Tim’s Covers/Tributes

Top Cover Versions

1. Say You Don’t Mind (Colin Blunstone – orig. Denny Laine) – beautiful cover, very much in the style of Nick Drake, who may or may not have been influenced by Blunstone’s singing style in the first place.
2. Carry Me Home (Primal Scream – orig Dennis Wilson) – sometimes credited as a Beach Boys effort – this is one of Dennis’ darker songs, swung down to a new low on this Primal Scream B-Sider.
3. Sunshine Of Your Love (Ella Fitzgerald – orig, Cream) – she kicks its ass.
4. Hey Joe (Sparklehorse – orig, Daniel Johnston) – If Daniel doesn’t break your heart, Mark Linkous will.
5. Son of a Gun (Nirvana – orig. The Vaselines)  – this track was the affirmation that the punk world needed to let them know they were right to like Nirvana.
6. Life’s A Gas (Teenage Fanclub – orig. T-Rex) – I think Marc would’ve dug it.
7. Let’s Spend The Night Together (David Bowie – orig. The Rolling Stones) – just amazing.
8. Beginnings (Astrud Gilberto – orig. Chicago) – not a huge departure from the original, but very funky and weird for Astrud!
9. Journey To The Center Of The Mind (Ramones – orig. The Amboy Dukes) – the Acid Eaters album is all cover versions, and all of them are great. Never realised how much Joey is influenced by Jagger until I heard their cover of ‘Out Of Time‘. This one’s sung by latterday bassist C.J. Ramone.
10. Southern Man (Merry Clayton – orig. Neil Young) – I’ve ranted about her before – if you haven’t heard her – don’t miss this!

Tribute Songs 

I don’t really like tribute albums, but the occasional track is awesome:

1. Getting Better (The Wedding Present with Amelia Fletcher – orig. The Beatles) –  this proto-grunge version appeared on tribute album ‘Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father’ (1988). After hearing this, the original became among my most hated Beatles songs.
2. Follow Me (The Innocence Mission – orig. John Denver) – ‘Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver’ is a brilliant album, far better than the one that came out in 2013. This track is my favourite, but check out Will Oldham’s amazing cover of The Eagle and The Hawk,
3. Going Underground (Buffalo Tom – orig. The Jam) –  punk anthem into emotive masterpiece. From a fairly obscure Jam tribute album.
4. Velouria (Weezer – orig, Pixies) – Again, not a stretch for Weezer, but they do the seemingly impossible and give this amazing song even more emotion and power. From the ‘Where Is My Mind’ Pixies tribute album.

Tim’s 1989 Lists

Albums:

1. Postcard C.V. (Senseless Things) – They were way ahead of their time and extremely young and naive, but I was a devoted fan. This is the perfect debut album – ten concise pop-punk treatments on teen angst.

2. Overdosed On (Chemical People) – Still the tightest, fastest band ever. Catchy tunes – perverted lyrics – singing drummer/3piece – what more do you want?

3. Earthquake Weather (Joe Strummer) – For years I considered this album a guilty pleasure; compared to The Clash, I was unsure that it was any good at all. It’s an eccentric mix of funk, dub and world music and some of it doesn’t work at all, but in my old age I’m determined that it’s Strummer’s best work. Get to know ‘Earthquake Weather’ and it’ll serve you well.

4. Doolittle (Pixies) – What can you say about the best album by the best band? Other than it should be #1 on my list.

5. Love Is A Battlefield of Wounded Hearts (Hard-Ons) – First studio album from the Australian singing-drummer/3piece (see a trend here?) Pop-punk perfection.

6. The Stone Roses (The Stone Roses) – Psychedelic Marvin Gaye and jangly anthemic pop from a bunch of Manchester hooligans seemed impossibly brilliant when this was released. Though ‘I Am The Resurrection’ is probably the weakest song on the album, the improvised jam at the end (3:37 onwards) is truly remarkable.

7. Automatic (The Jesus And Mary Chain) – A concentrated pop album from the Scottish doomlords – the only thing with a drum machine that I could tolerate at the time!

8. Paul’s Boutique (The Beastie Boys) – I was definitely not a fan of the Beastie Boys when this album came out, but I could not resist The Dust Brothers incredible beats. Between this album and Young MC’s debut they blew their load – but what a money shot! 

9. Bizarro (The Wedding Present) – Jokingly referred to as Smiths fans second favourite band, The Wedding Present are a strange bunch – if you can stand Gedge’s vocals and the frenetic barrage of shrill guitars you might understand why their songs are up there with Morrissey’s.

10. Energy (Operation Ivy) – One of those albums that just sounds like nothing else before it. A strange hybrid of The Specials, the Clash and Bad Brains – they had a weird funky style and solid message of interracial “UNITY!!!” The first time I’d heard of ‘Skatepunk’.

