Playlist: February 2010

1. 'Sweet Gene Vincent' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads

My co-host Rachel McCarthy dared call the music and lyrics of the great Ian Dury 'trite' in our pre-show discussion. In revenge, I'm reproducing the lyric to the song we kicked off with so you can sing along...

blue gene baby

skinny white sailor, the chances were slender
the beauties were brief
shall I mourn you decline with some thunderbird wine
and a black hankercheif?
I miss your sad Virginia whisper
I miss the voice that called my heart

sweet gene vincent
young and old and gone
sweet gene vincent

who, who, who slapped john?

white face, black shirt
white socks, black shoes
black hair, white strat
bled white, died black

sweet gene vincent
let the blue roll tonight
at the sock hop ball in the union hall
where the bop is their delight

here come duck-tailed Danny dragging Uncanny Annie
she's the one with the flying feet
you can break the peace daddy sickle grease
the beat is reet complete
and you jump back honey in the dungerees
tight sweater and a pony tail
will you guess her age when she comes back stage?
the hoodlems bite thier nails

black gloves, white frost
black crepe, white lead
white sheet, black knight
jet black, dead white

sweet gene vincent
there's one in every town
and the devil drives 'til the hearse arrives
and you lay that pistol down

sweet gene vincent
there's nowhere left to hide
with lazy skin and ash-tray eyes
a perforated pride

so farewell mademoiselle, knicker-bocker hotel
farewell to money owed
but when your leg still hurts and you need more shirts
you got to get back on the road 

2. 'Jokerman' by Bob Dylan

If I get Bob in early, I don't forget... Long enough to go get our guest Kenny Knight, get him down to the studio and let him get his feet under the desk. 'Jokerman' features a crack studio band that included a rhythm section of Sly and Robbie and both Mick Taylor and Mark Knopfler on lead guitars. The song is also one of Dylan's most enigmatic lyrics.

3. 'Growin' Up' by Bruce Springsteen

We went with Springsteen's acoustic demo rather than the E-Street Band version on 'Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ' and this video captures Bruce solo at Max's Kansas City, NY in 1972.

4. 'Seven Mile Island' by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

And there was me expecting Telstar and The Shadows... Kenny had the good grace to choose contemporary music that fitted The Blah Blah Blah Show's music policy nicely. The "400 Unit" was the former colloquial name of the psychiatric ward of Florence, Alabama's Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital, which is now named the Behavioral Health Center, or One North, and is located on the hospital's first floor. Maybe you know it?

5. 'Bayou Tortous' by James McMurty

More Americana from our guest... Anyone would think Kenny came from Austin, Texas not Honicknowle, Plymouth the selection he went for. McMurty's not much of a looker so you get to see a young woman doing the hula-hoop to his music instead.

6. 'Sounds Better in the Song' by Drive By Truckers

Jason Isbell's former band, this is alt-country a Texan would be proud to doff his ten gallon stetson to.  Other members include Patterson Hood, Mick Cooley, Shonna Tucker and Jay Gonzalez - they have better names in American rock bands, don't you think?

7. 'Further on up the Road' by Bruce Springsteen

The best song off The Rising - Springsteen's post 9/11 album - this is the kind of music Bruce was born to make - anthemic rock'n'roll with heart, brains and soul. Johnny Cash recorded it on American V. 'Nuff said.

8. 'Lady Day and John Coltrane' by Gil Scot Heron

New York funky-soul-jazz-blues-beat-poetry to celebrate the great Gil Scot Heron's first album in fifteen years -  'I'm New Here'. Phonic DJs doesn't get pre-release copies or payola of any kind so you got to hear this classic instead. Great vibes, great vibes playing.

9. 'Karmacoma' by Massive Attack

If all rap was done in West Country accents, hip-hop would never leave my turntable... Another artist with a new album out the day after the show; another masterclass in marrying lyric and beat; the video version is taken from a Jools Holland Show and trades the deep bass of the recording for Talvin Singh's tabla playing.

