Gogol Bordello is another recommendation from my sister, this ‘Gypsy-punk’ group based on the Lower East Side of New York. I’ve been to a few weddings lately, so this strikes a bit of a chord. Never been to an American wedding, but it sounds like a tame affair compared to some of the receptions I’ve attended in the past few weeks.

Our protagonist finds himself at a bland, asinine wedding somewhere in the US. Instead of the “supply that’s gonna last three days” and the “band that lights on fire”, it’s people leaving early, tame music, too much wedding cake and people “staring at the floor”.

The chorus is a wordless “Daaaa-da-da-de-da-da-da”, sounding a little bit like Joe Strummer trying to drown out the sound of someone he doesn’t want to listen to. Gogol Bordello are The Clash meets The Pogues, with a little sped-up Beirut thrown in. Fiddles and accordion do battle with the guitar, bass and drums to muster up a heavy concoction that’s as intoxicating as the vodka he’s craving.

Here’s the video to ‘American Wedding’. It captures the feeling of the song perfectly, and makes me want to go to a Russian wedding, though I’d have to pass on the marinated herring. Splurgh!

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For those of you that don’t know Tubeway Army was an alias that Gary Numan used in the late 70’s before embarking on a successful solo career as, well, Gary Numan (b.t.w another stage name). A few years ago I decided to check him out at the electric picnic festival but only based on two songs of his that are by far his most popular songs - Are Friends Electric and Cars. As these songs epitomise the whole 80’s snyth pop era. What suprised me about his live performance was how heavy his music was, real hard rock at times. I was expecting keyboards, synthesiser’s etc but found gibson’s instead and he was brilliant.

This song features some very heavy use of synthesiser’s which reach some very high notes and backed up by your normal drum and bass digest. To be honest I haven’t a clue what the song is about except that he’s talking about friends or so called friends which I believe are ‘robots’ judging by the song title. Here’s a live version of the song that was performed on the Old Grey Whistle Test music show. By the way the spoken word in the song reminds me a little of Mark E. Smith….

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The Guardian recently had a free supplement on a great songwriter each day for a week, and Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, was featured on the final day. No doubt this was greeted with howls of derision, but I think he’s a great lyricist. He does slice-of-young-English-life vignettes better than anyone since Paul Weller, and has a great ear for a melody.

‘Brianstorm’ was the first single off of Favourite Worst Nightmare, the Monkeys’ “difficult” second album. It starts off hot and heavy (the drummer took boxing training to build the upper-body strength), with a guitar riff not a million miles removed from the Pulp Fiction theme.

The lyrics poke fun at a ‘pick-up artist’ who gets the girls going and gets the lads fuming (“Some want to kiss, some want to kick you”), and who’s got a whole schtick that’s based on fashion (“t-shirt and ties combination”) and technique (“your renditions and jokes”). We all know one.

The drums let off in parts, but only to build up to the next climax. It’s an exciting listen, and a refreshing change from the usual indie single in that it’s not afraid to be loud and ballsy. Here’s the video - if you like the Arctic Monkeys, check out their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Personal fave tunes include ‘A Certain Romance’, ‘Red Light Indicates Doors are Secure’, and ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’. But none of them beats ‘Brianstorm’.

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I wanted to write about the song at the begining of the summer but was holding off for the summer to truly kick with great weather, BBQ’s and beer gardens but sadly it never really came at all so I’m to write about it now in the hope that it will bring some enjoyment (and not depression) when the weather is god damn awful. I’ve given up on ever again seeing a week of sunshine here…

Taken from Derry’s finest The Undertones and their first album aptly named, The Undertones, and clocks in typical punk/post punk fashion at a measly 1.43 minutes. Don’t let the relative shortness of the song deter you from this upbeat, enjoyable ditty (which is not typical of punk / post punk bands).

The context of the song is basically an ode to beaches and girls in skimpy clothes which is what most guys look forward to in the summer. I particularily like the first verse which goes something like

‘Oh baby baby what can I do
You know you drive me crazy when I’m looking at you
The summer’s really here and it’s time to come out
Time to discover what fun is about‘

The second and third verses are repeated and create images of lying on the beach looking at girls
that have a bit of colour instead of the pasty Irishness that is evident the rest of the year.

