September 2009 Archives

I don't often do requests, but for a friend who spent her holidays re-acquainting herself with the Rolling Stones' Greatest Hits, here's Jumpin' Jack Flash.

(I am led to believe that he is a gas, gas, gas...)

Best Madonna single of the century, anyone?

OK, that's not saying much but I'd put Celebration among her best work (some of which are celebrated in the accompanying video).

Cracking little pop song, I reckons.

Welcome (back) to the book club and apologies for the temporary hiatus- I've been struck down by computing problems- but we're back just in time for the New Writing North "Simul-Read", a very tricky way of saying that all the book groups are reading the same book this month! So, get reading Talk of the Town by Jacob Polley...

It's 1986, the last day of the summer holidays, and Christopher Hearsey is wondering why his best mate Arthur has suddenly disappeared, and whether lippy Gill Ross a few doors down might know anything about it. The great border city of Carlisle is buzzing with rumours following an act of terrible violence, and in order to begin his search Chris must face down his own dread, not only of the consequences of his own actions, but of local big man Booby Grove, and his psychotic sidekick Carl 'the black' Hole, who is keen to settle an old score. Populated by a menacing and hilarious cast of characters, and moving from the dark aggrieved streets of the city to the agricultural hinterland of the Solway Firth, this is the story of a boy desperate to get out of town, out of a bad situation, even out of his own skin. Written with a moving demotic brilliance, reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn, "Talk of the Town" is an exhilarating and terrifying odyssey.

The first novel from the Carlise poet, the novel was published earlier this year to much acclaim: The Independent praised 'Polley's beguiling prose style [which] tests the limits of language, blending lyricism with brutality; juxtaposing tenderness with vicious criminality.' and it was compared by Books Quarterly to Huckleberry Finn (praise indeed!). In a similar vein to Ross Raisin's acclaimed novel God's Own Country in Book Club terms, I think opinions may be divided on this one but please persevere through the first few chapters and this one might surprise you...

And start posting those opinions below... x

I think by now we should all be agreed that Bruce Springsteen is completely marvellous.

I'll Work For Your Love is a relatively new song - from the Magic album of 2007 - but from its opening lines - "Pour me a drink Teresa in one of the glasses you dust off/And I'll watch the bones in your back like the stations of the cross" - it is an absolute classic.

I like this home video that someone has put on Youtube to accompany it. Someone has left the message: "Great video. The song matches perfectly. Does this Bruce Springsteen guy have any other good songs?"

Arf.

Last night I watched Gregory's Girl for about the 21st time. I do believe it to be the best film ever made.

The music in Gregory's Girl is a bit wretched but the film does feature the fabulous Claire Grogan before she formed Altered Images.

Here is their great song I Should Be Happy.

No, honest. Patrick Swayze.

I don't often take requests, but for a mate who's a big Dirty Dancing fan, today's Song of the Day is She's Like The Wind.

As a song, it encapsulates pretty much everything that made the 1980s the decade that music forgot: it's overblown, silly and pompous and has saxaphones on it, for starters. Yet at the same time it's hard not to like it just a little, especially today.

Nobody puts Swayze in a corner.

Keep Me In Your Heart is the final song from the posthumous album of the great singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

In that context, it's a bit heartbreaking. I particularly like the line "I'm tied to you than the buttons on your blouse" which seems all the more affecting for it's slight clumsiness.

I've mentioned this before, but Zevon was interviewed shortly before his untimely death in 2003 by David Letterman and had enough humour to be able to quip: " may have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years."

Asked on whether he had gained any insight into life and death, he said: "Enjoy every sandwich," which seems a pretty good epitath.

You probably have to listen to Sink or Swim by Bad Lieutenant for about, ooh, 26 seconds to know that it is the new band of New Order singer Bernard Sumner.

A bit less dancey and a bit more guitary than his previous band, it has that same sense of slightly melacholic melodicism and slightly rubbish lyrics. It is rather good, I think.

The rather excellent Word magazine has a monthly feature in which one page is given over to the 20 worst of a particular topic, with the 20 best over the page.

This month they're doing love songs and it's hard to argue with many of those chosen in the worst category (I Just Called To Say I Love You, More Than Words, Flying Without Wings - wretched songs one and all.)

There's some great ones in the best of list too, not least Rainy Night In Soho, a sometimes neglected Pogues bit of the Pogues' back catalogue described by Word as "Macgowan's real masterpiece, with all of his obsessions (London, booze, doomed love) collided amid a glorious string arrangement."

In honour of Ellie Greenwich - the great Brill Building songwriter who died recently - today's song is Da Doo Ron Ron by the Crystals.

Ellie Greenwich wrote a ton of classic songs in the 1960s for what would now be dismissed by some as "manufactured" pop bands. Among her most famous were Be My Baby (for The Ronettes), Leader of the Pack (The Shangri-Las) and Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High.

There is something utterly joyous about Da Doo Ron Ron, not least its nonsense refrain. It was written by Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry, though producer Phil Spector also got a songwriting credit and it often said that Da Doo Ron Ron is where he first perfected his "Wall of Sound" style.