Song of the day: Regurgitator - "Blubber Boy"

Here's Regurgitator with their ode to love in the frozen wastes, "Blubber Boy" (1995):


Link

It's probably my favourite rock song in 6/4 time.

The video for it is enjoyably odd – it features Eskimos (although no-one from Eskimo Joe), igloos, polar bears, and, er, blubber. Unfortunately, the person who posted the video decided to replace the original audio track with a live recording of the boys blubbering away:



Instead, if you're in the mood to waste some bandwidth, here's an alternative video using the original track. It's someone called Matt eating a pineapple. Yes, really:



Incidentally, Regurgitator and "Blubber Boy" are both mentioned in my A History of Power Pop in Australia post.

Song of the day: Pussyfoot - "The Way That You Do It"

Here's the delectable Pussyfoot with the irresistible "The Way That You Do It" (1975):


Link


"Ooh-na-na, ooh-na-na-hi-ya, ooh-na-na-hi-ya-hi-ya..."

I agree completely.

Song of the day: Sarah Sarah - "Dawsons Creek"

Here's Sarah Sarah with "Dawsons Creek" (2003):


Link

"Dawson's Creek" contains some wonderful "ba-ba-ba"s. It originally appeared on Sarah Sarah's EP, Sing Till It Hurts. As far as I can tell, that EP is the only thing that Sarah Sarah ever released.

When listening to the song, I wondered why the vocals sounded so familiar to me. I've found out that "Dawson's Creek" is sung by a certain "Zac and Kate". I'd hazard a guess that the Zac and Kate in Sarah Sarah are the very same Zac and Kate who are the main vocalists in The Wellingtons (it sure sounds like 'em). I haven't been able to find out any more specific information, but it appears that Sarah Sarah was Zac and Kate's band before The Wellingtons were formed.

Regardless, "Dawson's Creek" is a lovely little slice of boy-girl harmonies. Enjoy!

Song of the day: Ikey Mo - "Evil Knievel"

Here's a song that gets my blood pumping every time I hear it:

(Note: It is heartily recommended that you turn your volume control to maximum. Thank you.)

Ikey Mo - "Evil Knievel" (2002)

Link

Musical coincidences # 18

This musical coincidence involves a rock track and a classical piece. The coincidence also involves the rock track having a slightly complicated history. I'll try to make it mercifully brief.

To get things going, I'll start with the rock track. Here's the main melody of "Make Your Stash" (1972) by Daddy Cool:


Link

If you're a classical music fan, you'll recognise that tune immediately. It's one of the melodies in Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets by Gustav Holst. Here's the melody:


Link

The performance here is by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (that's the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to you and me), conducted by Charles Dutoit in 1987. (Recording details.)

Right, now for a bit of back story on the rock track. This is going to get a little complicated...

"Make Your Stash" was written by Ross Wilson, an extremely well-known Australian musician who is best known depending on which musical decade you grew up in. If you grew up in the 70's, then Ross Wilson is best known as the driving force behind the legendary Daddy Cool, a band that was one big tribute to 50's doo-wop and rhythm-and-blues and played 50's covers as well as original, doo-wop/rhythm-and-blues-inspired, songs by Ross (one of Ross's Daddy Cool songs, "Hi Honey Ho," was Song of the day a while ago). If you grew up in the 80's, though, Ross Wilson is best known as the driving force behind the very-successful-but-not-quite-as-legendary Mondo Rock, a band that specialised in nothing in particular (it was a slick-but-generic 80's rock band).

However, before all of that, Ross Wilson had a prog rock band in the late 60's called Sons Of The Vegetal Mother which was heavily influenced by Frank Zappa.

During his time in the Sons, Ross wrote the aforementioned – and decidedly proggy – "Make Your Stash," which actually is about what you think it's about. The Sons of the Vegetal Mother never recorded "Make Your Stash" (they only ever recorded one EP, and "Make Your Stash" wasn't on it).

