it's that time of the week again, pressing Shuffle now
Whole Day Off by Oingo Boingo from Nothing To Fear - My first exposure to Oingo Boingo was around 1983 from a couple friends at school who were basically into anything that was hot in LA at the time. I hated them for the most part. I thought song titles like "Reptile and Samurai" were far to silly and the image of the band wasn't my cup of tea either. In 1987 a good friend of mine named Mike was really into them and I gave them another listen. The first album I heard was Boin-go and I really enjoyed it. Of course Boin-go had been a big turning point for them and to many fans of their early work didn't like the new synth, samples and sequence heavy Oingo Boingo sound. The real clencher was seeing them live though in 1989. That's when I finally got it. OIngo Boingo was one of the greatest live bands ever and Danny Elfman was a master showman and frontman. "Whole Day Off" is one of my favourite songs from their early period.
Night Fever by the Bee Gees from Number Ones - As I mentioned before I loved going to our local Disco when I was young and I love dancing to this day. Not much I can say about this song, it will be forever linked with the movie "Saturday Night Fever", though I myself do not think of that movie since I was forbidden from watching it since it had an R rating and then by the time I saw the PG version all I really wanted to see was the dancing, I was too young to find the pregnancy, suicide, and violent story of the movie appealing.
Let Go by Frou Frou from Garden State S/T - Frou Frou, of course, is the former(?) band of a current fave around this house Imogen Heap. Very similar in style (mellow yet dacenable electronic music) This is from the great soundtrack to Garden State compiled my another fave around here Zach Braff.
I Predict A Riot by Kaiser Chiefs from Employment - I was so starved for culture when we lived in Virginia that I use to read Blender magazine and download every song they recommend that I could find for free, if I liked how the band looked or the review made them sound. Kaiser Chiefs was one band I found that way. "I Predict A Riot" is an amazing song with great energy and a chorus that whacks you on the head, crawls inside, and doesn't come out for hours.
Saturday Night Diva by Spice Girls from Spice World - That's right, not only do I have both Spice Girls albums (Forever since is minus Geri does not count) and I own the movie on DVD (and saw it opening day), plus one of my most cherished memories with my Niece, Bethany, is taking her to see them in concert. I have a soft spot from bouncey, hook driven pop, and at the time Spice Girls came about I was glad to have something fun to listen to as I hated Grunge. THis isn't one of their better songs though, quite often they sound like they had half an idea and the producers tried to make something out of it to fill the record.
Set Me Free (remotivate me) by Depeche Mode B-side to Master and Servant - Quite often Depeche Mode's B-Sides were experiments or incomplete ideas. I can't think of one that I thought should be on an album except maybe "Shout", but then again I can't think of any early B-Sides that are outright bad either. There isn't much of a song here.
Chinatown by Joe Jackson from Night and Day - One of my Top Ten albums everyone should own. This album came completely out of leftfield for me and to this day I'm not quite sure why I loved it so much at a time when all I wanted to listen to was synth music heavy on sequencing and unnatural sounds. This album is organic, features Latin Percussion and is heavily influenced by Jazz. Some of the songs though are just far to amazing to be ignored like "Breaking Us In Two". This one is pretty much filler though and it doesn't even have a strong chorus.
Down In It by Nine Inch Nails from Head Like A Hole (US CDSingle) The song that first got me into NIN long before they went on Lollapalooza and became perhaps the most influential electronic act of the 90's. The use of the 808 drum machine and Trent's pseudo rapping delivery give this song an almost Hip-Hop feel and I will admite that to this day I do not know what the phrase Head Like A Hole means completely. My favorite line on the whole album though is, "stale incense, old sweat, and lies! lies! lies!" that somes up a particular time in my life so well.
On The Run by Yello from Baby - I rediscovered Yello with the advent of MP3. Most people know them as the band that did "Oh Yeah" from Ferris Buehler's Day Off but they are a very influential band amongst people who love electronic music. Their production and programming is unique and pristine and they are one of the few bands of any era to develop a sound that is completely unique and their own. I like to listen to them when I am looking to actually sit down, listen closely and learn.
Wonkamobile, Wonkavision/Oompa Loompa from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory OST perhaps my favourite movie from my childhood. I still cringe when the chicken gets it's head cut off though. What I love about this soundtrack is it's use of not just the score and songs from the movie, but entire tracks are nothing more than chunks of the movie with dialogue and all the great sound design.
Hidden Bonus Track:
Cars by Gary Numan from Collection - This is a classic song and the template for so much electronic based music that came after it. Gary relied heavily on rhythm and lyrics based in isolation and science fiction that was unique to him. He is also the most famous person I know to have been diagnosed as an adult with Asperger's Syndrome, the same diagnoses that Senastian has. I think this is the very first song I learned, programmed and played live after I left my first band, Kinesthesia. I also always think of the party Brie, Cait and I through for Halloween 1998 when Mike got up and sang it performing with me for the first time since 1988 when we split apart as a band. I haven't heard from him in a long time now and all the emails I sent him have bounced.
Posted by John at May 14, 2007 11:50 PM