DOWNLOAD: BAMBU – “THE QUEEN IS DEAD” (produced by Fatgums)
From Bambu’s upcoming …paper cuts… EP (February 2009)

BONUS: BAMBU – “SOUNDCHECK” (produced by DJ Revolution)

The new single for West Coast artist Bambu has just dropped from his upcoming EP. The track is titled ‘The Queen Is Dead’. I’m loving the production on this track. I’m digging how Bambu chose to spit some social commentary on how society views women. The track also features some guest background vocals from his fiance EyeASage aka Rocky Rivera.

The Queen Is Dead, is the first song leaked from the new EP, …paper cuts… from Los Angeles’ own Bambu. The EP features Chace Infinite (Self Scientific), Geologic (Blue Scholars), Malcolm & Martin, Thurzday (U-N-I) and Diz Gibran, with production by Digital Martyrs, Fatgums, 6Fingers, MTK, Anon and Nick James. …paper cuts… is set for a February 23rd release on the Homegrown Blendz label.

Be  sure to peep the track here.

Source: 2dopeboys

This is nice.. L.A. really is on their grind, there’s been a plethora of incredible sounds coming out of there lately, and this leak off Bambu’s upcoming EP, Papercuts, is keeping the bar high.

Download: Bambu – The Queen Is Dead

-daNk

TIME TO TACKLE 1986 AT LAST and we start with Moz, j’en ai mar and litigious chums. But first, a final word on The Beatles. Enjoyed this little exchange in the Past Masters sleevenotes, Brian Matthew interviewing the chaps in 1964 on the release of Beatles For Sale:

BM: I’ve heard it said that a lot of these would make good singles. Do you think there’s any likelihood at all of them being released?
John: You can’t release singles off an LP after the LP’s been out.
BM: A Lot of people do.
Paul: Well, in America they do…
John: Well, they’re different over there, aren’t they?
Paul: In America they do that, but it’s a bit of a drag.

The Beatles were, of course, er, past masters at dishing out the quality singles without recourse (on the whole) to plundering their albums, but it’s become a rare practice. In this sense, The Smiths were one of their last natural heirs, hurling out singles and albums at breakneck speed without repetition – until the record company squeezed the everything they could out of Strangeways, Here We Come. ‘Paint A Vulgar Picture’, indeed.

’Panic’ was one of those bonuses. Christ, it was released one month after The Queen Is Dead and doesn’t even appear on it. Throwaway downloads aside, I can’t imagine that happening now. Remind me if I’m forgetting something. Anyway, ‘Panic’ has a taste of will-this-do? about it, but it clangs and saunters amiably and is suitably apocalyptic, if on a provincial scale. Its signature line, “hang the DJ” smells a bit of sniffiness towards burgeoning club culture, but you can prefer to hear it as an early blood-on-the-carpet attack on Simes and DLT. Junior prefers to hear it as “gingerbread man, gingerbread man, gingerbread man”.

Gingerbread or not, she loves it, identifying with the title – “I do that sometimes, don’t I?” – and puzzling over the band members not actually being related. Like half the world, I’m in a Beatles moment right now, but she later makes me switch off Abbey Road to “play The Smiths again”. God, Dad, you’re so square.

The music they constantly play:

Spent this weekend catching up on some CDs that I’d recently bought. I also looked through some of the vinyl that I have out here. The vinyl I have in Dubai falls into two categories; vinyl I’ve bought from Dubai, and vinyl I brought to Dubai. The second set contains some interesting releases; there’s the Fetish “Last Testament” compilation, “Revolutionary Spirit” 12″ by The Wild Swans, all my A Certain Ratio albums and early singles, ditto for 23 Skidoo and a fairly anonymous, but highly significant compilation; “Different For Domeheads”.

I decided to give “Domeheads” a spin, it has been a while since I’d last listened to it. Those opening guitar chimes at the start of “Why Does The Rain” still has the desired effect – gives me me the shivers. (Just like the bass that propels you into “Destroy The Heart”). Ok, so I’m jumping ahead. But that compilation goes a long way to defining 1986 for me.

1986. I’ve heard many of my friends say that the mid-80s were a desolate period for British music. I disagree. The mid-80s were a swirling mass of so many different styles it’s hard to see a theme, but everything exploded out of this period. My musical tastes had started to spin out of control from about 1984 onwards. I was still loyal to my Factory Records and 4AD obsessions, but I’d started to pick up 7″ singles from lots of new bands, all with differing styles. I’d tune in to Tony “The Greek” on his Sunday evening Piccadilly Radio show and listen to the usual run of Manchester bands; The Fall, The Chameleons, the Factory groups, fledgling The Stone Roses, but he was also slipping in the odd surprise. “New Day Rising” and “Candy Apple Grey” – I heard both first on “The Last Radio Programme”, Husker Du prepared me for the coming deluge; Pixies.