But back to Daddy Cool. When it came time for Daddy Cool to record a follow-up to their amazingly successful debut long-player, Daddy Who? Daddy Cool, Ross was in the mood to stretch his musical legs and expand on the 50's doo wop and rhythm-and-blues-inspired tunes they'd specialised in, so he decided to drag* "Make Your Stash" out of his old-song drawer and have the band record it for their second album, Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven. In keeping with the "make it very different to the first album" ethos there was also an ambitious three-song suite, "Teen Love" / "Drive-In Movie" / "Love In An FJ". (For non-Australians, an "FJ" is a make of car.)

(*No pun intended.)

Potentially uninteresting side note: The Sex, Dope, and Rock'n'Roll part of the title was dropped for the American market, so it was released as Teenage Heaven there. (No sex, dope or rock'n'roll for those Americans...)

Just when you thought that's all you needed to know about "Make Your Stash" (i.e.: it was written in the late 60's; it was performed by Sons of the Vegetal Mother but never recorded by them; it was recorded by Daddy Cool for their second album), things get even more complicated...

There's an earlier version of "Make Your Stash" on record.

Now, before I get to that, I want to go back to the Sons of the Vegetal Mother (I'm trying very hard not to make this any more complicated than it already is)...

Along with the band's founder, Ross Wilson, Sons of the Vegetal Mother also contained band member Mike Rudd who formed Spectrum, another prog rock band (there were plenty popping up in Australia in the early 70's).

The reason I'm mentioning this is that Spectrum recorded "Make Your Stash" for their 1971 debut album Spectrum Part One.

Here's the Spectrum version of "Make Your Stash" (1971):


Link



Thanks for persevering with all of the above.

And now, hopefuly, to the last word on the musical coincidence. (I have a feeling that I've made this all much more complicated than it needed to be...)
 
You may think that this instance of Ross Wilson using Gustav Holst's tune is yet another unacknowledged rip-off of classical music by a rock musician – and there have been plenty of classical music tunes used in rock music – but that's not the case here. Ross has always stated unequivocally that he used Holst's tune. For example, this is from the Wikipedia entry on Sons of the Vegetal Mother:

One of the new songs incorporated into the set but never recorded by the band, according to its author, was 'Make Your Stash'. "[It] was later recorded by both Spectrum and Daddy Cool and the source for inspiration for Manfred Mann's Earth Band album that used Holst's 'Planets Suite'," claims Wilson. "'Make Your Stash' used one of the themes from that suite with my lyrics and bridge which Mick appropriated for Manfred Mann using new lyrics."

Finally, as a reward for staying the distance with this post (or even if you didn't and just skipped to this bit), here are the full versions of both "Make Your Stash" and "Jupiter":

Daddy Cool - "Make Your Stash" (1972)

Link

Gustav Holst (1874–1934): The Planets, Op. 32 - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
(Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, conducted by Charles Dutoit)

Link

Daddy Cool on MySpace

Song of the day: The Bootleg Family Band - "Your Mama Don't Dance"

Here's Brian Cadd's group of troubadors, The Bootleg Family Band, with "Your Mama Don't Dance" (1973):


Link

It was originally written and recorded by Loggins and Messina for their self-titled second album (1972):


Link

Here's Loggins and Messina's live version from the album On Stage (1974):


Link

This is a bit of background on the Australian version of the song in case you're interested (you may not be):

One of the first things Brian Cadd did when he set up his Bootleg label was to form a band to back other artists signed to the label and Cadd himself. Your Mama Don't Dance was issued as a Bootleg Family Band single in 1973, even though, with Cadd on vocals and featuring his distinctive piano styling, it was almost indistinguishable from a Brian Cadd single. The song was a hit in the US and the UK for its writers, Loggins and Messina, but it was the homegrown version by The Bootleg Family Band that shot up the charts in Australia, peaking at No. 5.
– The Best Singles Of All Time, Volume 2

I grew up with The Bootleg Family Band's version only, never hearing any other. No prizes for guessing which version I prefer.