‘Keep looking for the girls with their faces all tanned
Lying on the beaches all covered in sand
Stretching out their long legs lying in the sun
They know they’re beautiful they’re having fun‘

God I need a holiday !!

Anyway you can watch the song here

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The song today is taken from Depeche Mode’s classic albumViolator. It’s strange but everytime I go on a short european break you nearly always end up hearing these guys on the loud speaker’s in pubs, restaurants etc, not that I’m complaining but it’s just a curious observation. There are many songs you write about from the band - Personal Jesus, Just Can’t Get Enough, Enjoy the Silence etc but this song really stands out for me. Many thoughts can be drived from the lyrical content from drugs, spirituality, relationships but for it means cleansing yourself from something you do want….

There is no traditional verse / chorus /melody in the song and the band totally let’s the lyrics speak for themselves as the music (especially the drums) play second fiddle. There is really not much to say about the song as the words pretty much speak for themselves. Some sample’s are

”The cleanest I’ve been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I’ve seen’

or

‘Now that I’m clean
You know what I mean
I’ve broken my fall
Put an end to it all
I’ve changed my routine
Now I’m clean’

It’s a deeply sincere, open and honest song arranged brilliantly and really worth checking out here if you get a chance.

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A good friend of mine loves this song. We’ve got a running joke whenever he’s near my iPod, in that he’s only got seven or eight songs that he’ll play, and ‘White Man…’ always gets a dusting off. He’s got a point - it’s a great song, probably the Clash’s finest moment. If you haven’t heard this before, and thought of the Clash as just another punk band, set your ears to, well, slightly surprised.

The ‘One, two, ah-one-two-three-four’ intro, followed by fairly loud guitars, might have you reaching for the volume control, but it then settles into a reggae-ish beat with one of the best basslines ever. And it’s well-known that I enjoy a good bassline. Well, this is easily in the top 5 all-time great basslines.

Joe Strummer starts giving out about going to see a ‘roots rock’ band, and finding that they have nothing of relevance to say to an audience that has “many black ears here to listen”. The next target is the British Army, and a bit of a whinge about how the government doesn’t care about young people, be they white or black.

Finally, Strummer belittles the ‘new wave’ groups that have followed in the Clash’s wake, with a sneer at Joy Division and their ‘overcoats’, and the Jam and their ‘Burton suits’. The story ends up with a white guy (presumably Strummer) in the middle of a riot and pleading with the angry mob that he’s just there as a cultural tourist.

At least that’s what I always got from the lyrics. Better explanations here, maybe. I always thought that Joe Strummer was a bit of a whinger, but at least he was always passionate. I saw The Future Is Unwritten a while back, and he comes across as very socially-conscious but also personally distant. Anyway, good documentary.

What really gets me with this song is the music. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon harmonise backing vocals, the bass needs no more eulogising, the chopped chords give it a cool reggae feel, and Topper’s drumming is magnificent as always.

Here’s the studio version, but for some reason the bass is a bit muted. If you can get this, do so, and listen to on headphones. The bass really is something else.

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With news of Tom Waits’ European tour (and the possibility of him visiting Ireland) filtering through, it’s as good a time as any to re-visit this classic from 1983’s Swordfishtrombones, the album that marked Waits’ move away from gruff, drunken piano ballads and into something a lot more interesting.

‘16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six’ sounds like the kind of thing that would be sung by a demented chain gang. The percussion consists of pipes being clanked, bins getting hit, and other strange, Beefheart-influenced stuff.

Waits’ voice itself is even gruffer than usual here - he barks the words out, and sounds like an enraged drunk. The theme of this song either seems to be about his lazy, unreliable “old pack mule”, or about some crow that he shot with his sixteen shells. As with a lot of Waits’ stuff, there’s room for interpretation. Some great lines here, but a personal favourite is “I blew me a hole about the size of a kickdrum”. If you listen, you’ll understand. I love Waits’ humour, it’s black and country-fied.

