Little Loser's Lottery - Part 12 (for Brian)

Hello friends,


it's been a while, isn't it? The reason for this post is simple, and the handful of you who read this will be pleased to learn that this triumphant return of 'Little Loser's Lottery' is entirely the fault of Brian - out of 'Linear Tracking Lives'.


I was in conversation with him yesterday about the merits of Strawberry Switchblade and while we were at it, he questioned whether Little Loser might or might not already be too old to do another one of his lotteries.


Now, as we Germans automatically are used to do what Americans tell us to do (WW II, American occupation zone, your will is my command … you know the story), I immediately asked Little Loser (ten by now, and I never would have believed that puberty starts with ten these days. Now I know better, but thanks for asking!) and - believe it or not - he managed to pause Fortnite for a minute and picked five records out of the distressing rest of my collection, more or less with closed eyes.


I just looked that up: it is an embarrassing three and a half years since he did this for the last time and his luck has not left him by and large. I mean, the picks could have been better of course, but they could also have been much worse, I must say. It's mainly albums, so I chose what I considered to be the best tune out of the specific picks.


Here's what he came up with, friends:


1) Carmel - 'The Drum Is Everything' (Liberation Records '84)


Okay, I think I haven't listened to this once since …. 1984, I would guess. Still three of the tracks still rang a bell with me after all these years, I knew they were rather fine. 'More, More, More', 'The Drum Is Everything' and 'Rockin' On Suicide'. I went for the title track, so here's Carmel:

mp3: Carmel - 'The Drum Is Everything' ('84)

2) Hank Wangford - 'Stormy Horizons' (Sincere Sounds '90)

Isn't it strange how some records end up in your collection, records which you are endlessly ashamed of some decades later? This is the case here, because the record is goddamn awful by and large. But there is a reason why I have it: years and years ago I bought a Beggars Banquet Label - compilation, the title of which now escapes me, and one of the tunes on it was by Hank Wankford: 'Never Wear Mascara (When You Love A Married Man)'. A sound advice of course, but I digress. Now, this track was so good that a few years later apparently I couldn't resist to buy this album here. I think it's fair to say though that this was a crucial mistake, I just flickered through the songs again in order to find the least disappointing one. And as we DJ's know: Side A, Track A is always the safest, so here you are:

mp3: Hank Wangford: 'My Lips Want To Stay' ('90)

3) The Pogues - 'Red Roses For Me' (Stiff Records '84)

Yes, well done, Little Loser! Another one I haven't listened to for much too long (contrary to their second album, which finds itself on the turntable quite often, don't know why this is). Who would have thought at the time that Shane McGowan is still alive (albeit not kicking in one form or another) in 2018? Not me, that's for sure! And it only took me a second to decide what's the best song on this album, it's this one in fact:

mp3: The Pogues - 'Boys From The County Hell' ('84)

4) The Wild Swans - 'Revolutionary Spirit' (Zoo Records '82)

Which goes to show that Little Loser apparently also has an appetite for fine art: I'm sure his eyes were not fully closed and he liked the sleeve, which shows 'The Lament for Icarus' by H.J. Draper. A total classic, of course (the tune, not the drawing), and it's always fine to hear it again once in a while. One would think that this record is a bit of collectors' item these days, but apparently this isn't the case: you get it on discogs for the value of a lunchbreak at McDonalds. For one person. A shame, really, because it's outstandingly good, this!

mp3: The Wild Swans - 'Revolutionary Spirit' ('82)

5) Various Artists - 'Submarine Tracks & Fool's Gold - Chiswick Chartbusters Volume One' (Chiswick Records '77)

Of course there can't be an argument about what is the best track on this compilation: The 101'ers' 'Keys To Your Heart'. Which, in my humble opinion, is better than a lot of Clash - tunes in fact! But everybody knows this by heart by now, so I decided to go for the other number The 101'ers are featured with on this compilation. Perhaps this brightens your horizon or something, if not, it's not a bad tune either, I think. Obviously I'm too young to know, but I'm sure people having heard this at the time it came out (June 1976) would have thought: "Boy, this guy Strummer has a remarkable voice, perhaps I should pay good attention to what he does in the future." And, as we all know, except for George, they would have been quite right in doing so:

mp3: The 101'ers - '5 Star Rock 'n' Roll Petrol' ('76)

And that's it for this week, friends. Hope you enjoyed Little Loser's picks. I'm convinced that if you tell him in the comment section, he might have another go fairly soon.

All the best, and if we don't speak before: have a very happy Christmas!