Incidentally, there's also a version by 80's hair metal band, Poison, that they recorded or MTV Unplugged. For me, it's by far the worst version, mainly because of the lead vocals of Bret Michaels (and the background vocals, too). It's just not very good singing. Soon after the song starts, Bret asks the audience "C'mon, help me out now...". I think he asks for help because he can't sing the song properly on his own. And some of the vocal asides uttered by Brett are cringe-inducing. Enter at your own risk:


Link

And there was a version performed in a recent episode of Australian Idol. The less said about that version, the better.

Nope, it's The Bootleg Family Band version for me all the way. Love that performance.

Song of the day: Johnny Devlin - "Koala Bear"

Do you like Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear" but have always secretly wished for an Antipodean alternative? No problem:

Johnny Devlin - "Koala Bear" (1959)

Link

Song of the day: Christie Allen - "Goose Bumps"

Here's Countdown favourite Christie Allen with "Goose Bumps" (1979):


Link



"Goose Bumps" appears on Christie's debut album, Magic Rhythm, which is still enjoyable after all these years. I'd definitely recommend it to ABBA fans.

As a bonus, here are two more songs from Magic Rhythm: the disco-fied "He's My Number One" (with background vocals that remind me of Aqua); and the lovely ballad "Falling In Love With Only You":

Christie Allen - "He's My Number One" (1979)

Link

Christie Allen - "Falling In Love With Only You" (1979)

Link

And here's the original video for "Goose Bumps":

Song of the day: Starclock - "Yo Pussycat"

Here's Starclock with "Yo Pussycat" (2002):


Link

"Yo Pussycat" appears on Starclock's self-titled album from 2002. I've been playing the album relentlessly since I found it last week. And until last week, I'd never even heard of Starclock.

Starclock is the alter-ego of Christopher Bradley, bass player for US prog-punk-metal band Look What I Did. Christopher recorded Starclock in 2002 and hasn't released anything else since, which is a pity, because I gotta tell ya: this album is something else. There's nothing quite like it. Anywhere.

The closest I can get to describing it is to ask you to imagine XTC, Jellyfish, Sugarbomb, Roger Joseph Manning Jr, Frank Zappa (yes, Frank Zappa) – and more – all colliding together in a supernova. Honestly, if you like any of the artists listed in the previous sentence, there's an extremely high probability that you'll like this album. A lot. As another blog put it: "The most incredible album by the most incredible band you never heard of..."

At the risk of overhyping Starclock, I can safely say that, apart from "Chetchoaess" (which is just plain weird and takes a bit of getting used to), pretty much every song is a highlight. Christopher is even brave enough to include a cover version of one of Frank Zappa's most difficult pieces, "The Black Page."

I tried finding out more about Christopher Bradley but, as far as the Internet's concerned, he's rather elusive. Even his name appears to be a pseudonym. And the album itself is elusive, too: it isn't available on eBay, but it's available (update: not anymore) at CD Baby, which is where I bought it. Thank you, CD Baby.

(Update II: there's one used copy at Amazon.com.)

What an album.

Starclock on MySpace
Look What I Did on MySpace

Song of the day: Hammerfish - "Couldn't I Just Tell You"

Here's Hammerfish, an Australian band I know absolutely nothing* about, with a note-for-note remake of Todd Rundgren's power pop classic, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1996):


Link

The only reason I can think of for Hammerfish to make a carbon copy of that song would be to let Australians know about it, as a sort of local advertisement, in case the original wasn't going to ever be released as a single Down Under (I don't know if it ever was).

Anyway, here's the original:

Todd Rundgren - "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972)

Link



*Update: Courtesy of the Internet, this is what I now know about Hammerfish: they released one album, Things Look Larger Underwater, in 1995; and one of the members, Ryan Ellsmore, went on to form a band called The Scruffs. And that's it.)