Here’s a live version of ‘16 Shells…’ that he performed live for his Big Time movie, but you should also check out the studio version on Swordfishtrombones. In fact, listen to the whole album, and pay particular attention to the title track, ‘Underground’, ‘Shore Leave’ and my own personal favourite, ‘Down Down Down’. Classic beatnik rock ‘n’ roll by the master.

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Of course, English post-punk circa 1978-1981 is where my heart’s really at. Elvis (the real Elvis, as in the Costello one), The Specials, Gang of Four, Joy Division, Public Image, and of course England’s finest, The Jam. Criminally under-rated, The Jam had at least three classic albums, but ‘When You’re Young’ was never on any of them - it seemed to be standard practice to leave certain songs off an album, not sure why.

Anyway, this song is one of their best, and perfectly encapsulates the feeling of growing up, of being young and vibrant and alive. The first line, “Life is timeless, days are long when you’re young” gets straight to the heart of the matter. As kids, we have no responsibility, and haven’t yet known the 9-5 drudgery that makes everyone a little bit cynical. Weller himself would have been 19 or 20 when this came out, so he was starting to learn.

A favourite line of mine from this song is “You pull on some weed, then you pull on someone when you’re young”. Perfectly describes the ‘throwing shapes’ and getting into fights that most young lads have gone through, be they city-dwellers or rural folk. Another classic is “the world is your oyster but the future’s a clam”.

Music-wise, it’s standard Jam-fare, and one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar, with it’s A-E chord progression. Drums and bass are tight as always, and Weller’s guitar crashes and smashes with just the right amount of treble. Here’s the video for the song - Weller the only person in history to make white socks and black slip-ons cool (almost). And here’s a cracking version they did on a TV show.

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I was going to write a review on my other favourite Fall song, ‘The War Against Intelligence’, just for the line “You think your haircut is distinguished, When it’s a blot on the English landscape”, which is probably my favourite lyric ever. But I can’t find a version of the song on YouTube, so ‘Cruiser’s Creek’ it is.

I only really got into The Fall in the last year or so, and ‘Cruiser’s Creek’ is the song that got me into them. When I got This Nation’s Saving Grace (great album) this was included as the last song, but I think it was one of those not-on-any-album singles.

“What really went on here? We only have this excerpt”. So begins the song, with the legendary Mark E. Smith bellowing into a megaphone. Then Brix Smith’s gigantic guitar riff kicks things off. If I was 12 or 13, I’d have had a serious crush on Brix (she’s on the right, Mark E. on the left), but all I remember from the mid-’80s music-wise is Guns ‘n’ Roses and Bon Jovi - football was more my thing back then (still is).

The song tells the story of an office swingers party gone surreal, with some lovely little observations (“Watch the shirt-tails flapping in the wind”, anyone?) over the thumping drums and monster guitar riff. You know it’s the mid-’80s, but The Fall make this sound effortlessly cool. This is the pinnacle of ’80s indie music - The Fall are criminally underrated and underheard, but I guess that makes it all the sweeter for those of us who are in on the secret. Here’s the video for ‘Cruiser’s Creek’.

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First track from the long serving British psychedelic/folk-rock band Hawkwind’s debut album of the same name. Hawkwind are one of these bands that I hear about from time to time but their music I don’t know much about. These guys have one of the longest discographies I’ve ever seen! I came across this song when it became available as a download from another music blog, can’t remember the actual name of the blog so if your reading this let me know and I’ll give a big shout out for introducing this song to me.

The track was then put on a random playlist of songs that I create every now and then of songs that I have but never really listen to and from there the song slowly crept up on me. The song starts slowly with a mandolin-like stringed instrument kick off and takes off from there into a 5-minute jam with the trusted harmonica as the central musical instrument. Below is the entire lyrical content of the song and in my opinion epitomises what a great song can do with so little words.

Well hurry on sundown
See what tomorrow brings
Hurry on sundown
See what tomorrow brings
Well it may bring war
Any old thing
Well look into your mind’s eye
See what you can see
There’s hundreds of people like you and me.
Hurry on Sundown X 3

When listening to the lyrics you are reminded of those awful days that you just want an end to in the hope that tomorrow will bring something better. Check out a great live version here and enjoy.

If anyone has any recommendations to any other Hawkwind songs and/or albums that I should get my hands on please leave a comment.

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