Dirk









Monday's Long Song

Dearest friends,


to my great dismay I have to tell you that I just found that apparently google and/or boxnet seem to have managed not to publish all the hundreds of posts that I prepared in advance 18 months ago in order to appear here on more or less a daily basis for your sheer enjoyment: unbelievable, isn't it? Then again this just shows me to check my own blog more frequently … so: no hard feelings, right?


Either way, Monday's long song it is, and more or less immediately I thought of this gem:


Crispy Ambulance - 'The Presence' ('81)


'The Presence' was (and still is, I suppose) the A-Side from Crispy Ambulance's third single, 'Live On A Hot August Night', released on Factory Benelux (FAC BN 4) and it's 13:05 minutes long. So, the length is okay, and as it's outstandingly good as well, it should easily qualify to feature in this series, I would have thought.

I searched a little bit to be in the position to tell you at least something about the band and found a great biography on Teen Beat (http://www.teenbeat.net/artists/crispyambulance.html) which also contains some Factory insights which might or might not be known to you already. I hope the nice people at Teen Beat won't sue me for a little bit of the good ole' copy/paste - job:


Following the death of Ian Curtis in May 1980, Rob Gretton became a Factory director, and in July persuaded Crispy Ambulance to release their next recording through the label. FAC 32 thus became Gretton's first-born in his capacity as an A&R man. Hempsall again:


 "Tony never liked us, but suffered us because Rob liked what we did. Since he had become an equal shareholder, Tony had no choice but to bite his lip."


After two promising if hardly exceptional singles, the first real sign that Crispy Ambulance were more than just a weird name came with the third, Live On A Hot August Night. Not live (and recorded at Cargo Studio in Rochdale in January) the session was produced by Martin Hannett, who achieved an astonishing sound ranked by some amongst his finest productions. The single comprised two extended tracks which sat together perfectly, despite being poles apart in terms of style. 'Concorde Square' was a bright, almost blinding guitar glide, and probably the closest the group ever came to writing a hit single, while 'The Presence' was lengthy, languid and hypnotic, drifting weightlessly above a soft electronic pulse and whiplash snare.

Although Factory shot a video for 'The Presence', the flipside's mordant six minute gregorian outro triggered a free transfer from Factory to European offshoot Factory Benelux, the single emerging as a 12" in July. Hempsall:

"'Hot August Night' was the first time we actually went into the studio as a Factory band. As a matter of course Hannett was used as he was The Factory Producer... Tony craftily got us off his back by depositing us on Factory Benelux, which we didn't object to because Tony was only making things difficult for us whilst on Factory, whereas Michel Duval, boss of Factory's Belgian counterpart, genuinely liked us, and had an enthusiasm for the records almost as strong as our own."

"Rob Gretton was always more interested in tunes than anything else, so when we had six minutes of voices and piano on the end of 'Concorde Square' he found this a bit strange. We began to move out of his field of understanding."

Comprehension was also found wanting in the fourth estate. According to Melody Maker:

"The best and worst of Martin Hannett and, as usual, you can forget about the band. 'The Presence' illustrates his genius for that eerie, evocative snare-obsessed sound, cleverly maintaining interest in another Curtis clone crooning another doomy dodo of a tune. 'Concorde Square', however, is the most melodramatic manifestation yet of his frustrating feedback fetish, allowing the group a begrudgingly cursory run for their money before picking put a particularly rich resonance and toying with it into uncharted territories of tedium. One for earnest New Orderites and strict Samaritan-cases only."

At least the Maker bothered to listen to the record - all 22 minutes - from beginning to end. In the opinion of the NME:

"After the power and the passion that was Joy Division, imitators like Crispy Ambulance just sound listless and unoriginal."

Although the switch to Factory Benelux was effectively a relegation, the move would prove Factory's loss, for the following year Crispy Ambulance delivered an album which many connoisseurs rightly regard as a jewel in the Factory crown ('The Plateau Phase', released in March 1982).


So, as usual, enjoy!


Dirk

The Glasgow Gathering

Well,


the weekend's over and we're all back home safely, I suppose. To my great dismay quite a few of you reading this couldn't make it - next time though, I sincerely hope - for various reasons. A real shame, and, believe me, you did miss a treat! But it only was a treat because of the love and the efforts and, yes, it must be said, the money that our people from Glasgow put into the whole thing. Yes, I had the idea in the first place, but if it weren't for Stevie (CC), Drew and especially JC: it wouldn't have been such a blast!