1986 was the Festival Of The Tenth Summer. There was a stunning James/Bodines double-bill at the Russell Club and of course the massive GMex event; The Fall, ACR, New Order, Pete Shelley, The Smiths and others..

Different for Domeheads. A showcase of all that was good back then; The Loft, The Jasmine Minks, Primal Scream, The Pastels, Biff Bang Pow!, Slaughter Joe, The Bodines and The Weather Prophets. I had secured my copy of C86 and was trying to grow my small collection of Creation records. My favourites at the time were The Pastels and The Loft. (Peter Astor later turned up on 4AD with Heidi Berry – most odd). 1986 saw a few great singles releases by; Primal Scream “Crystal Crescent”, Weather Prophets “Almost Prayed” and of course the mighty “Therese” by The Bodines (where did they go?). In Warrington it seemed that everyone was spinning around with flowers sprouting out of their arses, and growing monumental quiffs (“The Queen Is Dead” had just been released). I tried to avoid it as much as possible. I was listening to “Sound Of Confusion” that August, it offered me much more than Morrissey/Marr ever could.

1986 was the year I went to Newcastle Polytechnic. Just before I headed up to Newcastle I listened to an interview with Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook on “The Last Radio Programme”. They talked about a new signing to Factory. Bernard had produced their second single – “Freaky Dancing”. (That day-glo cover and indie-dancefloor-funk-crossover rhythm certainly spoke of things to come!).

1986. I certainly don’t think it was a bad year. I’d say it was the year things started to move again. We had House Of Love and My Bloody Valentine within a year. And by April 88 I was packed into the Newcastle Polytechnic SU to watch the Pixies open for Throwing Muses. Madchester was kicking by 1988.

(Oh, and in the middle of all that I saw The Wild Swans!)

Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Perhaps, once upon a time Morrissey had loved Marr. And they really had a relationship. And it broke down in the middle of their popularity. But who cares? What remains is the music, the beautiful music that you and I can listen to every time.

They say Morrissey dedicated this song to Marr. All along the way, Morrissey could be the “boy with the thorn in his side.” He could be singing about himself.

Nevertheless, this is a love song. And it is pretty in my ears.

I’m alone
And I’m outside your house
I’d hate to intrude
Oh, I’m lone

Send me the pillow
The one that you dream on

I know she’s not really, but one day that will be the headline, and occassionally in mornings I wonder if I’m going to be faced with it.  This isn’t me saying I’m looking forward to that day (I wouldn’t wish death on anyone, much.  A certain Austrian with a basement springs to mind.), I’m just wondering about the day when it arrives, if I’m still alive myself of course.

In the UK the event will of course be a landmark media moment, as would be expected.  We’ve seen how the media dealt with the deaths of Princess Diana (struck with grief & guilt), and more recently Jade Goody (struck with guilt & expediancy).  The world’s media covered the events of September 11^th 2001 with its jaw on the floor in shock whilst rubber necking and celebrating in the horror.  Shocking events like September 11^th and the death of Diana catch the media off-guard, as they obviously aren’t things that can be planned for, but media coverage of the queen’s funeral is an event that has been planned behind the scenes for years.  (See this story about the plans for the queen’s funeral being stolen in 2004).

So it will be interesting to see how the media will deal with the death of the queen in this post-Diana/post Sept 11^th age of 24hr news coverage, and also, how the story will be covered abroad, especially in the commonwealth countries.  (The Zimbabwe press coverage would be an interesting read!)

In many ways it will be seen as a litmus test to how relevant the monarchy is to British identity and how seriously it’s seen across the world, and how viewed across the commonwealth.  No doubt the sympathy coming from all corners of the world will be overwhelming, but will any mass media outlets, especially in the UK, break from protocol and be radically critical about the future of the monarchy, outside of the expected ‘think pieces’ in the British broadsheets about the challenges ahead for the royal identity? 

