Monthly Archives: January 2011

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Earworms – Jan 31

Paddy Reilly – The Fields Of Athenry
In the late 70s/early 80s, my mother used to sing us folk songs, accompanying herself on a battered acoustic guitar. I loved it. Then adolescence hit and I turned my back on ‘her’ music (so uncool, innit!). One of the many wonderful things RR has given me – thanks to songs nommed by others – is a new appreciation of the music my mum (and I) loved back then. Maybe one day I’ll tell her. This was always a particular fave. – bishbosh

Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport – Cow Cow Blues
This is the original Cow Cow Blues, by Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport. Covered by the great Meade “Lux” Lewis then turned into pop gold by Ray Charles who called it ‘Mess Around’. One of the all-time great piano riffs. Think John Candy playing the dashboard while Steve Martin sleeps in ‘Planes Trains & Automobiles’. – magicman

Bon Jovi – Blame It On The Love Of Rock & Roll
Chinhealer’s good-natured buke t’other week got me playing some Bon Jovi again. Here’s a no-brain-required feelgood rocker. – darceysdad

The Webb Brothers – I’m Over And I Know It
Blimpy’s “Re-boot” thread brought up Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb and his offspring, and this tune from their debut 7″ EP instantly popped into my head and kept repeating itself. With my vinyl all packed up I had to rely on the internet to scratch my itch. I love the way the final refrain goes on for a full 50% of the song! – panthersan

Lord Kitchener – My Wife’s Nightie
I first heard this at a party in the eighties and it made me laugh. I forgot about it until somebody on R/R mentioned a compilation called London Belongs to Me. Mostly calypso recorded in Blighty. Amazon didn’t have that so I bought volume two instead and was reunited with one of the daftest, deadpan tales it has ever been my pleasure to hear. You just can’t trust them women can you? Harmlessly cheating on your wife and they just double-cross you and steal your (ok, her) property. Why didn’t Suggs/Madness ever cover this? Maybe they did. Answers on a postcard. – severin

Eric Bibb – Turning Pages
A slightly infectous song about the joys of reading – and quite timely given the budgetary threatens to public libraries in the UK. This is from Booker’s Guitar, probably the top acoustic blues album of last year. – tincanman

Please try to keep you write ups a little shorter, folks!

earworm@tincanland.com

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Ssoooooooooooo PROUD!!!

Anyone remember/notice my comment earlier in the week that Jess was stressing herself into not being able to sleep? There were two reasons for it. First was her flute Bronze Medal Test (a kind of Grade 1 trial run). Well that went well apparently, but she won’t get ANY feedback for at least another couple of weeks, as all exams are marked remotely from a video taken of her performance.

The other event causing her worry was her part in her school club’s entry into a Bradford Schools’ talent competition, known as the Junior Rock Challenge. This was the kinda local-only kid brother to the national senior schools’ Rock Challenge series, which in Bradford takes place at St.Georges Hall. Though there are hints the juniors may get promoted there next year, the fact is this year’s wasn’t a big affair, as the college hosting it could only cope with an audience of around 400, but still …

Anyway, half a dozen local primary schools all put together 5 minute dance interpretations of a chosen topic title [Be Your Best], and performed them to a full house of family members and three judges. The whole thing was properly filmed (so I’m hoping there’s a DVD to come), compered by a local radio DJ, and was actually pretty impressive.

GUESS WHICH SCHOOL’S PERFORMANCE BLEW THE OTHERS OFF THE STAGE AND CAME HOME WITH THE WINNER’S PLAQUE??

I’ll admit they were helped by pulling the last-on-stage ball out of the pre-show draw hat, but their set was truly excellent. Choreographed by Jess’ ex-cheerleading teacher (& private danceschool owner) Helen Wragg, how on earth the thirty of them got through a performance like that without knocking each other flying is beyond me, let alone delivering a performance that had me absolutely spellbound.

So yeah, I‘m almost as, no, I’m even MORE chuffed than my eldest daughter is, but that’s not actually my main reason for posting this. One of the factors in Shibden Head’s success was the soundtrack they put together for their five minutes, which was so in-yer-face infectious that their ever-so-slightly off-topic interpretation of the theme got past the judges without penalty. Based on a children’s book called Giraffes Can’t Dance, they had a five minute “Jungle” mash-up soundtrack, which was an absolute riot. Well, if I’ve finally got it right, here it is as a musical quiz.

