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Song of the Day
With its spooky folk-horror video and creepy choral vocals by the Mediaeval Baebes, Orbital have created a post-pandemic anthem that fuses their characteristic dance rhythms with the playground song Ring A Ring O’Roses.
London collective Hi-Tension flew the flag for the disco offshoot of Brit-funk with their self-titled hit single. I have to confess the song – and entire genre – passed me by completely at the time.
You didn’t have to like disco to like Chic, who always claimed to be a rock band for the disco generation. And you didn’t have to like Le Freak to find yourself singing along.
It’s hard not to shudder when you hear the words ‘girl group’ and ‘Phil Spector’ in the same sentence these days but The Paris Sisters seemed to survive the experience.
Two members of The Blockheads were responsible for the biggest gaffe of my entire career at Dury’s funeral in April 2000. Well, them…. and me.
In that early post-punk universe of new sounds and new ideas, Bela Lugosi’s Dead was an important landmark. The nine-minute single was the first recording Bauhaus ever made – as a demo – just six weeks after forming in Northampton in 1978.
RIP Christine Perfect / McVie (1943-2022)
2nd December 2022 · 1960s, 1969, 2020s, 2022, Blues, Music
I can’t pretend i was ever a big Fleetwood Mac fan.
So the death of Christine McVie didn’t resonate with me as strongly as with those millions who bought Rumours. But the outpouring of love and sadness for her death is a poignant reminder of the unifying power of music.
Talking Heads’ second album tends to get unfairly overlooked. Probably partly because it came so soon after their debut, and partly due to being sandwiched between their landmark debut 77 and the masterpiece that followed with Fear Of Music.
News today that Moldy Peaches have reunited reminded me of this oddball hit from the film Juno. As someone says in the comments: “The voices are SO cringey. The lyrics are SO corny. Yet the song is SO perfect.”
Has there ever been a more perfect match of a song to the opening scene of a movie? It’s impossible to think of Saturday Night Fever without the bouncy rhythm of Stayin’ Alive coming into your head.