26×26 – O is for Orange Juice

Today’s album is You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever by Orange Juice

One of my favourites for you today. You may have heard of Orange Juice, one-hit-wonders with ‘Rip It Up’ in 1983. Well, this band is quite a bit more more than a one-hit-wonder – in fact, their role in the history of British pop music is hugely significant.

Orange Juice were signed to the legendary Postcard Records of Scotland, alongside Aztec Camera, Josef K and The Go-Betweens. They released several singles on Postcard – ‘Falling and Laughing’, Blue Boy and a couple of others (highly collectible these days, as are all the Postcard records). The singles achieved very modest success, but they are still cited as hugely important records in the ‘Indie’ scene to this day.

Their debut single ‘Falling and Laughing’ is credited as being the first ‘indie pop’ record, a couple of years before Rough Trade and The Smiths came along.

Indie Pop is best described as a mixture of jangly guitars with fey and whimsical lyrics and melodies, performed by ‘geeky’ guys, and guitars! Edwyn Collins and OJ captured this perfectly (OK, not quite as geeky as Morrisey!).

You could say they were one of the first Indie bands (alongside Aztec Camera et al).

This is the debut album from the band, released in 1982 on Polydor (after the demise of Postcard). The opening track, the aforementioned  ’Falling and Laughing’ was released as a single.

The album is a beautiful collection of sensitive pop,  with the jangliness of The Byrds,  Nile Rodgers-style rhythm guitar chops, and some deeply soulful stuff (heck, there’s even a cover on Al Green’s L.O.V.E Love on here!).  Edwyn’s vocals aren’t exactly technically perfect, but it works – perfectly right for the music and the times. The rhythm section are funky and the guitar playing is somehow very naive, yet innovative.

Other great moments on the album are ‘Wan Light, ‘Dying Day’, ‘Consolation Prize’, ‘Intuition Told Me’ and ‘Felicity’ .

Edwyn eventually went on to have a very successful solo career, as I have already written about.

I urge you to have a listen to this album. It was a big influence on the likes of Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and many others. A little piece of music history.

Standout track: Falling and Laughing

Other ‘O’s who didn’t quite make it: Oasis

26×26 – N is for Nick Drake

Today’s album is Bryter Later by Nick Drake

Well, it’s all gone a bit ‘Folk’ eh? Not really. You think of Nick Drake and immediately you think of a shy, tortured soul with an acoustic guitar singing shy, tortured ‘folk’ songs. That’s a fair assumption to make (especially if you are only aware of his first album ‘Five Leaves Left’), but it’s not all like that.

I’ve chosen to write about the 1970 album ‘Bryter Later’ (the second of Drake’s three albums) as I simply find it the most enjoyable, and easiest to listen to.

The album is quite a departure from the first album, a far less sombre affair, this album features drums, strings and horns alongside Drake’s formidable and legendary guitar playing. There’s elements of jazz, soul and pop, as well as the expected folk\blues.

The album begins with an instrumental track, Drake’s fingerpicked guitar overlaid with a quite beautiful strings part.

Then things get going with Hazey Jane 11 – a wonderfully melodic piece with drums, strings, horns and a great vocal.

The album’s title track, a three-and-a-half minute instrumental is like a walk in the woods in the summer! It sounds very 70′s, but somehow not at all dated. Timeless you could say.

My favourite track on the album is ‘Poor Boy’, it’s got folk, blues, jazz and soul  - all six-minutes of it!

Much has been written of Drake’s life and premature death, so I don’t think I need to. Just enjoy the music he left behind, which sadly is far more appreciated now than it ever was when he was alive.

Standout track: Poor Boy

Other ‘N’s who didn’t quite make it: Nirvana

26×26 – M is for Martha Tilston

Today’s album is Bimbling by Martha Tilston

Something a bit different for you today. All my 26×26 entries so far have been pretty mainstream, artists you will have heard of. I’m guessing you probably haven’t heard of Martha Tilston.

She is the daughter of Folk singer\songwriter Steve Tilston, and was nominated for Best Newcomer in the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

I first encountered Martha Tilston when she was part of a two-piece outfit called Mouse. I saw them supporting Roddy Frame and really liked their stuff, so I bought the album. It’s not often you buy a support band’s album, so this was a good sign!