10. 'Black Rider' by Tom Waits

With words by William S. Burroughs - you can hear him barking as the track fades -  this 1993 album's songs were written for a 1990 theatrical production of the same name, finally premiered in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival in 1998. 

11. 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads

To celebrate our review of the movie of the same name and The Blockheads March 6th appearance at our Phoenix base in Exeter we play two tracks by a single artists twice in one show just because we can... Weren't Norman Watt-Ray and Charley Charles an awesome rhythm section? Ian Dury is the only actor to have made films with both Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. Like Bob, he also recorded and toured with Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar. Sweet!

12. 'Helpless' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Recorded at the same session as the album 'More Pricks than Kicks', this Neil Young song was released on 'The Bridge', a 1989 various artists tribute to its writer to raise money for The Bridge School for autistic children which also benefits from an annual fundraiser organised by the man and his wife. I still treasure this album on cassette but you can find it on CD and it's well worth tracking down:

1. Barstool Blues - Soul Asylum

2. Don't Let It Bring You Down - Victoria Williams

3. After the Gold Rush - Flaming Lips

4. Captain Kennedy - Nikki Sudden

5. Cinnamon Girl - Loop

6. Helpless - Nick Cave

7. Mr. Soul - Bongwater

8. Winterlong - Pixies

9. Computer Age - Sonic Youth

10. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Psychic TV

11. Lotta Love - Dinosaur Jr.

12. Needle and the Damage Done/Tonight's the Night - Henry Kaiser

13. Out of the Blue - B.A.L.L.

14. Words - Henry Kaiser

Playlist: December 2009

I don't recall all that Rachel McCarthy - my co-presenter - and our guest - Emma Bishop of The Paragon Gallery, Gandy Street, Exeter - played on the show, but these are the tracks I chose and reasons why:

1. 'Must Be Santa' by Bob Dylan from 'Christmas In The Heart'

I'm still coming to terms with the concept of a Bob Dylan Christmas Album, let alone its execution, but this seasonal polka, driven by the accordion of David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, is my highlight. Check out youtube for the video featuring a good-time-was-had-by-all house party with our beloved grouch in a blonde wig and eccentric selection of hats dancing the night away while reeling off a list of American Presidents in place of a roll call of Santa's reindeer. What's not to like?

2. 'For Emma' by 'Bon Iver' off 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

I'm introducing all of our guests with an apt tune, whether they realise it or not. Legend has it Bon - Justin to his mum - recorded this in his Dad's log cabin, living off roots, berries and cuts of moose meat. True or not, the record has backwoods atmosphere and a lovelorn lilt that plaid shirt boys and buckskin girls love. I saw him at 'The End of the Road' festival in 2008 and he was still coming to terms with an audience that knew every word.

3. 'Rise' by Public Image Limited off 'Album'

PiL are back on the road; whether their latest incarnation is to my liking I'm as yet unsure; Johnny can still do his cockney Richard III Act for the Sex Pistols Reunion tours but whether his Country Life Butter persona can handle the emotion of his post-punk incarnation is yet to be seen; his appearance on 'The Culture Show' left me unconvinced. This was arguably his last great moment, although 'Open Up', his collaboration with Leftfield, still gets me on my feet.

4. 'Wolf Kidult Man' by The Fall from 'Imperial Wax Solvent'

The Fall played The Phoenix, home of Phonic FM, last month and I'm still recovering from the after show party, an intimate soirée Chez Smith and Poulou in the company of Anthony Frost, cover artist and future guest on The Blah Blah Blah Show.

5. 'I Don't Wanna Be Nice' by John Cooper Clarke off 'The Very Best Of'

To celebrate our induction of JCC into The Undead Poets Society, we span this platter. More on him elsewhere in the blog.

6. 'Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds from 'And No More Shall We Part'

'Dark, funny and yet strangely moving' is my modus operandi for writing poetry and this track comes out of the same box.

7. 'What's He Building In There' by Tom Waits off 'Mule Variations'

Never seen Tom Waits live, never likely to given he plays rarely and sells out in thirty seconds but he has a live album out from his 'Glitter and Doom' tour featuring a bonus disc of his between song spoken word shaggy dog stories. This isn't one of those, but it's the closest he gets to a poem, albeit with musical backing.