Notable misses:

Snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn’tthrowawobblerchachachachachachachachachachachayou’regoinghomeinacosmicambience (Snuff) 

Songs:

1. Fools Gold 9:53 (The Stone Roses) – To fans of their debut album, this 12” single seemed a mind-blowing left-turn. I love the restraint in the performances on this track. After this, every band had drum loops and wah-wah – welcome to Madchester!

2. Monkey Gone To Heaven (Pixies) – There’s not a bad song on this album – and ‘Silver’ is one of the most incredible tracks imaginable – but the riffs and lyrics on Monkey Gone To Heaven are irresistible.

3. Awkward Kid (Mega City Four) – This single is in the tradition of frail sensitive Buzzcocks songs or Mick Jones’ Clash B-Sides – fragile and emotive, heavy-on-the-heart.

4. Too Much Kissing (Senseless Things) – Last track on ‘Postcard C.V.’ and played at the end of every show – classic song.

5. Last Of The Famous International Playboys (Morrissey) – 1989 saw a bunch of good singles from Mozzer – this is the funniest one.

6. Pet Semetary (Ramones) – A surprise return to form for Ramones, thanks to Stephen King’s rubbish horror novel.

7. Dizzy’s Goatee (Joe Strummer) -The strung-out Strummer was only loosely involved in this album’s creation, but with lyrics this intense and vocals this bare we get him at his most authentic.

8. You Surround Me (Erasure) – It doesn’t get much gayer than this band and this song. Always had a huge admiration for Vince Clark’s production and Andy Bell’s vocal style.

9. Get Wet (Hard-Ons) – marrying sexual perversion with melancholy pop. There are 6 chords in this song, but they could’ve done it with two.

10. UV Ray (The Jesus And Mary Chain) – The dark track from a great pop album – Ministry and Nine Inch Nails were listening.

Notable misses:

Epic (Faith No More)

About A Girl (Nirvana)

Tim’s 1978 Top Tens

1978 turned out to be a good year! This probably my favourite top ten to date.

Songs:

1. Hanging On The Telephone (Blondie) – In my opinion this is the best single of all time. Debbie Harry’s voice at its best, killer guitar licks and drum fills, amazing verses, brilliant choruses, a killer bridge and huge ending – all in 2:22. Incredible song.
2. Theme From Monkey Magic (Godiego) – Godiego are a Japanese band that have released 55 albums (!) In 1978 they recorded the theme tune to a comedic chop-socky TV show called ‘Monkey Magic’. Based on the 19th Century novel by Wu Cheng’en, the show was dubbed into English and became an instant success. Godiego’s theme tune is the toughest funkiest space-rock jam ever – though some of the lyrics didn’t scan so well after translation! Email me if you want to hear the full lenghth version – Youtube took my video down 😦
3. This Perfect Day (The Saints) – Chris Bailey is probably the best rock vocalist ever. As remote and obscure as this Australian band was in 1978 – they nailed the Detroit punk sound better than most. A very intense and strange song.
4. I Don’t Mind (Buzzcocks) – One of Pete Shelley’s masterpieces. Like ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ this is an almost perfect pop song/single – tight, hooky, modern and heavy-on-the-heart. No-one writes a love song like Pete Shelley, and this is one of his best. It just beat ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldnt’ve?)’ onto my top ten list because it has such ingenious chords changes and a killer bridge.
5. The Artilleryman And The Fighting Machine (Jeff Wayne) – This is my favourite track from Jeff Wayne’s epic disco-funk-rock concept album ‘War Of The Worlds’. This track features voice-overs from Sir Richard Burton and David Essex (!) – I chose it because it includes some of the best themes on the album, and some sublime orchestration, production and mixing.
6. Safe European Home (The Clash) – Surely one of the best rock songs of all time – a brilliant sound and a hugely professional shift for the Clash. For those who are interested some discreet mixes turned up on Youtube recently. Being able to hear Mick’s backing vocal at 2:12 were a revelation to this Clash fan!
7. Carry Me Home (Dennis Wilson) – This track was issued a few years back packaged with the re-release of ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’. One of the darkest, most moving of Dennis’ typically dark moving songs!
8. Outdoor Miner (Wire) – What a strange band Wire are – the taught art-punks surprise everyone with a melodic second album. Sublime tune.
9. The Electrician (The Walker Brothers) – After a comeback hit in ’75, the Walker Brothers found themselves in a 3 album deal with GTO records. By this point, Scott Walker had already recorded too many terrible pop albums (all deleted now!) so steered the Brothers into making a more experimental album. ‘The Electrician’ is the best track on ‘Nite Flights’, and probably the most accessible of Scott Walker’s avant-garde songs. This is a great place to start, if you’ve ever been interested in what all the fuss is about.
10. Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush) – Kate’s a bit hit-and-miss in my opinion, but her first hit is an astounding piece of songwriting. Check out the ‘Red Dress’ video – oh Kate!

(11.) Kangaroo (Big Star) – ‘Third/Sister Lovers’ didn’t make my top ten albums list – but ‘Kangaroo’ is a brilliantly spooky song! This is what happens when you let the engineer loose on your demo!

