This week in iPod .. pressing Shuffle now.
Tesla Girls by Orchestral Manoeuvers In the Dark from Junk Culture - Perhaps my favourite song by OMD it's kind of a culmination of everything they had been working towards early in their career. It's experimental with it's use of vocal sampling, yet is still very accessible.
Snow Blind by Ace Frehley from Ace Frehley - I was and still tend to be very naive when it comes to drug use and references. When I was young I thought this song was about driving in a snow storm and being afraid of getting lost. Of course, it's about Cocaine and Ace's drug addiction. I love how the middle 8 is done in double time. The majority of the song is heavier than most of his material and very reminscent of Black Sabbath then suddenly it switched to double time and Ace plays a typical Ace solo where rhythm shifts are more important than the number of notes he hits. It's one of the reasons I always loved Ace's playing. Like Bethoven he uses rhythm to convey his emotions and stresses feel over technical ability.
This Woman's Work by Kate Bush from She's Having a Baby OST - This song is very hard for me to listen to because I become overwhelmed with sadness and almost always shed a tear or two. The lyrics are about a woman who as she gives birth realizes that she might not have been there for her husband to help him be prepared to be a father and though she knows he can be a great one she regrets that she didn't help him more. The stress of pregnancy can be very hard on a couple and often the man is left out. It reminds me of when Brie was pregnant with Sebastian. Perhaps the greatest song Kate ever wrote, it's simply amazing. Now that I'm all emotional I'll move on.
Word on a Wing by David Bowie from Station to Station - Not one of my favourite tracks, this is Bowie coming out of his cocaine phase. This song doesn't suffer from the paranoia injected into a lot of his work at the time. It actually feels like he's looking for a little help to get himself straight.
Sweet Sixteen by Billy Idol from Idol Songs: 11 of the Best - Billy Idol's image so very rarely matched up with his music and I liked that. His music was always far more polished and tended to be rooted 50's era rock with production more inline with the club music of the 80's than the rock. This song is an accoustic number and doesn't really do anything for me.
Cold Life by Ministry from Twelve Inch Singles - The best work Ministry did was a series of Twelve Inch Singles on Wax Trax! Where their first album was synth-pop these singles showed that Al Jourgensen was more interested in trying to straddle a line between the work of Skinny Puppy and the Pop music at the time. The best song from this era is "Everyday is Halloween", but "Cold Life" stands up well too. I particularly like that the bass. It's all funky and slappy.
Help! by the Beatles from the Beatles 1 - What can I say. The greatest band ever, period. John clearly had issues as most of his lyrics are focused on the need for love. Two minutes and fifteen seconds of perfection.
Day I Met God by Adam and the Ants from Dirk Wears White Socks (orignal version) - This was one of the first CDs I got from another fan thorough a Usenet group (yes pre-WWW). It's a conversion of the vinyl only original indie release of this album. Rooted in the Punk of the time Adam's lyrics have almost always been too literary for me to get all the references he puts in them. So I have no idea what this song is really about, but it has a good beat and I can dance to it!
Red Alert by Basement Jaxx from The Singles - I first heard of Basement Jaxx through their single "Where's Your Head At" with it's Gary Numan sample. I didn't think much of them and then my good friend Cait told me about the single "Plug It In" which featured JC Chasez from N*Sync fame. I downloaded the whole album and was pleasantly surprised to find the title track "Kish Kash" featured Siouxsie Sioux on lead vocals. This track though is probably my favourite of all their singles, I don't know who the lead vocalist is, but she appears on several tracks and has a great Martha Washington kinda of soul belt.
As Long as I'm Singing by the Brian Setzer Orchestra from The Dirty Boogie I have written about the BSO in previous articles so not much to say, I like this track more than some others on the album because I like the horn arrangement and the fact that it's so chaotic featuring Mambo influences that almost sound like they are playing "Tequilla".