Drugs and alcohol

Alcohol is a drug.

When people talk about intoxicants they tend to say "drugs and alcohol." This implies that alcohol isn't a drug.

Why is alcohol considered separate from other drugs? What makes alcohol exempt from the greatness/awfulness of everything else that alters your brain chemistry?


Link

Australian girls with bass guitars – is there something in the water here?

I've noticed that the last three Songs of the day were all by bands containing female bass players.

I'm beginning to think that Australia is the world capital for rock bands with girls on bass. Let's see, there's:

• Stephanie Ashworth (Something For Kate) (pictured above)
• Helen Carter (Do-Re-Mi)
• Annette Crowe (The Whipper Snappers)
• Janet English (Spiderbait, Happyland)
• Fliss Freeman (Illicit Eve)
• Peggy Frew (Art Of Fighting )
• Kate Goldby (The Wellingtons)
• Janine Hall (Weddings Parties Anything)
• Irit (Cor'delle)
• Kelly Lloyd (Screamfeeder)
• Annalisse Morrow (The Numbers)
• Micaela Slayford (Lash)
• Lucy Spazzy (Spazzys)
• Britt Spooner (Neon)
• Rayke Stapleton (Pollyanna)
• Robyn St. Clare (The Hummingbirds)
• Vanessa Thornton (Jebediah)
• Patricia Young (Clouds)

And most of those bands are power pop bands, which is fine by me.

Incidentally, it's been said quite a few times that there's nothing sexier than a female bass player. I don't know just how true that is – I guess that sexiness is in the pants of the beholder – so I'll leave that up to you.

In honour of all those four-stringed ladies, here's a collection of Songs of the day involving girls on bass that I've presented to date:

Song of the day (June 19, 2009):
The Whipper Snappers - "Stairway To Heaven" (1990)
(Annette Crowe, bass)

Link

Song of the day (June 27, 2009):
Clouds - "Hieronymus" (1991)
(Patricia Young, bass)

Link

Song of the day (July 3, 2009):
The Hummingbirds - "Two Weeks With A Good Man In Niagara Falls" (1992)
(Robin St. Clare, bass)

Link

Song of the day (July 10, 2009):
The Wellingtons – "I Get My Heart Broken Every Day" (2008)
(Kate Goldby, bass)

Link

Song of the day (July 25, 2009):
The Numbers - "Big Beat" (1982)
(Annalisse Morrow, bass)

Link

Song of the day (August 11, 2009):
Something For Kate - "Captain (Million Miles An Hour)" (2001)
(Stephanie Ashworth, bass)

Link

Song of the day (August 20, 2009):
Neon - "A Man" (2006)
(Britt Spooner, bass)

Link

Song of the day (August 21, 2009):
Lash - "Take Me Away" (2001)
(Micaela Slayford, bass)

Link

Song of the day (August 22, 2009):
Pollyanna - "Lemonsuck" (1996)
(Rayke Stapleton, bass)

Link

Song of the day: Pollyanna - "Lemonsuck"

Here's Pollyanna with "Lemonsuck" (1996):


Link


Pollyanna were a power pop band stuck in the Grunge era, so their unassuming songs had multiple – and very distorted – loud guitars applied to everything they recorded, sometimes even drowning out the vocals. And sometimes the vocals included very grungy screams for no apparent musical reason within their songs. Pollyanna's plight at the time reminds me of The Posies, and how their songs sounded grungier and grungier with each release, in an attempt (by the record companies, I presume) to try to fit in with the then current craze for all things Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Stone Temple Pilots et al. (But at least The Posies kept their vocals nice and audible in amongst all that distortion.)

Song of the day: Lash - "Take Me Away"

If you have children over the age of 10, you've probably already heard today's song. Repeatedly.