NB – I do NOT, repeat NOT, have a list of artists & titles, so am in no position to issue ‘Spill points, but I figure you lot should be able to identify all of the snippets contained within. Fingers crossed . . .

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Besides ……..

……….. No one ever plays the B-Side, do they? So no one cares what it sounds like.

OK, so you have an album out and you’ve picked the killer single, what do you do about that pesky flipside?

There are a few schools of thought;

1) Stick on another album track.
2) Put out something from the back catalogue that no one really likes enough to release on it’s own merits.
3) Use that song that wasn’t good enough for the album itself but is OK really.
4) Put the drummer’s new song on. It will stop him moaning that no one takes his stuff seriously.
5) Do a cover version of something you used to do live before you had a decent set-list.
6) Remix the single and bang that on.
7) Put on a really good song that will be a genuine treasure for the fans.

I suppose that there are other options but these seem to cover most bases, judging by what I’ve heard over the years.

I always liked singles back when they were releases in their own right, not radio fodder for the album’s marketing campaign, but most bands stopped doing that a long, long time ago.

I suppose that Factory, and also Rough Trade, kept on with the stand-alone single for longer than most, it fitted in with the real indie ethos that came out of punk and therefore, they probably kept the genuine B-side alive for longer than a lot of other labels.

Anyway, this is a rag-bag of different songs that in their own ways all fit into the options I’ve mentioned above.

In A Lonely Place was the B-side of New Order’s first single, “Ceremony”

A House Is Not A Motel was on the back of the USA single release of the great “Alone Again Or” by Love.

Dusty backed her single “Son Of A Preacher Man” with Just A Little Lovin’.

The Sundays I Kicked A Boy was the B-Side for “Can’t Be Sure”.

Him Dancing was remixed as the flip for Throwing Muses’ “Not Too Soon” (this though is the album version from “The Real Ramona”)

The Clash remixed “Magnificent Seven” as Magnificent Dance as the B-Side for that one.

Siouxsie and the Banshees put out An Execution as the B-Side for “Cities In Dust”, but left it off the original album release of Tinderbox.

AC/DC stuck another album track, Have A Drink On Me out when they released “You Shook Me All Night Long” from the classic Back in Black album.

Novelty was the B-Side on Joy Division’s “Transmission” single.

And finally, that well-known regular chart-topping beat combo King Crimson released the instrumental improvised piece Groon as the flipside for their 1970 smasheroo “Catfood”.

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The Killer B’s

Renegade Soundwave – Positive Mindscape
Meat Beat Manifesto vs. Orbital – Mindscape (Mind the Bend the Mind)
Underworld – Cowgirl
Jah Wobble – Get Carter [Cliff Brumby Rmx]
Mark Stewart – High Ideals & Crazy Dreams

Cocteau Twins – Spangle Maker
Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – Acquitted By Mirrors
Jam – Butterfly Collector
Yeah Yeah Noh – Bias Binding
Skids – TV Stars

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Name that tune!

Here are ten fifteen second snippets from songs that came up on random today on the car mp3 while enjoying the Madrid rush hour traffic. Spill points for song and artist. This one’s pretty easy I think but if people like this I’ll try to put a devilish twenty or thirty track one together in the near future. No cheating with that iPhone app, please!

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Gay Dad – The Not-So-Great Rock’n'Roll Swindle!!

I know Severin was only joking, but I often think about Gay Dad and couldn’t resist. Now, I won’t attempt a “Defence of…”, that may be beyond the powers of mere mortals like myself, but I think it’s a story worth telling. So, gather round and hear the ultimate tale of media manipulation, mass marketing genius, funny band names and mediocre indie rock.

Scene 1 – North Laines, Brighton, Spring 1998
Luke #1: (Reading the NME at home, or “studying” is perhaps a better word as these were the days when he used to read NME from cover to cover (including the adverts) every week. Looking at a full-page ad for the upcoming Reading Festival): “‘Ere Luke, ‘ave a look at this, there’s a band ‘ere called ‘Gay Dad’”" (he resolutely refused to use “h”‘s in those days).
Luke #1 & Luke #2 together: “Brilliant!”

The Back Story
Gay Dad, were put together by a not particularly well-known, but very photogenic (in a more indie-tastic and handsome Kurt Cobain kinda way) music journalist called Cliff Jones. After years of getting nowhere, he set about using his contacts to storm the charts and cement Gay Dad’s place in the pantheon of rock history. The fact that he failed miserably, makes it all the more fun!