It was just two days,


Clash - '48 Hours' ('77)


but those two days were packed with everything you possibly could ask for. We had brilliant weather all the time, there wasn't a single cloud whatsoever


Little Man Tate - 'Reflection In His Sunglasses' ('08)


which made the whole event even more enjoyable. We've passed a museum or two and in order to impress Mrs Loser we even went in and out one for half a minute, so, yes, culture: checked! But, to be absolutely frank, most of the time we spent on the way to, in and in front of pubs, bars and venues, all of which were plain wonderful! I have a feeling as if we'd hit the gas a little bit too hard on the Friday,


Everything But The Girl - 'Draining The Bar' ('86)


perhaps we should've moved a bit of that to the Saturday, but there you are, these things happen. Brian


Baxendale - 'An American Friend' ('99)


will be able to confirm this, poor guy, so these next two are for him:


I, Ludicrous - 'My Baby's Got Jet Lag' ('87)


Ballboy - 'If My Hangover Was A Girl' (acoustic) ('06)


Still he found the time to become a friend of the stars, this next is by but one of those:


Pastels - 'Thank You For Being You' ('93)


If I had to name my favourite out of all the venues we had been into, I think I couldn't diminish it down to less than two: 'Nice & Sleazy' in Sauchiehall Street:

Stranglers - 'Nice 'n' Sleazy' ('78)

was particularly fine, so was Brel's beer garden in Ashton Lane

where some folk tend to do nothing else than checking their mobiles for boring football results without secession whilst others stand there open mouthed, shaking their head in disbelief about the sheer amount of most beautiful half naked young girls attending this venue. This is for you, ladies:


Ramones - 'Garden Of Serenity' ('87)


('Bring On The Nubiles' would've fitted perfectly as well, but we had The Stranglers before, hadn't we?)


Coming back to 'Nice & Sleazy', both nights' DJ's were excellent by and large and they played tunes I hadn't heard in ages, like this:


Medium Medium - 'Hungry, So Angry' ('81)


and this:


Q. Lazzarus - 'Goodbye Horses' ('88)


Very fine indeed!


Glasgow was a blast, there is no other way in describing it,


Jam - 'In The City' (Peel Session '77)


but the main thing, the important thing is, that finally I've met some people I've always wanted to see. I hope the others won't be too crossed when I say that I was mostly looking forward to JC, because I know him for so very long from writing. I suppose it doesn't make all too much sense to go into great detail here, because who reads this nonsense anyway apart from five or six people, and those were a) there or b) know all about the background? Still I want to point out - I mean, I would never have expected even one of you turning out to be a total wanker in the first place - how much it means to me that we all got so well along all the time. I might have drunken myself into oblivion, but honestly I don't think I've heard even one harsh word whilst we were together, everything was always friendly and peaceful and I constantly heard and saw our people laugh and smile. And this, at least as far as I'm concerned, is what turns a bunch of strangers into a group of friends.


So - and I do hope I'll forget no-one - Adam, Aldo, Brian, Carlo, Colin, Drew, JC, Stevie, Walter, this is for you. And it comes from the bottom of my heart:


Wedding Present - 'You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends' ('86)


In other words: I hope that this get-together will be repeated in one form or another wherever and when the majority wants it to happen. Also I hope that the ones who couldn't make it last weekend will be able to join then.


Take good care,


Dirk


PS: as promised, here's the link to the guy from Tokyo who made those Clash-shirts I wore all the time: https://www.etsy.com/shop/nobartco?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Coldplay Monday

Well,


very briefly, because normally I ain't got no time at all for this nonsense, but I promised to participate on the weekend and I'm already late if not too late in doing so, here's something by Coldplay (some twerp out of which is being pictured here, and no, I ain't got a clue why he's stark naked and playing around with his sub-navel delights):

Coldplay - 'Daylight' (mp3)

This band is of no interest whatsoever to me, never have been, so much so that I don't even have the slightest idea which of the two tunes of theirs I have in my collection (both on compilation CD's, since you're asking) is the superior one (if 'superior' is the right word in this context). You know what, just because I can't decide, you'll get the other one as well: at least this will please KC and I like her a lot, so she wins today's prize:

Coldplay - 'The Scientist' (mp3)

A better post covering last weekend in lenghty detail to follow within this week, promised!


Cheerio,


Dirk

"Here Come The Girls!"



                                                                                              

Hello friends,

yes, another one of those boring mixes, but, believe it or not, one I enjoyed doing mightily indeed!