Also keep your eyes open for any changes in the ‘national mood’, (if there is such a thing).  Will it become a more nationalistic time (even if just temporary around the week surrounding the state funeral)?  Will this period since her coronation in1953 become known as the Elizabeth era.  (Elizabethan sounds too ‘ye olde’, and it’s been done already!).  She may be represented as the silent woman in the corner, but she’s seen eleven and a half Prime Ministers come and go including Churchill, Thatcher and Blair (Brown is the half), the end of the Cold War, the transition from a physical to an economic colonisation of the African continent, and the global shift from national economies to a globalized free market system.   Prince Charles will have some large shoes to fill, if he decides to wear shoes at all.  He’s more of a sandals man. 

In all of this branding and re-branding of the sense of the ‘national mood’, of course the media will be playing the central role, arguably not only reflecting the mood, but also directing it. 

This will be an interesting time also for community media, particularly community radio, in reporting these events.  How much will community radio stations echo and rely on coverage from the mainstream, and how much will they generate themselves and present challenging ideas?

The tightrope that any critique will have to walk is that, for the majority of people living in the UK today she’s the only monarch any of us have ever experienced, and on the whole she mostly viewed as a harmless individual with not much actual political power.  What the reality is of that statement is of course up for much debate and research.  Left wing politics has been all but eradicated in England, and it will be interesting to see if the event is used as a clarion call to redefine the next incoming era, and what differing or similar roles the mainstream and community media platforms will play in those debates. 

A content analysis of mainstream and alternative media outputs during these events would be fascinating evidence of, in cultural terms, “how alternative are they actually?”

Anyone interested in joining me to set up this research project, let me know. Until then, long live the queen.

The final part of the Smiths and Morrissey countdown….:) (For some songs I would totally post videos like in the past but youtube isn’t helping me in that department)

7. Late Night Maudlin Street- Morrissey

Classic epic song from Morrissey debut “Viva Hate”….melancholy and heart wrenching. I think it made me cry the first time I heard.

6. Speedway- Morrissey

It was between this one and Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself? both from the majestic “Vauxhall and I” which means if you haven’t heard it…..go and find it and listen to it.

5. The Last of the International Playboys- Morrissey

Found in, possibly my favorite Moz cd, “Bona Drag” this song is just an amazing pop song with the clever and unique lyrics of Morrissey.

4. There’s A Light that Never Goes Out- The Smiths

Yess, I know!! It’s soo widely heard (and quoted) but that doesn’t take away from the amount of genius this song carries. Doesn’t matter how many times I hear it, it still sounds gorgeous. If I heard this song live, it wouldn’t take more than 5 minutes for me to be in a hysterical crying mess.

3. This Charming Man- The Smiths

Seriously one of the greatest songs ever!!! That guitar, that rhythm section and those vocals and lyrics….it just doesn’t get better than this. And that classic video and image of Morrissey with the gladioli. GENIUS!!!

2. I Know It’s Over- The Smiths

There’s no explanation needed for this song…just go listen to it. A masterpiece.

1. Suffer Little Children- The Smiths

The first song the Smiths wrote and to me one of the greatest and most powerful. Such a morbid and tragic matter but that it’s completely close to Morrissey’s heart and that it shows in the song.  Even though it’s a sad song it’s still has this beauty in the poetry of the lyrics and the flow of the music. The greatest.

I try to make this countdown a bit different and include well-known songs and rare ones. Hope you enjoyed it and comment if you want. Thanks.

_BILO_

And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her roman nose
And her hearing-aid started to melt

In Spanish, “Ritual De Lo Habitual” means the ritual of the habitual. Taking our daily lives and making them sacred, or taking our addictions and making ritual of them. It’s a high-minded mission, and it is for that reason worth celebrating. Most albums are content to share a good time (or a sad one) between the artists and the listeners, but some work to make the ordinary and the sordid to appear to us as truth and transcendence. –Justin Hall’s 1999 Nude As The News wrapup of the iconic 1990 Jane’s Addiction release, Ritual de lo Habitual

I’ve got a thing for discipline. I don’t like hearing about how Paul McCartney does not know how to write or read music. My head spins when I hear about people who learned to ride in a back yard on a green horse. My teeth grit when I read about painters who rocket to notoriety with artwork that has no foundation in the history of art. Without a foundation, art is cheap and one-dimensional. You cannot have subversive creativity without knowing what you’re subverting. One only gains artistic breadth and scope with an eye on every other artist who has tried before to express the very same concept, emotion, or theory.