I enjoyed the Mouse album for a few years but never heard much more about them. Then I went to see Roddy Frame again at Ronnie Scott’s and there was a solo female folk singer as support. I recongised her from somewhere, but couldn’t rememebr where. It was only after the gig and doing some research I discovered she was the girl from Mouse. I bought her solo album ‘Bimbling’ .

I’ve since seen Martha supporting Roddy a few times, although have to admit I haven’t been to any of her solo gigs – yet.

This is – in a word, folk music. OK, don’t switch off – this is the acceptable face of folk music! Beautiful songs, nicely played (all acoustic of course), and Martha has an absolutely beautiful voice.  There are some very evocative lyrics, talking about love and life (and Little Red Riding Hood!).

The subsequent album, Ropeswing, was available as a free download (not sure if it still is, Google it). A great follow-up.

Do try to give this a listen if you can. I suggest you get your headphones on, get a cold drink and go lie in the sun while listening. It will make you happy!

Standout track: Firefly (or Space, can’t decide).

Other ‘M’s who didn’t quite make it: Mark Ronson, The Magic Numbers, MGMT,  Michael Jackson, Morrissey and Muse

26×26 – L is for The Libertines

Today’s album is Up The Bracket by The Libertines

Here we have one of the finest albums of the noughties, by one of the finest bands of the noughties.

Produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones, this is a rollercoaster ride of good old-fashioned sleazy punk rock, carrying Doherty’s amazing lyrics – if The Smiths and the Sex Pistols had a love child, this is what it would sound like!

The opening track ‘Vertigo’ is just what an opening track should be, it sets the scene for the rest of the album. We are treated to some truly great songs, the best of the bunch being ‘I Get Along’, ‘Boys In The Band, ‘Up The Bracket’, and the stunning ‘Time For Heroes’ (this is on my ‘favourite songs of all time’ list).

There is not one second of wasted space on this album – all killers and no fillers!

The band’s self-titled follow-up album is of equal quality, and I listened to both albums twice trying to decide which one to write about. I chose Up The Bracket because it has ‘Time For Heroes’, but the second album has ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ – see what I mean? tough choice. That means you need to buy both of them!

The band didn’t really last too long, they  fell apart in a well-documented way, which I won’t bother going into.

They have reformed and are scheduled to play at Reading\Leeds 2010. We’ll see what happens…

Essential listening.

Standout track: Time For Heroes

Other ‘L’s who didn’t quite make it: Lou Reed, The Lemonheads, Love, Led Zeppelin, Lily Allen, Lady Gaga (!)

26×26 – K is for The Kills

Today’s album is Midnight Boom by The Kills

Maybe not an obvious choice today, as there are a lot of great albums around by ‘K’ artists, but I’ve been listening to this album a lot, and I think it’s a belter. So here goes..

I don’tknow an awful lot about The Kills, this album was recommeded by a friend and I gave it a go, I liked it instantly. The Kills are a two piece outfit, Jamie Hince (Kate Moss’ current squeeze if you’re interested), and Alison Mosshart (she has worked with Jack White in The Dead Weather.)

To describe the music – you all know the White Stripes and the Ting Tings, that’s the sort of thing we have here, one girl, one guy – but we basically just have a drum machine, a guitar and a singer. Vocal duties are shared between the two, and they manage to work some nice boy\girl vocal exchanges into the mix.

Midnight Boom is the band’s third album, I can’t tell you much about the first two albums, because I haven’t heard them (yet!).

The songs are all pretty strong in the hook, melody and lyrical sense, which is essential to make a project like this work, as the production is very sparse at times. For me that is a good thing – just a drum machine, some bass loops and electric guitar are all you need with songs like these.

If you’re anything like me, you can make your mind up about a band by hearing just two or three tracks. That’s what happened to me with this album- the first track ‘U R A Fever’ gripped me instantly, we then go straight into the wonderful ‘Cheap and Cheerful’.

OK, two outstanding opening tracks, it will tail off now. Nope, the good stuff keeps on coming! Other favourites tracks include ‘Last Day Of Magic’ and ‘Black Balloon’.