My wife got hold of one of these radios from the 50's for the living room, you know what I mean, not originally from the 50's, brand new in fact, those cheap things that have a turntable and a tape slot, USB device plus radio function, but look as if they were from the 50's. The pick-up is utter crap, but the tape and the USB bit sounds pretty good. So in my wisdom - basically in order to avoid having to hear shitty radio stations chosen by Mrs. Loser all the time - I made up another one of those mixes and put it on some USB stick, so that at least I can listen to some good tunes from time to time without having to run upstairs and bring them all down separately.

Don't ask me why, but it turned out to be all women on this mix ... again. The last posts about girls making noise seem to have struck a chord with quite a few of you, so I thought "oh, why not, let's try it again!", so there you are, enjoy ...:

"Here Come The Girls" (mp3-mix)

 

clockwise left to right: Alison Moyet (Yazoo), Barbra Donovan (Glass Torpedoes), Björk Guðmundsdóttir (Sugarcubes), Amelia Fletcher (Heavenly)

clockwise left to right: Catherine Ringer (Les Rita Mitsouko), Cindy Wilson (B-52's), Claudia Brücken (Propaganda), Elizabeth Freeth (Bang Bang Machine)

clockwise left to right: Els Pynoo (Vive La Fete), Emily Haines (Metric), Johnny Johnson (Siddeleys), Harriet Wheeler (Sundays)

clockwise left to right: Julia Sophie Heslop (Little Fish), Justine Frischmann (Elastica), Katrina Mitchell (Pastels), Meriel Barham (Pale Saints)

clockwise left to right: Natalie Merchant (10.000 Maniacs), Poly Styrene, Rebby Sharp (Orthotonics), Renee Scroggins (ESG)

clockwise left to right: Rhoda Dakar (Bodysnatchers), Tabitha Tindale (Joy Zipper), Tammy Ealom (Dressy Bessy), Wendy Morgan (Popguns)

Something in it for everyone, I would have thought, right? Let me know what you think, right?

Until then, take good care,

Dirk

PS: ah, and isn't Els Pynoo smoking hot?! 

More Colorblind James Experience !!!

Good morning friends,


does it happen to you as well that you find yourself adapting more and more certain habits of your parents, bearing in mind that for the last 30 years or so you so often swore to yourself that this shall never happen? Well, it happens to me occasionally, but, as we'll find out in due course, it's not a bad thing at all:


My mum would never throw anything anway, and I mean never! A manner I disliked intensenly when I was younger, but yesterday I found out again that I am not much better than her: it's all in the genes, you see!


Over at Jez' place the topic of the most wonderful Colorblind James Experience came up a few days ago and the tune Jez posted seem to have struck chord with a few people. Now, early stuff from The Colorblind James Experience is not terribly easy to get hold of these days, but luckily I remembered that somewhere I still have a cassette of their second album, 'Why Should I Stand Up?', released in 1989, two years after the great debut album. Quite why I bought it on cassette back then and not on vinyl, I simply can't remember. Old age, for sure ....


In a true "Give-'Em-Enough-Rope - style" (everybody will understand what that means, apart from George, so there you are, sorry George!) the album certainly isn't as good as the first one. But, being colorblind myself - so there still is a certain affection from my side - I ripped it for you, should anyone be interested and - so I should add - we are talking about an original Cooking Vinyl - cassette, not one of those cassettes copied in the 80's from a friend on a dodgy tape deck who had a friend with a dodgy tape deck who copied the album from a friend who had it on second hand vinyl, no Sir!


See, it's good not to throw too many things away too early (I still do miss this bunch of early Postcard singles I gave away for 20 Deutschmarks back in the early 90's, oh boy! *), anything might become useful again sooner or later. The same is true for my dodgy tape deck, apparently, as this post shows!

Why Should I Stand Up?	6:09
She'll Break Yours, Too	2:27
Buster Cornelius	5:21
Polka Girl	1:50
Ride Board	3:36
I'm A Sailor	3:36
That's Entertainment	2:32
(He Must've Been) Quite A Guy	6:28
Wedding At Cana	6:06
Rockin' As Fast As I Can	3:57
Hi Fi Alphabet	5:29
If Nobody Loves You In Heaven	4:01

So, friends, enjoy, enjoy, I'm sure there are at least a few who certainly will!


Best,


Dirk


[*: just joking, Brian, just joking .... couldn't resist!]

Oh no ... it's Election Day !!!

