – Skat (mp3)

Something for the Weekend


It’s the 4th of July here tomorrow — actually, it’s that date everywhere but it’s also Independence Day in America. Sadly we won’t be getting an England-USA game this weekend for a chance for us to rewrite history and teach those colonials a lesson. As I’m sure you know, England broke our hearts again, going out of a World Cup in a way that was even more gutting than a penalty shoot-out. Now we have to play the bloody Germans again. That never goes well either.