Charles Pravata is our country’s best horse racing photographer under the age of 35. Imagine my horror when I found out that he’d only been shooting a year or so before his work started gracing Daily Racing Form covers and showing up in all of the most prestigious racing publications in the country. How did a person with no formal training and half a decade of practice become a highly-esteemed editorial photographer in the racing community and a big inspiration to my own development as a photographer?

A little more than three years ago, I remember wondering, “who IS this punk?” as I browsed through Pravata’s killer photos of Brother Derek on Flickr. I’ve been a racing fan since I was a little girl and I never saw his name before on photos credits in editions of Blood-Horse or Thoroughbred Times. At the time, I was looking to take a step into photography and was in the market for my very first SLR camera. I had sent out several emails to people who shot equine sports asking for help selecting a camera and a lens. Of the dozens of emails I sent, only a handful wrote back: Charles was one of them (Bud Morton was another). He was not the typical condescending, mystical, tight-lipped shooter- he was happy to share details about lenses and cameras and answer any questions I had.

I met Charles the following year and we got to spend some quality time in my home state, standing on ladders in torrential downpours on the inside rail at Monmouth Park for the 2007 Breeders’ Cup. Photographers all around us complained about the weather and groused about water in their cameras, but Charles enjoyed the mud and the grit- you can almost taste the sloppy track in his photo of Curlin winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It was a far cry from the arid air and synthetic racing surfaces of his home state of California, where the Breeders’ Cup was held the following year.

When I went out to Santa Anita for the 2008 Breeders’ Cup, I learned first-hand just how challenging the light can be, with the harsh sunlight and the off-kilter grandstand angle. But when you look at Charles’ work, the shadows and angles are incorporated handily into excellent images. He is a master of harnessing light and using it to his advantage:

Santa Teresita, by Charles Pravata

Colonel John, by Charles Pravata

But mastery of light is not the only ingredient in his images. Through his lifelong love of racing, he manages to capture the essence of the track and distill it into his photos:

Storm at Santa Anita, by Charles Pravata

Santa Anita, by Charles Pravata

Del Mar Start

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and now residing in California, Charles knows the best and worst of both coasts of racing. Talk to Charles and you’ll learn a lot about the sport- look at his photos and you’ll learn even more. From a deeper place still come the most creative and evocative photos of his collection, from his artistic statements about the sport to his creative treatment of the warrior Curlin and American girl, Zenyatta. I so dig the surreal and illustrative treatment of his favorite horses.

Zenyatta, by Pravata

And sometimes Rock and Racehorses gets way out-rocked!

Andy Summers, by Charles Pravata

Perry Farrell, by Charles Pravata

Discipline is needed to shape an artist. But perhaps my definition of discipline is a little short-sighted. Perhaps art school is not the only place to learn the laws of composition and exposure and to study the greats who have come before us. Maybe the hot California sun is the spotlight on the studio of Santa Anita. And maybe the work of the Old Masters surrounds us at the racetrack, hangs on the walls in the racing museums, and lives on the pages of our epistles, the racing trade publications. No matter how I attempt to define it, Pravata has made a holy ritual of our habitual. Truth and transcendence.

What does Charles Pravata rock out to on his way to the track? Here’s his list of the Top Ten Albums of All Time:

1. Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual - “Stop”, “Then She Did”, “Three Days”, “Ain’t No Right”, “Of Course”, etc. “Three Days” is one of the greatest rock anthems of all time. Stranded on an island, this is the one album I want with me. The one TV show would be The Honeymooners, but that’s another list.

One of the funniest things about Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction’s much-ballyhooed 1988 release, was how it skewed the conventions of L.A. Sunset Strip metal, managing to be distinctively perverse in a world already saturated with bad taste and bacchanalia. At times the music was glorious, playful psychedelic metal, as Perry Farrell’s avant-gypsy garb, weird eye makeup and prepubescent voice plugged you into the visionary amorality of children. With its trippy nature imagery and porno bent, Nothing’s Shocking struck the gong.

Ritual de lo Habitual finds Jane’s Addiction thin and wandering, blowing ploys that worked before – overdubs and echoes, loose jamming, Farrell’s playground melodies. Split into a hard-rockin’ side and a prog-rock side, the album doesn’t cohere – whatever the band members have been doing for the last two years, they haven’t been practicing much. –Erik Davis’ 1990 Rolling Stone review of the iconic 1990 Jane’s Addiction release, Ritual de lo Habitual

Life imitating art: Charles Pravata (center) costumed as Perry Farrell

2. The Police- Regatta De Blanc - Every album they recorded was great, as evidenced by the present day Karma of the great filly Zenyatta.

