Mickey Flanagan delivered a priceless monologue on Mock the Week some years ago, about fashion. There’s a line about “you always go back to Marks'” which stayed in my mind. Not because I have returned to that well-known high street retailer for fashion, we occasionally use their local food outlet which is a little insight into our shopping habits that you probably didn’t need.
The basic premise of returning to former pleasures is the same with music. I’ve got back into vinyl, like many others, after many years away. Before you become excited or concerned, I’m not here to talk about what type of stylus or whether your sub-woofer or upper-tweeter is best. Don’t engage in the perfect bass level; I’m more likely to turn the volume up to eleven than fiddle with other settings. That’s just the way I roll.
I do have a confession to make, though. It’s an open relationship, or more accurately, it’s an open relationship on my part. Not in the vinyl’s case, no; I’ve never been good with sharing records. In the old days, they all knew I was a bit precious about it all.
Not much. If someone asked to borrow a record, I’d tape it for them and then take it to school or work the following day. Fortunately, Pops was – and still is – more generous. Records from his collection regularly found their way from his shelves to my turntable. I was fortunate that his taste in music was 60s soul: northern, Tamla, Stax, anything and everything from the popular to the obscure.
The availability of music electronically, be it streamed or mp3 or whatever, changed the relationship between listener and record labels. I’m like everyone, streaming makes things easier; it changed the blog I had in mind. Originally, I was going to put a Bandcamp player rather than Spotify but apparently the ‘Jukebox’ element doesn’t work from the Bandcamp app: it’s one band or nothing.
Which, I have to say, is a genuine shame. There is some wonderful music on Bandcamp; it’s a fabulous platform for music lovers. The search facility is outstanding, and you can meander through a genre at will. Many evenings have been lost in the site, drifting from one band to another. Not all of its good; some of it is not to my taste all, but that’s not the point; you click and follow, discovering new bands.
And that takes me back to my youth. Digging through crates of records in shops, chatting to the staff, finding out about bands through word of mouth. Bandcamp is the 21st Century version of that.
New suggestions of bands are always welcome BTW.
Anyhow, today we trip back to 1988. This week’s playlist is ‘Two-bit Visionary’ which seems wholly appropriate on so many levels. If the player below doesn’t open, click here to listen in your browser.
| Artist | Title |
| The Prisoners | Joe 90 Theme |
| Siouxsie and the Banshees | El Dia De Los Muertos |
| Pixies | Gigantic |
| Wire | Kidney Bingos |
| New Order | Fine Time |
| Happy Mondays | Wrote For Luck |
| Big Audio Dynamite | Esquerita |
| U2, ft. B.B. King | When Love Comes To Town |
| Steve Earle | Copperhead Road |
| Big Country | Thousand Yard Stare |
| Talking Heads | Blind |
| The Wedding Present | Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now ? |
| The Darling Buds | Hit The Ground |
| Throwing Muses | Mexican Women |
| The Fall | Jerusalem |
| Billy Bragg | Little Time Bomb |
| The Smithereens | House We Used To Live In |
| Pixies | River Euphrates |
| R.E.M. | World Leader Pretend |
| The Prisoners | Hush |
| Happy Mondays | Brain Dead |
| Voice Of The Beehive | Don’t Call Me Baby |
| The Wedding Present | Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm |
| The Icicle Works | Starry Blue-Eyed Wonder |
| The Style Council | Changing Of The Guard |
| Marc Almond | Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart |
| Billy Bragg | Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards |
| Steve Earle | Johnny Come Lately |
| The Pogues | Sketches Of Spain |
| 10,000 Maniacs | What’s The Matter Here? |
| The Larks U.K. | Charlie |
| U2 | Angel Of Harlem |
| A Guy Called Gerald | Voodoo Ray |
| Was (Not Was) | Out Come The Freaks (Again) |
| Fine Young Cannibals | Good Thing |
| Roachford | Cuddly Toy |
| Voice Of The Beehive | I Walk The Earth |
| Talking Heads | Mr Jones |
| R.E.M. | Pop Song 89 – Remastered |
| The Primitives | Crash |
| Sandie Shaw & The Smiths | Hand In Glove |
| The Parachute Men | If I Could Wear Your Jacket…? |
| Throwing Muses | Juno |
| Inspiral Carpets | Theme from Cow |
| McCarthy | Should the Bible Be Banned |
| Public Enemy | Night Of The Living Baseheads |
| Happy Mondays | Lazyitis |
| The Fall | There’s a Ghost in My House |
| Brian Wilson | Love And Mercy |
| James Taylor Quartet | Theme From Starsky & Hutch |
Dad's Jukebox 