They already had the mildly shocking and frankly brilliant band name: Gay Dad. The next step was to rope in some of the biggest names in rock to get behind them. They somehow got legendary producer Tony Visconti ( T-Rex, Bowie etc) to produce several of the tracks that became their debut album, which “leaked out” (as all followers of politics know, “leaks” are always deliberate) as a demo and through various music biz contacts got into the hands of Radio 1 afternoon DJ’s and cult favourites (including one ex-member of The Fall – but then again, who isn’t?!) Mark & Lard.

Continue reading →

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Burns’ Night

Tonight is Burns’ Night. It is a date etched into my memory not because I am Scottish (I have no known Scottish ancestry) but because it is my birthday. This year,  I am 40.

It seems like the perfect day to listen to The Burns Unit (who seem to have made an impression on Sheddi; quite an achievement, as he is usually fairly resistant to many of my more off-beat folky purchases). Anyway, here is my current favourite from Side Show, “Blood, Ice and Ashes”, featuring the delectable vocals of Karine Polwart, with a rock-influenced backing:

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Who Would You Reboot?

Jack White is such a show-off, trying to upstage the dear wee old lady like that. Wanda Jackson dated Elvis you know, bet Jack is jealous about that. The Fall covered her “Funnel Of Love” on their LP from last year, guess it’s Wanda time. If anyone has any other WandaFacts, please do put ‘em in the comments. I’m listening to her Jack White produced album on Spotify and it’s very enjoyable. Not on a par with his Loretta Lynn reboot which I loved but is whiling away the last of a work monday afternoon. There’s an obligatory Amy Winehouse cover on there, but a tune the Arctic Monkeys have done better already.

It seems to be a bit of an industry at present, the reboot of fading legends for a new audience or the last stab at credibilty for those written off as cheesemongers, I guess Johnny Cash kicked it off successfully – Neil Diamond and Tom Jones less so.

But who has been overlooked so far, and could make for a great reboot, and who would help them do it?

Dolly Parton and Goldfrapp? Van Morrison and Tindersticks? Alanis Morrisette & Warpaint? Paul McCartney & Lightning Bolt?

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Earworms (24 Jan)


Will Bradley Trio – Down The Road A-Piece
I don’t recall when I discovered this song but it was way back, way back in the 40′s. As a teenager I used to recite along with the ‘lyrics’, I had it down perfect. It’s also been covered by over a hundred other artists, including the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis, Glen Miller and Ella May Morse! – goneforeign

Bobby Bare – Tequila Sheila
As y’all know, I’m a bit partial to the cactus juice, especially in a judicious mixture with triple sec, lime and salt, so this was bound to be a success with me. Cheers! – treefrogdemon

Ryan Adams – The Rescue Blues
My favourite Ryan Adams song, and he is prolific, (I know some completists), this track contains so many elements of what appeals to me about rock music in such a perfect balance that it just blew me away when I first heard it. Still does. – webcorewebcore

Vio / Miré – Everywhere You Had Been
A tragic lovesong/ghost story, which bears a certain resemblance to DsD’s beloved Hannibal, MO. Like all good earworms, it’s been haunting me since I first heard it last summer. – mnemonic

John Grant – I Wanna Go To Marz
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme is so last century. We need an update for the age of obesity. Along comes honey voiced John Grant with ‘strawberry marshmallow butterscotch chocolate hot fudge’. This from a Magicman nom for fantasy songs, the very lovely ‘I wanna go to Marz’ (presumably JG didn’t want a lawsuit from Cadbury Rowntree). From a fave album of last year ‘Queen of Denmark’, which also features ‘Caramel’. Yummy. – glasshalfempty

Eleventh Dream Day – The Raft
A relentless, noisy, but rather uplifting song about being all at sea. I do like controlled feedback. – chris7572



earworm@tincanland.com

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New Adele!

She’s maybe a bit mainstream for ‘Spill tastes, but I’ve always thought she was the most interesting of the post-Winehouse chantoozies and I think this track is stunning, so I thought I’d draw it to the attention of those who are even less up on the current hit parade than I am. At least she’s not still banging on about chasing pavements…

PS Good instructions on creating posts, maki! I followed ‘em; they worked.