3. The Clash – Story of The Clash Volume 1 - One of the most dynamic bands of all time, and this compilation is evidence of that.

4. The Ramones- Ramones Mania – Another compilation; call me a cheater. The guitar player steals the lead singer’s girlfriend, marries her, and the band stays together. That’s true punk…. and Joey Ramone is the epitome of style.

5. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin - Even though they robbed most of the songs on this album and took credit for writing them (I can replace this album with any other Zeppelin album).

6. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon - Many adventures to the Hayden Planetarium for this album’s laser show between the ages of 11 and 21. Was fortunate enough to see Roger Waters perform the entire album live a few years ago. Epic.

7. The Smiths – The Best of the Smiths 1 & 2 - Listened to these albums, and The Queen is Dead on my drives down to Del Mar last summer; hurled me into a depression that I just recently started to come out of. It’s all about impact, good or bad.

8. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced – Inspired a lot of people to take acid (so did #6 on my list).

9. Metallica – Master of Puppets - This used to be a great band.

10. Tool- Undertow - One of the few honest bands left in modern music.

Charles Pravata at the Kentucky Derby

Continuing my collection of Top Ten lists from my favorite photographers, writers, musicians, and athletes in the world of rock and racehorses. Also check out the Top Ten lists of jockey Joe Talamo, Barbara Livingston, Bill Finley, Bud Morton, Jonathan Andrew, Kevin Martin, Holly Van Voast, and Jon Forbes.

Well this week I spent a bit of time in Manchester and I finally made it to Salford Lads Club. For years Smiths fans have travelled there to recreate the famous photo and now I have too. Sadly they wouldn’t let us into the building (something to do with some anti-kiddie fiddling law-though I hasten to add I’m not on a sex offender’s list!) but it didn’t matter as it’s what’s on the outside that counts.

A panel of ‘experts’ including Boy George, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper and Darren Hayes amongst a list of others recently voted in Out.com’s Top 100 ‘gayest albums of all time’ I’m quite bemused by that but let’s go with it.

Coming in at number #1? David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. An interesting choice. I remember reading an article on Bowie which had a few quotes about his sexual orientation back then. He’s apparently since made comment’s saying he regrets his earlier sentiments. Think of that what you will I guess. The article does some it up pretty well though;

It’s ironic that an album with an opener forecasting Earth’s expiration and a closer tackling celebrity excess and self-destruction remains one of the most liberating, uplifting records of all time — about as ironic as a straight man topping this list. Robust, swaggering anthems “Ziggy Stardust” and “Suffragette City” prove this space odyssey is far from morbid or apocalyptic, yet it is on standouts like the languid, gender-flirting “Lady Stardust” and brash come-on “Moonage Daydream” — in which the singer asks for a raygun to be placed to his head with almost masochistic sexual glee — that Ziggy and his Spiders really shine. When in the grand finale, “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide,” Bowie wails “Oh no love! You’re not alone!” over a sea of theatrical strings, you know he was singing for every exiled, dejected, sexually confused young kid who longed for a world of greater possibilities.

Other notables? Coming in at #2 was The Smiths – (self titled) And again in at #6 with The Queen Is Dead. The Velvet Underground & Nico came in at #12 whilst Lou Reed – Transformer was #17.

So what exactly is implied if you happen to own all of those aforementioned great albums? haha.

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people
And I want to see lights
Driving in your car
Oh please, don’t drop me home
Because it’s not my home, it’s their home
And I’m welcome no more

With a fabric of a tutu
Any man could get used to
And I am the living sign

I had originally had a post just about Zeigeist’s new ep Neverending Love which was coming out on the 18th of Feb but alas I saw a bulletin that changed things.  They have pushed up the release of the ep to the 5th of Feb since they are calling it a day.  So as they say the queen is dead but if you want to head over to Klicktrack you can hear the tunes from their ep.

Via bulletin:

The Queen is dead

During the past years, we have put more and more love into Zeigeist, fed her like the Queen she have been. At the end of the day, she has demanded all love within us. We have our personal reasons to kill her.

The release of our next single/EP, “The Neverending Love”, a cover of Roxette’s first single, our first cover, will be moved to tomorrow (5th Feb.). The EP also contents “Chasing your shadow all around the world” and a remix of “Humanitarianism” by The Twelves. With this EP, we call it a day. This is the end of Zeigeist. The Queen is dead.

So we raise our glasses, make a toast, a toast in your honor, and tell you this: The search continues. We’re going to find out about the Never. Ending. Love.