Here's Lash with "Take Me Away" (2001):


Link


"Take Me Away" was used (a lot) in the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Possibly for contractual reasons (who knows?), the original version wasn't included on the movie's soundtrack album. A note-for-note version by Christina Vidal was used instead:

Christina Vidal - "Take Me Away" (2003)

Link

Honestly, what's the difference?

Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, sales of the soundtrack album have so far amounted to 650,001, a number I find fascinating. 650,000 I can understand – it's a nice, round number for the record companies and the statisticians, but 650,001? Who was that 650,001st person? (It wasn't me.)

That may very well be one of life's unanswerable questions...

Ah, well. To distract you from such imponderables, here's a video of young Lindsay miming her way through the song in the movie. Her character is a teenage guitarist in a band. She's also the quarrelsome daughter of Jamie Lee's character. One night, courtesy of a spell, they switch bodies and...

I don't know why I'm telling you all this. (Get back to the video, Peter.) The video is basically Lindsay's character playing with her band in a band competition. The trouble is, she's already swapped bodies with her mother, but her mother doesn't know how to play guitar, but she's needed in the band because they can't play without her, but etc etc. Anyway, Lindsay is Jamie Lee, and Jamie Lee is Lindsay:

Song of the day: Neon - "A Man"

Here's Melbourne band Neon with "A Man" (2005):


Link

"A Man" was the first single released on Neon's 2005 self-titled debut album.

Love the band, love the album, love the song.

As a bonus, here's another great track from the album:

Neon - "Hit Me Again" (2005)

Link

Incidentally, Neon and "A Man" are both mentioned in my A History of Power Pop in Australia post.

Neon on MySpace

Song of the day: Hoodoo Gurus - "What's My Scene"

Here are the ever-magnificent Hoodoo Gurus with the infernally catchy "What's My Scene" (1987):


Link



I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Dave Faulkner couldn't write a bad song if he tried.

Incidentally, "What's My Scene" was apparently overused a few years ago – it was plundered for a sport called National Rugby League and was renamed "What's My Team" (ugh) for the NRL's ad campaign from 2003 to 2007. That's five years (!). I'm happy to say that I was blithely unaware, as I didn't (and still don't) follow that particular sport, so I was thankfully never in the position of being forced to listen to hordes of over-enthusiastic NRL fans shouting "What's my, what's my, what's my te-e-eam..."

Incidentally, the Hoodoo Gurus and "What's My Scene" are both mentioned on my A History of Power Pop in Australia post.

Song of the day: The Wellingtons - "For Friends In Far Away Places"

Here are The Wellingtons with "For Friends In Far Away Places" (2008):


Link

The song is basically a letter to all the fans the band has overseas. (It also sounds like it could be an unconscious tribute to Rooney). I'm very pleased – and slightly sad – to say that The Wellingtons do have quite a few fans overseas (primarily in Japan). I'm pleased for The Wellingtons, but I'm slightly sad for all the good Australian bands unknown outside of Australia.

"For Friends In Far Away Places" appears on last year's Heading North For The Winter, their third and, by far, best album. The first two albums are enjoyable, but something – I don't know what – happened that led to a quantum leap in songwriting for their third album. Maybe they took Extra-Strength Power Pop Pills before they wrote the tunes, because the dudes and dudettes in the band outdid themselves and came up with a superb batch of power pop ditties. It's a cracking* album.

Don't believe me? Pick a song – any song – from the album. You can't go wrong:


Link

Incidentally, The Wellingtons are mentioned on my A History of Power Pop in Australia post.

The Wellingtons on MySpace

(*For a definition of 'cracking', please see Wallace and Gromit.)

Unexpected power poppers: Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper, the girl who just wanted to have fun in the 80's, wasn't having an awful lot of fun towards the end of her pop career (she's recently reinvented herself as a chanteuse, believe it or not).