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Once upon a time in LA

l-r: Jim Keltner, Jeff, Tom, George, Bob, Roy. Photos Alberto Tolot; artwork by George

Once upon a time, in the spring of 1988 in fact, George Harrison’s record company asked him to write a song for a B-side. Opinion is divided as to what the A-side was to have been, and it doesn’t matter anyway. Now, George was in LA at the time, and he had a go at writing the song, but he got stuck; and, happening to bump into Jeff Lynne (World’s Self-Proclaimed No. 1 Beatles Fan), he mentioned his difficulty and Jeff said: “Well, I’ve had a bit of success in the past helping people with this sort of thing – why don’t you and I sit down together and see whether we can sort it out? How’s tomorrow for you?” (That was what Jeff was saying, and of course it may have been that what he was thinking was “hmm, and then I’ll have composer credit on a George Harrison single.” But let us be charitable.)

And George replied that tomorrow was fine, thanks, only he’d have to retrieve his guitars from Tom Petty’s house first. You see, George didn’t have a house in LA so he’d taken to leaving a couple of guitars at Tom’s house, and that way he didn’t have to go lugging them around on aeroplanes. So he rang Tom, and Tom was at home; and George asked whether it would be OK to come round the next day and pick up the guitars, and Tom said it would be perfectly fine.

So the next day George and Jeff rolled up at Tom’s house, and Tom was at home, and George explained that he and Jeff were going to sit down together and sort out a song, and he asked Tom whether he’d like to join them and Tom said he would. Then the next problem was where this sitting-down might take place. They wanted a studio, so that they could make a demo of the finished song; but not a commercial studio, which in any case they weren’t going to be able to get at such short notice.

Now, if all this had taken place before Tom’s house burned down, the answer would have been simple: they would all just have gone downstairs to Tom’s studio and done the sitting-down there, and the Traveling Wilburys would have been a much smaller band. But it was after the fire, and Tom was living in a rented house with no studio. So they thought about who they knew who had their own studio; and they thought of Bob Dylan, who had a studio in his garage. And they rang him up, and Bob was at home, and he said “Sure, come right along – and I’ll sit in with you, if that’s OK.”

Which it was (OK, that is). So they all got in the car and went over to Bob’s house, and they all four sat down in the garage to finish the song; and while they were working on it Bob suddenly said “What’s the name of this song?” and George glanced round the garage and he saw a box in the corner with a Handle With Care sticker on it. And he said “Oh, it’s called Handle With Care.” (Only he pronounced it Handle With Curr, because of being Liverpudlian.) They recorded the demo, and by then it was dinner time, so they all went and had dinner together and George told them about his idea.

Seems that ever since the Beatles broke up, George had been wanting to be in a band again. He’d tried it out a few times already, but it just hadn’t seemed to gel. So he asked the other three whether they’d be interested – not in working together full-time, but as a kind of mutual side-project – and, because they all liked each other and had had such fun working together that day, the others agreed that they’d give it a go.

Then someone mentioned that Roy Orbison was playing that night in a nearby town, and they decided (having finished dinner) that they’d like to go and see his show. So they all got in the car and drove over to see Roy, and after the show they went backstage to Roy’s dressing room and told him about their new band, and asked him whether he’d like to be in it, and Roy said he would.

And that is the story of how the Traveling Wilburys began.

PS George’s record company said Handle With Care was too good for a B-side. Which was just as well really, because George had decided the Wilburys might as well all get back together and write another 9 for an album, and that’s what they did – in ten days flat, because Bob was due to go out on tour.

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master of…….

1 The Disguise Ornette Coleman
2 Secret Agent Tony Allen
3 Disguises of Montreal
4 Real Tuesday Weld The Real Tuesday Weld
5 My Life as a Secret Agent Shabby Rogue
6 Bluebird One Self
7 I Wish I Was A Motown Star The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination

1 Funky Cold Medina Tone Loc
2 He’s In Disguise Thee Headcoatees
3 Masters Of Deception Ghetto Priest
4 Executioner (Adamson Mix) The Wolfgang Press
5 Clandestine Operation Up, Bustle & Out
6 An Artist With A Brilliant Disguise St. Thomas
7 A Normal Suburban Lifestyle Is A Near Impossibility Once You’ve Fallen In Love With An International Spy Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

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New PJ Harvey!

Photo by Cat Stevens

Absolutely tremendous new song and video from ‘Spill fave PJ Harvey. I especially like the use of a camera obscura in the last quarter of the video, it’s always something that I’ve wanted to utilise on film. This song, along with “Written On The Forehead”, that previewed a wee while ago – are all shaping up for a very promising album which may well be out on Valentine’s day.

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Not What It Seems

Identity Crisis

Plain Characters – I Am A
Delta 5 – You
Alec Empire – In Disguise
Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams – Irate Caterpillar
Electrafixion – Who’s Been Sleeping In My Head?
Chameleons – Second Skin

Smooth Operators

Wax Tailor & Marina Quais – Behind The Disguise
Post Industrial Boys – Take A Walk On The Wild Side
Yello – You Better Hide
Carly Simon – Nobody Does It Better

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World Gone Wrong

I put Dylan’s Album Good As I Been To You in the dropbox. And I couldn’t not follow that up with World Gone Wrong. So I thought I’d let everybody know these two albums are in there. They were recorded in the early 90s, within a year of each other. They’re unusual Dylan albums because there’s not a single original song on there. And it’s the first acoustic-just-Dylan-and-his-guitar album since the early 60s. If you don’t like Dylan’s marmite voice, imagine it completely destroyed by over use and abuse, and you have his voice as it sounds on these albums. They both kill me, though. The songs are so raw, and his performance is so virtuosic (on guitar) and so completely honest and heart-felt. For your delectation, on my list I’ve put two Dylan “covers” coupled with their Blind Willie McTell originals.

Anyway…it’s in the box. I’d be curious to hear what people make of these albums.

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EOTWQ

See question 3


Seems that recently all I’ve been doing is Earworms and techie show off posts! I thought it was about time I actually did one of my own and seeing as no-one else has bagsied EOTWQ, I thought I’d start there. I’ve got a couple of Spanish music ones in the pipeline (a demo put together by a few lads Mrs Maki works with and a more heartfelt Flamenco one but I’m finding it hard to get them just right).

So anyway, here we go:

When I was a nipper my parents had a jack russel. I got into the habit of sitting down on the floor and tugging its ears. My mum was forever telling me not to do it. “He’ll bite you, you know” She would warn me. Did I take any notice? ‘Course not. Anyway one day he retaliated and I lost a very small part of the end of my nose!

1. Have you ever willfully ignored a warning only to find out the hard way that you should have paid heed?

My parents spent a fortune on French classes for me. I wasn’t very good at it and wasn’t very interested either. When I was ten we went on holiday to Brittany and I remember being sent (against my will) to buy the bread one morning. I somehow managed to make the lady in the shop understand me and returned triumphant to the campsite with a couple of baguettes. That episode is no doubt the catalyst that led to my interest in languages and very indirectly, to my living outside the UK.

2. When was the first time you said something in a foreign language and were understood by the person you were speaking to?

I had a teddy bear when I was a baby. I’m now 48 and I still have it.

3. What treasured possession, if any, do you still have from your early childhood?

In my early twenties I lived in Tarragona on the Mediterranean coast. These were wild times. On the way home one night and severely under the influence, I might add, I managed to fall 40 feet off a railway bridge! I escaped with a broken wrist and a few (deep) grazes.

4. What has been your closest shave and / or luckiest escape?

Straight in with this one.

5. What musical event are you most looking forward to or hoping for this year?

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Six Minutes A Month – Jan/Feb 1992

As we continue the tracking of the evolution of indie via the teenage lifeline of The Chart Show’s Indie Chart (on a 19 year delay system) we now reach the chart from the start of 1992 – tearing headlong into a golden era where even having hair a bit like Mark Gardener from Ride could get you a snog.

Notable for a couple of appearances from British bands fronted by bonkers ladies, Silverfish -who were part of the Camden Lurch scene don’t forget (along with Th’ Faith Healers and um….anyways remember when everyone wore a “Lips, Hips, Tits, Power” Silverfish t-shirt??) with a bit of their grunt-rock sound and Daisy Chainsaw who featured the wacky Katie-Jane Garside upfront. Daisy Chainsaw once turned down a record deal with Madonna’s label. Where’s Madonna now eh?

Keeping up the shoegaze end are Lush, and crashing mightily into the chart are Ride with “Leave Them All Behind” – one of my favourite all time tracks, shoegaze classic, and a song I endlessly try and get into the RR canon.

Also, look out for a pre-Bjork Bjork, a song that regularly gets mentioned on RR that I dare not name, and some utterly incredible dancing from Bobby Gillespie from the newly-reinvented Primal Scream.

 

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30 Minutes Over Tokyo – The Final Podcast

Yes! That’s right, may I present to you the final ever edition of 30MOT.

Has some terrible tragedy befallen your 6th favourite ‘Spill-based podcast?

Has your humble narrator stormed off in a huff due to some unnamed and ill-perceived slight?

Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out!

Thanks to anyone who has ever listened to an edition of 30MOT, every one was a lot of fun to make and present to you all!

Enjoy!

P.S. For anyone who downloads from Dropbox to listen on their iPod, hopefully, if the images survive the transition to DB, this should be a specially enhanced Podcast with random pictures and some photos of me gormlessly brandishing vinyl and attempting (and failing miserably!) to match my sartorial elegance to the tone of the tune being spun!

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Earworms (Jan 17)


Steppenwolf – Earschplittenloudenboomer
I’ve never been able to explain this song’s appeal (to myself or anyone else) but It makes me almost giddy every time I play it. Just for fun then? – fintan

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – The Circus Is Leaving Town
Very familiar to many; I can’t believe that I’m only just discovering these amazing records. Probably because I never liked Screaming Trees or Belle & Sebastian, so a combination of the two was never likely to appeal. More fool me; I now can’t get this magnificent, timeless music out of my head… – abahachi

Raimundo Amador – Plantitas
Love the way this builds. Love the dirty production. Love the guitars. Quite simply, my current earworm from the album I’m happiest about having invested in in late 2010 – makinavaja

The Sonics – Have Love Will Travel
Driving around the countryside with the missus, this song shuffled onto the ipod, and she claimed never to have heard it before! I thought that if she hadn’t then there may be others out there like her – we just can’t have that, now can we? Written by Richard Berry in ’59 and give a super-Sonics kick up the backside in ’65, irresistible! – blimpy

The Darkness – I Believe in a Thing Called Love
This one has been lodged in my ear ever since I remembered that I had the album when I heard their one Christmas hit over the holidays. A cheesy minor classic of an album with just about every rock cliche going. Anyway, I put the album in the car and kept on playing it throughout most of December. I do love a bit of cheese occasionally. – carole

Cyril Davies & His R&B All Stars – Country Line Special Chicago Calling – 1963 45rpm
Amylee’s comment about Rod Stewart being a good blues singer reminded me that Long John Baldry was also good and he sings on the B-side “Chicago Calling”. “Country Line Special” is one of my very favourite instrumentals. Cyril sadly died of leukaemia in 1964 when he was only 32. The All Stars were basically Lord Sutch’s Savages. On drums was Carlo Little (The Stones drummer before Charlie Watts). Bass player Ricky Fenson went on to join The Steam Packet which morphed into The Brian Auger Trinity.. Never sure what happened to the lead guitar, Bernie “Strawberry” Watson, but he was damned good. The electric piano (Fender Rhodes) on the B-side was played by Nicky Hopkins. – rockingmitch

Remember: earworm@tincanland.com

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Back when it was all in black and white …..

Ah yes, remember the 1970s?

Top Of The Pops, Pan’s People, The Generation Game, only three TV channels and The Old Grey Whistle Test. We did what people always do when things aren’t so great, we partied. Mind you, we didn’t know things weren’t so good, we were all young.

Before punk came along and spat in the eye of prog, when the sequins were falling off of glam and when everyone drove brown cars, we had Austerity Britain. Remember? Crisis? What Crisis?

Remember when Life on Mars was just a David Bowie song and when the ultimate in chic involved nose-bleed inducing platforms and more make-up than the Revlon counter in Boots? Yes, we had it all. The Three Day Week, Beige, orange and chocolate swirly carpets, bottled Double Diamond and Spangles (the sweets, I mean, not sparkly clothes, although we had those too.).

If you can’t remember a Vesta Chow Mein and a bottle of Mateus Rose as the height of fine dining, well, what can I say apart from “You wasn’t a student in the 1970s”.

So, in the spirit of retro austerity, I offer up a vague approximation of a Student Union disco night with this playlist;

No track listing – it’s a disco remember, not too many surprises here but if anyone wants to play “Name That Tune”, feel free.

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austere powers

1 The World Is Gone Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra
2 Simple Life Eight Legs
3 Living Is So Easy British Sea Power
4 Austere The Joy Formidable
5 From The Richest Planet David Ivar Herman Düne

1 The State Of The Union Thievery Corporation
2 Pocketful Of Money Jens Lekman
3 Staying Sober Golden Virgins
4 Slap Dash for No Cash Art Brut
5 Craftsmanship Buck 65
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