Evening friends,


and especially American friends. There ain't many of you, I admit, but honestly, tonight I don't envy you one bit for being American (actually I don't do it at others nights either, but that's a different story): whatever you do, whichever of the two cunts you choose to vote for, you just can't do the right thing, I'm afraid.


And the main problem is that it won't be all too long before all of this will have a serious impact on European politics as well: God help us all!


Here are a few tunes that I just couldn't get out of me head within the last few days:


Johnny Osbourne - 'Politician' ('81)
Clash - 'I'm So Bored With The USA' (Demo Version '76)
Cortinas - 'Fascist Dictator' ('77)
Talking Heads - 'Don't Worry About The Government' (live Maynard, Mass. '77)
Dead Kennedys - 'We've Got A Bigger Problem Now' ('81)
Smirks - 'American Patriots' ('79)
Anti-Pasti - No Government' ('81)
Attila The Stockbroker - 'The Ballad Of Airstrip One' ('84)


Tonight's dilemma is so crucial, at least so it seems to me, that - in comparison to the the two jerks currently shivering on the other side of the Atlantic in the thought of whether or whether not they will be leader of the free world by tomorrow morning - the title of this next one has become true. And I never thought I'd ever say this:


Notsensibles - 'I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher' ('/9)


Ah well ...


Dirk


PS: I'd love to have included John Cooper Clarke's mighty 'Twat', because by and large it sums up neatly my thoughts about those two imbeciles, but for the life of me I couldn't find it. Sorry, but then again I suppose you know it by heart anyway ...

"Too Hot To Handle ... Rock's REAL Goddesses! ... Part 4"

Evening friends,


yeah, and you thought all of this nonsense was already finished? Well, so did I, but below comment came in from Badger:


"One slight correction. Swc once many moons ago whilst a journalist had a thing with one of keyboardists from Tiger. Not me. It was a long time ago. A few more suggestions whilst I'm here...
The singer from Summer Camp. The singer from Best Coast And an obvious one from swc alexis from Sleigh Bells. Much love Badger".


Very sorry, Badger & SWC, for my mistake in Part 1, no idea how this may have happened. Nevertheless, the real shame is that SWC still didn't reveal which of the three ladies pictured below is the keyboarder he once "had a thing with" .... we'll never know, I'm afraid!

Coming straight to Badger's/Badger on behalf of SWC's suggestion(s) then, here's to you:


Elizabeth Sankey out of Summer Camp:

Bethany Cosentino out of Best Coast:

Alexis Krauss out of Sleigh Bells:

Very neat, all three of them, it must be said: I trust you agree!

And here are the according tunes, enjoy, enjoy:

Summer Camp: 'Better Off Without You' ('11)

Best Coast: 'In My Eyes' ('15)

Sleigh Bells: 'End Of The Line' ('12)

See you soon, take good care,

Dirk

"Too Hot To Handle ... Rock's REAL Goddesses! ... Part 3"

Hello folks,

so, as promised, I got it ready in time: part three of Rock's REAL Goddesses, chosen in its entirety by our friend Robster! As you will be able to tell he indeed is a man of great taste - that's great as in gourmet, not as in glutton, mind you - so, without further ado, here are his goddesses of choice. Enjoy, enjoy!

Louise Post out of Veruca Salt: a great choice!

Veruca Salt - 'With David Bowie' (from 8 Arms To Hold You', '97)

Miki Berenyi out of Lush. Now, I know that at least another one of you (Hi, SA!) can identify with this, and rightly so, it must be said. What a girl!!

Lush - 'Single Girl' (7", '96)

Harriet Wheeler out of The Sundays. Most perfect again! I used to love her as well when the first record came out and I was a lucky chap whenever I had the chance to find a picture of Harriet in one of the music papers occasionally. Mind you, this was before the days of internet, you really had to do something in order to get near to your stars ... at least sort of near!

The Sundays - 'I Kicked A Boy' (from the 'Can't Be Sure' - 12", '89)

Louise Wener out of Sleeper. I don't have all too much by Sleeper, but I think upon the evidence of below picture I should rectify this situation immediately ... stunning!

Sleeper - 'Nice Guy Eddie' (7", '96)

Julianne Regan out of All About Eve. Hmmm, Robster's first choice I can't immediately identify with, but to each his own, I always say ....

All About Eve - 'Our Summer' (7", '87)

Julia Ruzicka out of Future Of The Left: another hot choice and perhaps even the cutest of the lot, Robster!