8. 'The Outdoor Type' by The Lemonheads from 'The Very Best Of'

I saw Evan Dando at The Port Eliot Festival this year. He's the kind of guy posh girls want to mother. Proof was in the front row, offering him their world. Apparently he's married an heiress, so has a world of his own. I also saw him bottled off the Acoustic Stage of the Glastonbury Festival in 1995. Portishead were on after and they were late. Great song for a campfire and easier to strum than a Portishead tune.

Playlist: November 2009

My memories of the November Show are already hazy and our audio recording is sans music - for copyright reasons you understand - but these are some of the tracks we played:

1. 'When the Man Comes Around' by Johnny Cash off 'American IV: The Man Comes Around'

What better way to kick off than with Johnny Cash singing his last great composition. The chugga-lugga rhythm of his early work on Sun records and Colombia isn't for everyone - it is for me - but few discerning ears can resist the five albums - and one boxed set, 'Unearthed' - he made with Rick Rubin and released on American Recordings.

2. 'The Man With the Child in His Eyes' by Kate Bush off 'The Kick Inside'

Maybe not the most apt way to introduce a school teacher, but even Phil Bowen knows this is a great Sunday morning record. Kate Bush was in her early teens when she wrote it. Most artists spend a career never getting close.

3. 'Wonderful Land' by The Shadows off just about any Shadows compilation you care to name.

Phil still hasn't forgiven Rachel for playing 'FBI' instead. And I haven't forgiven Phil for insisting we play this as well, two Hank Marvin instrumentals on one show...

4. 'She Loves You' by The Beatles - their second single

'Please Please Me' came first but this was their first number one, their best seller to this day, and the record with which they conqueured the UK, America and the world. Phil Bowen comes from Liverpool too, you know.

5. 'I Want You' by Bob Dylan off 'Blonde on Blonde'

One of Bob's more melodious and romantic numbers off possibly the greatest album of all time, purportedly written about Anita Pallenburg, then girlfriend of Brian Jones, one time member of The Rolling Stones and wearer of Chinese suits.

6. 'Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen off 'Songs of Leonard Cohen'

Rare proof that a good poem can become a great song, 'Suzanne Takes You Down' was first published in 'Parasites of Heaven' then recorded by Judy Collins who introduced a nervous Leonard Cohen to the world of music. Mr Cohen is 75 and back on the road.

7. 'Downtown Train' by Tom Waits off 'Rain Dogs'

Still probably Tom Waits most recognisable - and most covered - song, Phil used this as an excuse to reminisce about his publican years, sharing early morning snifters with Keith Floyd in Clifton, Bristol.

8. 'I'll Give You Anything But Love' by Ella Fitzgerald

Phil Bowen's play 'Anything But Love' - a fictitious meeting between Dorothy Parker and Dorothy Fields - was opening at The New End Theatre, Hampstead the Sunday we interviewed him. Ella turns this Dorothy Fields lyric into a slow burning smooch.

9. 'Human Nature' by Miles Davis off 'You're Under Arrest'

Some find the Miles' late work a little too close to elevator music for their liking - we had complaints that said as much - but whatever you think of the eighties synthesized setting, the trumpet playing on this John Bettis/Steve Porcaro written number locks into the melody and never lets it go.

10. 'Human Nature' by Michael Jackson off 'Thriller'

And the complaints continued as we segued into The King of Pop's take on the song which we used to introduce my review of 'Michael Jackson's This Is It'. Not that we cared. The sweet Jacko vocal and limbic Quincy Jones production still move the eighties child inside the noughties man. They use a Michael Jackson CD as a doorstop in the Phonic FM studio, you know.

11. 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads off 'Stop Making Sense'

The link was corny - leading into my 'Maestros of the Movies: Alfred Hitchcock' feature - but there's nothing corny about the music, off one of the greatest concert films and live albums ever released.