Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam

I'm on a mission to expose my 4 year old daughter to what I think is good music, before it was bedtime tonight her favourite two songs were Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam by the Vaselines and Doing It Right by the Go Team, . Not a bad start.

In return she's promised to teach me some new chords.

apples are good

I am forever downloading songs from other peoples blogs so I thought it only fair that I start and do a few play lists myself. I've been bringing in the odd crate or two of my 7"s out of the garage and these songs are the ones that caught my eye and needed to be played. They are all a bit crackly as in their time they were played quite a lot and it seems I didn't look after them as I thought I had. No real theme to them but I have noticed quite a few scottish and north east connections.


Speak to me Rochelle always reminded me of Orange Juice. Oranges and Lemons is from the Prescriptions one and only 7", it is an organ led garage theme from 1960's Hartlepool. For some time Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes were one my favourite bands and The Adam Faith Experience was one in a line of perfect singles. Me and Michael were just talking about Prefab Sprout the other night on the way to the Jens Lekman gig at the Cluny so Lions in my own garden (exit someone) needed a play. Freak Storm was (i think?)the first Hellfire Sermons single, I've just ordered their compilation CD from Bus Stop I wish it was here now. Make It Better was co-written by Terry Gibson who I put my first gig on with. I wish there was a Gravy Train compilation I could order from Bus Stop or any label come to that. Honey Trap were a band that I saw at the Broken Doll and I seem to remember their music reminded me of Felt, Make Me Happy has guitars that could almost be from Poem of River, Riding the Equator in particular. Cincinnati brings to mind Strawberry Wine MBV ,even though I can't remember thinking that at the time. I Remember Caroline is from a test pressing of Watercolour 3 (was it ever properly released?) it sounds a little warped and has some terrible surface noise, sorry. Ain't That Always The Way, I've got a tape of Paul Quinn and Edwyn doing this and Pale Blue Eyes live on radio one but I've no idea where I might find that. I love the way they released Little Things even though Terry Hall is pissing his back off and swearing halfway though.



1. Speak To Me Rochelle / The Desert Wolves 2:27
2. Oranges And Lemons / The Prescriptions 3:20
3. The Adam Faith Experience / Jesse Garon and The Desperadoes 3:06
4. Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone) / Prefab Sprout 2:35
5. Freak Storm / Hellfire Sermons 3:33
6. Make It Better / The Gravy Train 3:38
7. Make Me Happy / Honeytrap 2:38
8. Cincinnati / Holidaymakers 2:26
9. I Remember Caroline / The Sweetest Ache 3:04
10. Ain't That Always The Way / Paul Quinn 3:07
11. Little Things / The Colourfield

download apples are good

i fell in love with a girl

It was mine and Michael's first Popklubb experience on Saturday night, we've arrived at the party late , seeing as it has been going since 2006. The venue is really nice, not sure but it must be some sort of working mens club , a really nice big hall, it had to be for the amount of people who turned up. The live music was provided by one of my favourite Swedish bands A Smile And A Ribbon, they played a storming set. Quite a few new songs I'd not heard before but I wanted to hear again straight away, like Sweet Sixteen. There were six in the band this time as they were joined by a saxophonist who embellished some of the songs beautifully , especially when he picked up the flute. He did have a flute didn't he? They also feature on guitar my joint favourite blogger Kris from Heaven Is Above Your Head, it seems such a long time since someone has wrote so enthusiastically about the music that they love. Kris told me that not all of the band are into indie music and infact the drummer is a guitarist in a hardcore thrash band. They all wore Black Flag t-shirts at the gig before this one.

Just before they played their last song The Boy I Wish I Never Met, Kris dedicated a song to an old band called Bulldozer Crash, which made me smile a lot. The rest of the band as well as the crowd looked puzzled and bemused as I think only me and Kris had heard of them, still it made my night as I've not had a song played for me since the Love Parade gigs all those years ago.

I also fell love (again!) on Saturday night, she had the nicest smile I have seen, no really she did, she danced nearly all night with her friend and her friends boyfriend, but I just sat, cos I can't dance for toffee, anyone know of anywhere I can I get indie dance lessons in the north east? I guess it goes without saying that of course I didn't even talk to her, I don't even think she noticed I was there. She might be at Jens Lekman tomorrow night, fingers crossed!(She wasn't but her friend and boyfriend were) Not that I'll speak to her then either. Dear me, I'm sounding like a daft teenager instead of a forty year old, ahhh... so fuck!

I run to her house like it's all downhill

If only I had someone's house to run to like it's all downhill. Actually maybe I don't as I'm not as fit as I was when I was 19, and I'd probably have a heart attack before I made it half way. Reading parts of Fresh Air last night reminded me to give this Waltones track a spin . I just recently added it to my iTunes library so I thought I would share it. I first heard a song called Bold by them on a flexi-disc with the fanzine Irresponsible Spirit and it has remained a favourite, even the crackly whirry flexi version that I have also recently ripped. There is a compilation of everything they did available from Cherry Red called You've Gotta Hand It To 'Em. As much as I love my crackly vinyl it might be nice to have them all in one place , there is also a few unreleased songs on it. The Corn Dollies were another band who were on Medium Cool who I really liked, I must dig out Forever Steven and Be Small Again two more perfect songs. One of which was produced by Robert Forster but I can't remember which one. Here is the Waltones songs , enjoy the static.....
Bold
Downhill

remember arthur seaton said he wouldn't be beaten

This was in amongst my fanzine originals. I once had it printed onto a t-shirt and thought I looked cool as fuck. When I look at it now I'm not sure I got the words right. Was it "wouldn't" or "won't"? Time to find that Pale Fountains LP in the garage, I hope those mice can't eat their way through my plastic record cases.

fresh air

I did a little tidying up in my garage today, only to find it was being used as a home for at least one family of mice, which wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't used my fanzine collection for bedding, quite a few have sadly been destroyed, fanzines that is not mice. The little blighters have also been nibbling away at the originals of This Almighty Pop, but Fresh Air managed to escape intact. The only fanzine I sold every issue of, well I only printed 100 and sold them for 20p. I've just scanned and printed myself a copy, if you fancy doing the same I've also done a PDF of it that can be downloaded here Fresh Air

I love the way you look when you forget yourself

See I haven't forget, will get it in the post this week. For the same photo effect go here http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

I woke it was the first of May, wading through cherry blossom falling

I very nearly forgot to give it a spin today. It would have been nice to have put this on my ipod and woke to it this morning. Never mind, maybe I'll remember next year. If your reading this and it's still the first of May download it from Kris's old The Rain Fell Down blog here...

The Rain - First of May

Oh dear, I had a funny feeling that I was starting to repeat myself, now I'm sure I am ....... First Of May 2007