Do listen to this album, you will like.

Standout Track: Cheap and Cheerful

Other ‘K’ artists who didn’t quite make it: KT Tunstall, Kasabian, Kate Nash, Kings Of Leon, The Kooks.

26×26 – J is for Jesus And Mary Chain

Today’s album is Honey’s Dead by The Jesus And Mary Chain

OK, so THE classic Jesus And Mary Chain album is Psychocandy, and that’s the one I should be writing about, but I like this one better. So there.

The title of the album is a reference to ‘Just Like Honey’, one of the band’s early singles from Psychocandy – hinting on the band’s departure from their old material, and the birth of a new direction.

Indeed this album is a departure from the early JAMC, more mature and melodic – even a few radio-friendly singles are included.

The first single ‘Reverence’ was banned by the BBC and in the US to to it’s lyrical content “I wanna die just like Jesus Christ – I wanna die just like JFK”.  A sure-fire way to upset The Man!

There’s more controversy with ‘Teenage Lust’, a tale of underage sex.

It would be easy to dismiss this album as just ‘Jesus And Mary Chain Light’, but there is plenty of  snarl and swagger to be found (‘Reverence’, ‘Sugar Ray’). I would say the better tracks on here are the slightly more reserved ones (‘Far Gone And Out’, ‘Almost Gold’)  - there’s some really good songs, tuneful and melodic – as far as these guys ever got to ‘Easy Listening’!

The next proper studio album from the band was the equally good ‘Stoned And Dethroned’, which featured the amazing single ‘Sometimes, Always’, a duet with Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star.

Try this album, it’s good.

Standout track: Far Gone And Out

Other ‘J’s who didn’t make it: John Lennon, Jarvis Cocker, Jimi Hendrix. Jeff Buckley

26×26 – I is for Ian Dury

Today’s album is New Boots And Panties by Ian Dury

Released in 1977, unusually this album was recorded before Dury had a record deal, and was released under the name ‘Ian Dury’ – although members of The Blockheads played on the record, it wasn’t until after Dury signed to Stiff Records that the partnership with The Blockheads became official.

Having cut his teeth on the pub-rock circuit in the 70′s, alongsde the likes of Dr Feelgood, Dury was given the opportunity to make some recordings. The result was this album, a piece of sublime English pop (although at times with very adult themes and lyrics).

Dury’s songs,  accompanied by a fine backing band (check out Norman Watt-Roy’s bass playing – awesome), are captured perfectly. We are treated to a funk-drenched opening track ‘Wake Up And Make Love With Me’. This is followed by the psychobilly-style riot ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’. This is going to be a good album!

‘Clever Trevor’ made the singles chart, as did ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll’ and ‘What A Waste’ (the latter two appearing on a later re-release of the album).

‘Billericay Dickie’ and ‘Plaistow Patrica’ are little slices of life from the East End and Essex. Tip – if you listen to this album, make sure the kids aren’t around when you play Plaistow Patricia, the lyrics are somewhat ‘adult’ !

This is a great, great album. Brilliant songs, amazing frontman and a staggeringly good band. Definitely one to check out if you never have.

Standout track: Billericay Dickie

Other ‘I’s who didn’t make it – Ian McCulloch

26×26 – H is for Happy Mondays

Today’s album is Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches by Happy Mondays

I approached H with some trepidation. Given that I am only using tracks from my iTunes library for this list, H was looking like it would be a struggle.

This album was the only real choice for H, so I went with it…

I haven’t listened to this album for about 10 years. I was worried that it might sound very dated – it was something of a genre-defining piece in it’s time, and those kind of albums can lose their shine very quickly.

I’m please to tell you I had no need to worry!! I put this album on last night, and have since listened to the whole album four times!

It sounds as vibrant and fresh as it did back on it’s release back in 1990 (shit, that’s 20 years ago!!).

This is the Mondays’ third album on Factory Records, a follow-up to their highly-acclaimed ‘Bummed’. Along with the Stone Roses, they defined what was to become the ‘Madchester’ scene. Out of the legendary Hacienda, this was the result of the Rave kids and the Indie kids getting together and finding whole new style of music. Great stuff. Alas, with all music scenes, it also spawned a hundred utterly shite ‘baggy’ bands – now all long-forgotten of course.