Back in the twilight of her pop phase, one of her unsuccessful efforts was this pumping tune, "Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China)." It was recorded for the not-entirely-successful 1998 movie Vibes starring Jeff Goldblum, Peter Falk, and, er, Cyndi Lauper:

"Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China)" (1988)

Link

Incidentally, I thoroughly recommend not listening to this song on headphones – Cyndi's voice keeps moving in the stereo picture throughout the song and just won't sit still in the middle. It's very unsettling. I can tolerate it in Electric Ladyland (the most stereo-panning album of all time), because, well, those were the days, man, but I have an extremely tough time trying to follow Cyndi's voice all over the soundstage for three minutes and 58 seconds.

Song of the day: Russell Morris - "The Real Thing"

If you live outside of Australia, chances are that you've never heard today's song. This makes me slightly sad because it means that you've missed out on hearing this song for the last 40 years. If you are one of the unlucky few to have never heard today's song, fear not – I'm here to rectify that dreadful situation.

Here, for your aural edification, is Russell Morris with "The Real Thing" (1969) – an absolute, Grade A, undisputed classic of Australian rock music history:

Russell Morris - "The Real Thing" (1969)

Link


"The Real Thing" is, quite simply, a masterpiece. At the end of its 6 minutes and 20 seconds, you'll be convinced that it contains the entire contents of the universe. The story behind the song, and its recording, is well worth reading, and it's detailed on Wikipedia. The story's also detailed – in even more detail – over at Milesago.

Although Russell wrote some classic songs of his own (two come to mind immediately, and I'll get to those shortly), "The Real Thing" was written by Johnny Young, a man who's had such an interesting career that his biography is also well worth reading on ye olde Wikipedia.

If you think that the song is a relic of the hippy era and hideously dated, here's Russell performing "The Real Thing" just a few days ago on RocKwiz (a music quiz show on TV here in Australia) to remind you that it sounds great any year.

As promised earlier, here are two of Russell's own compositions. You might call them soft rock classics, and I might call them Australian soft rock classics, but I won't – they're just Australian classics:

Russell Morris - "Sweet, Sweet Love" (1971)

Link


Russell Morris - "Wings Of An Eagle" (1972)

Link

Song of the day: Liv Maessen - "Knock Knock, Who's There"

Here's Liv Maessen with the incredibly catchy* "Knock Knock, Who's There" (1970):


Link


"Knock Knock, Who's There?" was England's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970. It was sung in the competition by Mary Hopkin who also recorded the single for worldwide release. However, Mary's version didn't make it to Australia. (I'll get to the reason for that shortly.) Instead, it was recorded in Australia by Liv Maessen, a woman with a rather unusual voice.

Milesago describes Liv's voice as a "deep, resonant contralto". I call it "disturbingly deep" (or, if you prefer, "deeply disturbing").

I'll let someone else give you the reason for Liv's (rather than Mary's) version of "Knock Knock, Who's There" racing up the charts in 1970:

"In 1970, a dispute over royalties between record companies and radio stations resulted in the infamous 'radio ban', in which the commercial radio stations around Australia refused to play recordings originating from the UK. Consequently, many home-grown versions of British hits topped the local chart. One such Australia-only hit was Liv Maessen's version of the Mary Hopkin chart-topper Knock Knock, Who's There. The Liv Maessen version reached No. 1 in Sydney and No. 2 on the Australian national chart."

That's from a 10-CD box set I own called The Best Singles Of All Time (they're not) Volume 2, subtitled 200 Classic Songs (well, not all of them).

If you think you're missing out by not hearing Mary's version, fear not – here it is:

Mary Hopkin - "Knock Knock Who's There?" (1970)

Link


What a difference in voices. Although I grew up with Liv's version, and it's firmly implanted in my musical DNA, I can admit to preferring Mary's voice.

I can also admit that my first ever crush was on Mary Hopkin, too. (Ah, to be 8 and in love...)