Albums:

1. War Of The Worlds (Jeff Wayne) – as a child this disco-prog concept album used to simultaneous fascinate and terrify me. It still has the same effect! Wayne’s orchestration and production are pretty seminal in this genre – pretty much all disco albums sounded like this in 1979! Richard Burton is phoning in his voice-over, but all the other contributors give it their all (especially Phil Lynott as the priest!) 
2. Another Music In A Different Kitchen (Buzzcocks) – Its legend that everyone in attendance at The Sex Pistols show at Manchester Free Trade Hell in 1976 started a successful band – but The Buzzcocks were definitely there – they organized the show. After shedding vocalist Howard Devoto and swapping instruments and members, they came up with this incredible first album, packed tight with angsty love songs and futuristic art-rock-inspired pop songs. A unique and underrated band regardless of the ‘punk’ tag. Pete Shelley pretty much invented the gender-unspecific love song (though it was pretty obvious he was gay!), paving the way for the likes of Morrissey and Husker Du. Musically a huge influence on Nirvana. Also released in 1978 is their second album ‘Love Bites’ with the classic track ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldnt’ve?)’.
3. Parallel Lines (Blondie) – I’m not the biggest Blondie fan – but this album is just a classic from start to finish! Sunday Girl, Heart Of Glass, One Way Or Another…
4. Eternally Yous (The Saints) – Who the hell are The Saints? Well it seems there was an awesome punk scene in Australia in the late 70s and this album is a gem!
5. Ambient 1: Music for Airports (Brian Eno) – I’m also not a huge Eno fan, but there’s no denying this a seminal and gorgeous album. Far out,
6. Road To Ruin (Ramones) – Perhaps not the originators of punk, but the band that unified the movement across the planet. Ramones 4th album hammered home their bubblegum cartoon-rock ethic.
7. Give Em Enough Rope (The Clash) – As a Clash nerd I couldn’t leave their 2nd album off the list. Essentially its a problematic album, chiefly because it was produced by American rock producer Sandy Pearlman (Blue Oyster Cult et al) and was duly damned by the music press and punks alike as a sell-out. However, its actually a very robust rock album, the Clash show their lighter side with tracks like ‘Julies Been Working for the Drug Squad’ and ‘Drug Stabbing Time‘ (a close second to ‘Safe European Home’ on my top 10 song list!) 
8. Outlandos d’Amour (The Police) – I fucking hate Sting, and pretty much everything The Police did after this was meh – but I can’t deny everything on this album is brilliant.
9. The Man Machine (Kraftwerk) – The band’s 7th album wasn’t much of a departure, but had a perfect balance of pop, humor and minimalism. ‘The Robots’ and ‘Man Machine’ are particular highlights.
10. Bambu (Dennis Wilson) – “Gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh.”

 

Tim’s Streaks

This month’s challenge made me realise that I really don’t like many albums, or artists’ releases. Maybe as part of the ‘mix-tape’ generation I was always searching out the interesting B-sides that represented the more personal or experimental side of the artist. Nevertheless, here are ALL of the bands that I like that haven’t messed up and released a turkey! Click the links to hear my picks including some live versions.

• The Clash 1977-1981: The Clash, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, London Calling, Black Market Clash, Sandinista!, Combat Rock
• Grandaddy 1997-2003: Under The Western Freeway, The Broken Down Comforter Collection, The Windfall Variety, The Sophtware Slump, Sumday, 
  
• Hard-Ons 1988-1993: Dickcheese, Love Is A Battlefield Of Wounded Hearts, Yummy!, Too Far Gone,
• The Jesus And Mary Chain 1985-1989: Psychocandy, Darklands, Automatic
• Pavement 1992-1999: Slanted & Enchanted, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, Brighten The Corners, Terror Twilight
• Pixies 1988-1991: Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova, Trompe le Monde
• Ramones: 1976-1981: Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, End of the Century, Pleasant Dreams
• The Replacements 1981-1984: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, Stink, Hootenanny, Let It Be
• Sebadoh 1993-1996: Bubble and Scrape, Bakesale, Harmacy
• Stereolab 1994-2004: Mars Audiac Quintet, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Dots and Loops, Cobra Phases Group Play Volatage in the Milky Night, Soud-Dust, Margerine Eclipse
• Stina Nordenstam 1991-1998: Memories of a Colour, And She Closed Her Eyes, Dynamite, People Are Strange
• Teenage Fanclub 1991-1995: Bandwagonesque, Thirteen, Grand Prix
• Wagon Christ 1998-2004: Tally Ho!, Musipal, Sorry I Make You Lush
• Webb Brothers 1999-2000: Beyond The Biosphere, Maroon
• Palace Music/Palace Brothers 1993-1996: There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You, Days In The Wake, Viva Last Blues, Arise Therefore

Oh and if you haven’t heard Swedish doom-pixie Stina Nordenstam, or Jimmy Webb’s kids The Webb Brothers – treat yourself!