With thanks to all our fans

Zeigeist

How can they see the Love in our eyes
And still they don’t believe us?

“The boy with the thorn in his side 
Behind the hatred there lies 
A murderous desire for love 
How can they look into my eyes 
And still they don’t believe me ? 
How can they hear me say those words 

Still they don’t believe me ?”

Confession time. 

Today’s classics post is all about my favourite band. Ever. If you know me personally or more importantly if you don’t, you won’t go very far without my making reference to this band every chance I get. In fact, I already did in the Courteeners post a few days ago. If you somehow missed that then look at the video above and it’s all you need to know about the band and, to a large extent, yours truly. The song The Boy With The Thorn In His Side taken from the record The Queen Is Dead and the band is The Smiths. 

The pride of Manchester. A band whom many, including the great Tony Wilson (RIP), felt were responsible for the survival of the UK indie music industry. A band whom esteemed journalist  Nick Kent compared favourably to the Beatles in regards to their potential lasting impact. They were also a band that featured the greatest lead guitarist of the time and most notably, the great rock icon we’ll know.  I could go on but…I don’t want you to move on to another blog. 

Look. The Smiths aren’t some obscure band you’ve never heard of. If you call yourself a lover of 80s music, English music, new wave, post-punk or at least somewhat tuned in to the sounds of the new new wave or ugh…Emo then by hook or by crook, the name has smacked you in the face at least once or twice.  To me, they were the important band to come along in the last thirty years. Not Nirvana (UGH), and not U2 (GAWD!) and it’s not Radiohead (although I’d be willing to listen to arguments), it’s the Smiths. What made the band so good and so timeless was that fact they were the epitome of a “square peg” when you consider the time in which they came. The early 80s. You had all the new-fangled electronic pop bands around in OMD, The League, Heaven 17, Depeche Mode, Associates… You had the New Romantic craze in ABC, Ultravox, etc… Rock music, outside of the Jam was lacking to a certain extent. The Smiths were created out of a need to look back instead of ahead. Returning to the era of three minute singles that hit you quick but were stuck in your head. The ideal of four lads against the world, saving it one song at a time. 

“I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I crashed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder
Who said lied Id to her ?”

Alas, like all great things, the Smiths did come to a crashing end. What did them in? Something as pithy, miniscule but eternally damning as intra-band squabbling. With a major label contract with Warners in hand, the fallout of a bitter divorce from their label, Rough Trade and wondering where to go next after carrying the indie scene on your back for the better part of five years, It’s safe to say very few bands could survive the latter two and the pressure that comes with the former. The rest as they say is history but the music will never be. They were the Smiths and they still very much matter.  After all, without them we wouldn’t have been graced with the music of a couple of influential bands in their own right….

Another personal favourite. 

Ugh. Couldn’t go home for Christmas this year (nice reasons). Feeling kind of homesick. Let’s fix that with a bumper holiday pack of YouTube goodness from the Smiths, Massive Attack, the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
Videos after the jump.
Even before Yemon suggested it the Smiths were an obvious choice. I’ve chosen “The Queen
is Dead” both for the bone-headedly literal reason of the music-hall opening (Take me back to dear old Blighty…”) and because it’s bloody fantastic classic Smiths: sad and funny thanks to Moz and sonically full of win thanks to Johnny

Honestly I wanted to pick a less obviously Massive Attack number but while they have loads of great songs none are as good as Unfinished Sympathy. Actually none of anyone’s song are (this opinion may vary according to mood).

But HA! I haven’t done the obvious thing with the rest. You thought it would be Fairytale of New York, didn’t you? Admit it! I have the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl separately.

OK, just in case anyone wants to get up in my face about the Pogues going in a “British” post, note that they are/were London based, most of them are English born (some with no Irish background) and that the song is “Rainy Night in Soho”.

If the universe were an intrinsically fair place, Kirsty MacColl would be thought of as an equal of the Pogues and the Smiths and Billy Bragg. Because the universe is utterly indifferent to human notions of justice she is remembered as someone who worked with those acts. Sadly YouTube didn’t have her singing my first choice “Fifteen minutes” so here is the also fantastic “Free World”. It has more Johnny Marr jangle as a bonus.

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people, all those lives
Where are they now?
With loves and hates
And passions just like mine
They were born
And then they lived
And then they died
Seems so unfair

It’s so easy to laugh
It’s so easy to hate
It takes guts to be gentle and kind
Love is Natural and Real