Oh, by the way: "Knock Knock, Who's There?" came second at Eurovision. The winner was Ireland with the unbelievably twee "All Kinds Of Everything," performed by Dana:

Dana - "All Kinds Of Everything" (1970)

Link


(*I was going to type 'earworm' – that's the phrase most people use nowadays for incredibly catchy songs – but I don't like the word, mainly because I take it literally. I actually imagine a worm in someone's ear, and I'm not especially fond of imagining that...)

Song of the day: Electric Hippies - "Greedy People"

Here are the Electric Hippies with their only single, "Greedy People" (1994):


Link


I was going to call them a one-hit wonder, but "Greedy People" only managed to peak at number 29 in the Australian charts – and stayed there for just one week. Well, at least it was a Top 30 hit.

The band came about as a result of two members of Noiseworks (guitarist/keyboardist Justin Stanley and bass player Steve Balbi) being dissatisfied with that band's creative stagnation (or, as Wikipedia puts it, "lack of progress"). So they formed Electric Hippies to get their ideas out. They released one album then disappeared.

If you're thinking to yourself that "Greedy People" sounds a bit Jellyfish-ish, or has an Imperial Drag vibe to it, you wouldn't be far off the mark. Get a load of the video for another Electric Hippies song, "I Believe In You":



Speaking of Jellyfish...

You probably won't believe this, but in one of those "It's a small world..." coincidences that get people thinking cosmic thoughts, both Justin Stanley and ex-Jellyfisher Roger Manning are currently in Beck's touring band. And they both expanded their names, too – nowadays, Justin Stanley is known as Justin M Stanley, and Roger Manning is known as Roger Joseph Manning Jr.

It's cosmic, man.

Electric Hippies on MySpace

Song of the day: Spazzys - "Hey Hey Baby"

Here are the Spazzys with "Hey Hey Baby" (2004):


Link



The Spazzys are a trio from Melbourne and worship a well-known band from the US.

Here are the Spazzys in full-on Ramones-worshipping mode with "Paco Doesn't Love Me" (complete with a "Hey ho, let's go!"):



I much prefer them in bubblegum mode (i.e., "Hey Hey Baby"), but each to their own...

Spazzys on MySpace

Musical coincidences # 17

In Kate Ceberano's "Pash" (1997), there's a little instrumental bit played on a trumpet that pops up regularly in the song. Here's one instance of it:


Link

Now here's a bit of War's impossibly cool "Low Rider" (1975):


Link

That's probably a coincidence.

Here are the full versions of each song:

Kate Ceberano - "Pash" (1997)

Link



I'd never paid much attention to the lyrics of "Pash" before. Listening to the song again, I'm not glad that I paid attention this time. Kate sings at one point that she wants to "crawl into your mouth." No, thank you, Kate.

War - "Low Rider" (1975)

Link



Whenever I listen to "Low Rider" I want to put on a pair of sunglasses and say, in the deepest voice imaginable: "Oh, yeah."

Song of the day: DM3 - "Just Like Nancy"

Here's DM3 with "Just Like Nancy" (1999):


Link

DM3 is headed by Dom Mariani, a doyen of Australia's rather small but enthusiastic power pop scene. You can read more about (and download a mighty fine mix tape of) Dom Mariani at The Un-Herd Music blog.

DM3 on MySpace
Dom Mariani on MySpace

Unexpected power poppers: Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John recorded "Twist Of Fate" as the theme tune from the movie Two of a Kind, the 1983 turkey which reteamed our Livvy and John "Thanks for giving me a second chance on my career, Quentin. Can somebody now give me a third chance?" Travolta after their success together in Grease.

Olivia had left her "Banks Of The Ohio" and "I Honestly Love You" soft country rock and ballad days far behind her when she released "Twist Of Fate." (She'd even moved on from when she was Physical in 1981.) "Twist Of Fate" is a rockin' little ditty, full of insistent 80s synths, but with enough guitars and tunes for me to say "Yep – it's power pop":

Olivia Newton-John - Twist Of Fate" (1983)

Link