It’s hard to describe the Happy Mondays sound, it’s pretty unique, a mishmash of all sorts of stuff, this album has elements of dance, indie, pshychedelia, rock, northern soul, funk, disco and more. You mix that lot together and something totally fresh and completely compelling comes out.

Frontman Shaun Ryder is often remembered for his drug-fuelled lifestyle, rather than his musical talent. Shame, because like Shane MacGowan, and more recently Pete Doherty, Ryder is something of a genius songwriter – a poet almost. Don’t underestimate the quality of Ryder’s songwriting, it really is top-notch and the comparison with MacGowan and Doherty is valid I think.

This ride starts with Kinky Afro, featuring one of the finest opening lines, “son, I’m 30, I only went with your mother cos she’s dirty”. Nice.

There’s a few tracks on here that you’ll already know and love (even if you’ve long forgotten them) – ‘Loose Fit’ , ‘Holiday’, and the classic ‘Step On’ (did you know it’s a cover version?). There’s also  a few you don’t know, but it’s worth giving this album a shot – it’s a classic.

Standout track – Step On

Other ‘H’s who didn’t quite make it: Erm, Hard-Fi. That’s about it!

26×26 – G is For Graham Coxon

Today’s album is Happiness In Magazines by Graham Coxon

The fifth solo album from Blur guitarist Graham Coxon – to date Coxon has made as many solo albums as he did Blur albums, as Michael Caine probably wouldn’t say, “not a lot of people know that”

The earlier albums, made on the side while still working with Blur,  were pretty hard going at times, dark and hard to listen to, obviously the product of a frustrated genius, struggling to tow the line with his pop star day job.

Things finally reached a head during the recording of Blur’s Think Tank album, and Coxon left the band.

This is where the solo material really took off. Happiness In Magazines is, IMHO, as good as any Blur album. The first single from the album, Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery, has all the lovable English charm of  Blur’s more tender moments, but somehow Coxon’s geeky demeanour and teenage vocal style makes you just instantly love this track. Other tracks which follow this geek-rock formula include ‘Bottom Bunk’ and ‘Hopeless Friend’.

There are a few kick-ass moments on the album, notably ‘Freakin’ Out’, ‘Spectacular’ and ‘People Of The Earth’. There’s a couple of ‘slowies’ for the ladies too; ‘All Over Me’ and ‘Ribbons and Leaves’.

If you like clever, well played, very British (but not Britpop!) guitar driven pop-rock, this album’s well worth a listen.

I should also add that the follow-up album ‘Love Travels At Illegal Speeds’, is equally as good.

Standout track: Freakin’ Out

As a guitar player and songwriter, Graham Coxon is a hero of mine – those who have heard me play electric guitar will spot that influence immediately I think

Other ‘G’s who didn’t quite make it: Gomez, Goldfrapp, Gil Scott-Heron, Glasvegas, Guillemots, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Gorillaz.

G was a strong category!

26×26 – F is for Flight Of The Conchords

Today’s album is Flight Of The Conchords

A slight change of mood today!

I’ve chosen the ‘soundtrack’ to the first series of the brilliant cult comedy  TV show ‘The Flight Of The Conchords’

For the uninitiated, FOTC are a two-piece band from New Zealand, featuring Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. They describe themselves as  ”Formerly New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo”. That should give you an idea that this is no ordinary band!

The songs are parodies and pastiches of well-known bands and genres, with brilliant off-the-wall comedy lyrics. The musicianship is fantastic, mostly acoustic guitar, with some lo-tech electronic instruments thrown in.

The Pet Shop Boys (Inner City Pressure), Gangsta Rap (Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros), David Bowie (Bowie), French Cinema (Foux du Fafa) and Prince (The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)) are just a few artists\genres who get the full FOTC treatment. Hilarious.

Comedy albums can be a little naff, but this one will have you laughing out loud. Brilliant stuff.

You really should check out the TV series too, one of the finest comedies in a very long time.

Standout Track: Bowie

Other ‘F’s who didn’t quite make it: The Fall, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand