The Bees – No More Excuses
Never got around to listening to the LP ‘Every Step’s A Yes’ released last October until the new year, and even first listen it didn’t set my ears alight (metaphorically speaking);and then it clicked … Here’s one of the stand-out tracks with influences from The B*****s to Brazilian Tropicalia, with a bit of John Barry thrown in and it goes quite well with the season. – albahooky
Bobby Womack – That’s The Way I Feel About Cha
A particular thing about this song, is that it’s a plea for calmness, faithfulness and reflection, yet delivered with the same passion as any deep soul ballad about uncontrolled adulterous lusts. – daddypig
The Wave Pictures – Tiny Craters In The Sand
As I’m getting on a bit, I get a fair few ‘senior moments’. And I live in Bournemouth (aka ‘God’s waiting room’), overlooking the beach. So I delight in the bonkers ‘Tiny craters in the sand’ from The Wave Pictures, for its verse :
“We will lose our marbles over time
I will lose yours, you will lose mine
They will bounce down the streets
Land on Bournemouth beach
Leaving perfect tiny craters in the sand”
- glasshalfempty
School of Fish – 3 Strange Days
It’s 0 degrees F out now and we’re getting our 5th big snowstorm since Xmas here. But it’s ok because to fight off mid-winter depression, I have this infectuous slice of perfect one-hit wonder early 90′s pop stuck in my ear. – amylee
Beirut – Postcards From Italy
The way the uke and the rhythm section click together combined with the languid horns make this one a tempting treat. “The times we had…” indeed – blimpy
Fink – Fliegen
This is a song about flies – flies buzzing round a lamp, occasionally one lands on the table….there’s not much else going on. It’s the delightful opening track to Fink’s Haiku Ambulanz. Fink was a Hamburg band that is no more, but the singer’s voice may be familiar to some of you from my Festive ‘Spill. – debbym
earworm@tincanland.com
Hmm. I gave up on The Bees quite early as I remember (they’re the bunch with Isle Of Wight connections, yes?), but that was quite pleasantly woozy.
The Bobby Womack also washed over me, but in this case, that’s not quite the praise it was for The Bees. Sorry, DP.
The Wave Pictures were too lo-fi for me; only HMHB & The Teenbeat manage to overcome that (unjustifiable, I admit) snobbery in me.
Never heard of School Of Fish, but it reminded me of similar era Stress
An Emotional Fish
and Notorious
as well as sourpus‘ recently ‘Spill-posted Storyville single. Think I may be wandering close to my border with Blimpyland here. And talking of Blimpy…
Yeah, that worked as a worm! Beirut hitting same target as The Bees, but with a much higher score.
I was going to say that Fink were a bit too wilfully twee for me, though the fuzzy tone, and the horns may yet have me screaming and reaching for the ear tweezers.
Now, in response to last week’s Shoeyswipe, that collection was typical of why Earworms continues to be a DsD fave thread. It seems I may need to give The Bees another chance with their newer material; I have a new outfit (SoF) to look out for; I’ve blown the digidust off my copy of Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar; and Fink has just gone on the list to add to the girls’ next playlists.
Cheers everyone.
D’OH! That looks cumbersome. How do I edit comments again, anyone? I desperately need to tidy up those link references.
Done DsD. Check the manual on pix and vids for youtube links
Brilliant. Thanks a lot, Maki.
The Wave Pictures were perfectly lo-fi for me..
and as I lived 5 minutes up the road from GHE until 4 years ago .. the
“We will lose our marbles over time
I will lose yours, you will lose mine”
sums up my state of mind there.. or were they talking kids toy?
DsD -
Glad that you enjoyed the School of Fish. Sadly, there’s not much more to look out for -
Singer Josh Clayton-Felt died on January 19, 2000 at 32 of testicular cancer.
That song was about it for them, i gave a listen to some of their other songs, but there wasn’t much there for me.
Yup, another good week.
I too lost track of The Bees some years ago – I bought their first album very cheaply in a sale some years ago, and it still gets played from time to time – exclusively on sunny days.
That Wave Pictures song sounds exactly like another Wave Pictures song, doesn’t it? (the first track off Instant Coffee Baby, I think). Love the lyrics though.
School of Fish sounds like something I should have enjoyed 15 years ago, but I don’t remember it. Vocals really reminded me of someone, but can’t think who.
For some reason, I’ve never investigated Beirut properly, even though I like everything I’ve heard, and it’s completely my sort of thing. Must rectify this.
barbryn – I’ve put some random Beirut in the dropbox for you.
Aw, thanks – much enjoyed.
Respect to Bobby Womack. The only track I have by him is as a member of the Valentinos doing the original “It’s All Over Now”.
My favourite this week was Fink – I liked that.
The singer with the Wave Pictures kept reminding me of Peter Cook.
Afraid I wasn’t too keen on the other tracks, but hey, one man’s meat, etc.
Nice flow to these. All slightly frivolous in a good way.
.
Not sure I understand the premise behind the Wave Pictures’ assertation that there must always be the same amount of hair in the world, but I am doing my bit to allow others to have more. Lots more.
You think that’s a puzzle? Another Wave Pictures song has the chorus:
A sculpture is a sculpture
Marmalade is marmalade
And a sculpture of marmalade is still a sculpture
But it isn’t marmalade
Profound, no?
Well, that’s just silliness.
unless the sculpture is made from congealed marmalade – then it’s still both –
I’m off to produce an art work..
‘my mind has been shredded by an orange future’
(or get the kids ready for bed … whatever is less stinky)
I fink I liked fink best.
I think I’d enjoy The Bees more on a hot summer’s afternoon. Bit too languid for Feb! But lovely sound.
And there I was, expecting Bobby Womack to be singing about tea… Tsk. I’m feeling remarkably mellow for me, so this was just what I felt like hearing. (That probably completely contradicts what I just said about The Bees, doesn’t it?!)
Loving the Wave Pictures too – just the sort of voice that appeals to me. And what’s not to like in a song about playing marbles on the beach? Again, bring on the summer!
School of Fish didn’t make a huge impression, I’m afraid. OK but a bit plodding – got a bit more lively/interesting around the three-minute mark though!
Love the Beirut of course – know it of old. Great stuff.
Once I get past a shameful kneejerk reaction to the idea of German pop music (I blame Nena and Falco – or was he Austrian?), the Fink was rather charming. Thanks Debby! In fact, I ended up wanting more vocals.
“Now You Are Pregnant” by The Wave Pictures is a classic, I looked around briefly for more like it from them when I first heard it, but was found wanting. This one is good though.
Interesting – Bish would like the Bees on a hot summer afternoon, and i’d like it on a rainy day along with Hunky Dory (my rainy day go to). Standout for me was the Bobby Womack though, i can always listen to that. Thanks all!
What a diverse collection we have here, I loved it all, hadn’t heard any of it before except my contribution, and everyone’s few lines summed up nicely something about the tune. Equally diverse reactions, all equally valid of course (except DsD who is wrong).
As per normal! So all is in balance with the world … we can sleep safe in our beds.
Cheers DsD xx
I’m off to cook dinner so I’m only half way through first listen.( Oh there will two) Don’t think I’ve heard any of these before so all I can say is ain’t life grand! God why don’t I have more Bobby Womack.
Just Started the 2nd time through & gotta say what a reward this is every week. It’ll be 3rd time for Fink ’cause it’s utter fucking genius.
The Bees reminded me of those mid-seventies John Lennon tracks like Number Nine Dream. If I was being unkind I could say that, as it continued, it reminded me a bit more of Julian.
Bobby Womack I know more by repute than experience. He’s not normally this laid back is he? Liked it tho.
Loved The Wave Pictures – bonkers in a very good way. Will investigate more.
School of Fish sounded like they were hoping for stadium rock star status. Rather too much for me after the previous skeletal whimsy.
Beirut – loved the intro – liked the rest – have a nagging feeling I’d enjoy it more live than I did hearing it at home on the headphones.
Fink were my favourite this week. Love German pop music, me. I see that Amazon want 35 quid for their CD (unless you buy a used copy).
Just boxed this week’s playlist.
Glad to see Fink being enjoyed!
@ Severin
35 quid on Amazon?! For less than 35 ‘Spill pints I’ll invite you to rummage in The Box
debby – I’ve got about 5 tracks from Bam bam bam too (I’m guessing it’s Fink (DE) – there’s a metal band called the fink and a UK fink on ninja tunes, evn though he’s now a singer/songwriter)- how many albums did they do?
Yeah, Bam Bam Bam is by them and there are at least three other albums (I’ll have to do some research and get back to you). Nils Koppruch is now pursuing a solo career and has recorded at least two solo albums – the song on my Festive ‘Spill was from his latest.
Only a few days late. LOVED School Of Fish very much and needed to balance up the underwhelming response of most listeners.
The Bees – fantastic song, very late-sixties I thought. Funny how you can trace your own taste through the generations and never need to veer off the primrose path into the marshy bog of eek.
The Womack tune is off Communication, great LP but he is totally consistent and still remains under-rated such is fate. Very good singer indeed.
Wave Pictures ? Do me a favour ! Don’t give up the day job.
Beirut – sounds exactly like a band I played in early 80s called Birds OF Tin. We had a violin aswell. That has weirded me out.
Fink – yes that’s what I call pop music.
Well done everyone, best Earworms of 2011. And it’s probably my favourite feature of The Spill because I ALWAYS get to hear something in a small bite-size chunk that I haven’t heard before. That’s what it’s all about. Well, that and doing the okey-cokey and turning around.
Yup.
Please feel free to remove my stuff from the Box when you’ve all had a rummage.
Gute Nacht.