Future Of The Left - 'Fingers Become Thumbs' (Their first 7", '06)

Alright, that's it for today, friends. I hope you enjoyed my little summary ... I mean, YOU chose it all at the end of the day, well, Robster did in this case!!

Have fun,

Dirk

"Too Hot To Handle ... Rock's REAL Goddesses! ... Part 2"

A-OK,


very sorry, this took a little while, but my mum was in hospital and I was rather busy with finding some appropriate treatment for her afterwards. But it all went well in the end, she's back to form and will be able to stay in some specialized clinic from Wednesday on, so far, so good!


Quite a lot of suggestions came in since the last post, and in my true Miss Marple- style I collected them from the comment sections of various blogs. Astonishing, really, if you look at them all, I mean, tastes vary, and why not ... it simply shows that the few readers of this site are men of an acquired taste indeed! Needless to mention that most of the goddesses we fancy are way too young to even realize that we are in the same room with them (that's if we ever were, but you know what I mean), but hope dies last, so here's a summary of what your wet dreams are made of. Send your Missuses to the shopping center before you scroll down further, friends,  and keep your hands abbove the blanket, alright?


Walter came up with both Susanna Hoffs and Debbie Harry, the latter being Echorich's favourite as well. A most perfect choice, of course, and although numerous stunning pictures have been taken of Debbie in the last decades, this one here captured her best:




Also it's a song you don't hear all that often perhaps, a really well performed live version of the old favourite:

Blondie - 'Heroes' (live 1/12/80 at The Hammersmith Odeon, London)

And as for Susanna Hoffs, well, very old readers to this blog might or might not know, her and me nearly became a couple when she smiled a me at a gig in 1985 or thereabouts and boy, what a smile that was, unbelievable! Also I read an article at that time saying that apparently she fancied eating Mars bars under the shower, the pure thought of that alone still makes me shiver ... some 30 years later!

The Bangles - 'James' (from 'All Over The Place', 1984)

Next up we've Brian with his goddess of choice:

Now this is Elizabeth Morris out of Allo Darlin'! A band I don't know all too good, I'm ashamed to say and thus I only have a few songs to choose from. This is but one of them, a fine rendition of a Ramones - tune:

Allo Darlin' - 'I Wanna Be Sedated' (from the 'Covers - EP, '12)

Btw, Brian let me know via mail that Mrs LTL seems to live in great disapproval of our beloved Sturdy Girl, as pictured in all of her glory not only on this site, but on others as well. This of course, Brian, is a very critical situation and if it helps I'm happy to have a word with Mrs LTL at her earliest convenience in order to pinpoint to her all of Sturdy Girl's amenities!


Good, it's JC next. I've taken the piss often enough in reminding him about how Clare Grogan out of Altered Images once told him to bugger off, apparently he's gotten away with it by now, perhaps this is why he mentioned Stina Tweedale of Honeyblood to be his latest desire. Having a look at Steena, I do hope she'll treat you more respectfully than good ole' Clare did, should you ever have the chance to approach her. Perhaps you'll be a little bit more subtile too this time?

Honeyblood - 'Killer Bangs' (from 'Honeyblood', '14)

Just like Walter and Echorich, our Charity Chic seems to like it a bit of the old-fashioned way, and nothing wrong with that! His dreams consisted (still consist? We'll never know ...) of Siobhan Fahey out of Bananarama!

Another great choice and one I can perfectly identify with. Again. This is the only Bananarama record I own, so:

Bananarama - 'Cheers Then' (7", '82)

A little bit more contemporary than that - perhaps because he's younger than CC, I don't know, is our Swiss Adam, he seems to have a spot for Shirley Manson out of Garbage!

Cute, ey? Frightening, to a certain degree, but cute. Still I wouldn't like her to get angry with me, no Sir!

Garbage - 'Vow' (from 'Garbage', '95)

Badger, your turn! You mentioned 'the keyboardist in Tiger'. Now, somehow Tiger seem to have managed to keep the internet clean of pictures by themselves, this is the only one I could find, which means I have to break my self-imposed rule of showing no men in this post whatsoever!

Apparently Tiger had two keyboard players, Tina Whitlow and Dido Hallett. I leave it up to you to decide which of the three ladies pictured above is the one you admire ... I only hope it's not the tall giraffe in the back, she looks a bit like my sister back in 1985, so come on!

But a good racket they make, Tiger, here's:

Tiger - 'Race' (from 'We Are Puppets', '96)

Having had Badger, naturally we have to have SWC next ... obviously! And SWC went for a lady I would have gone for as well, the mighty Hope Sandoval out of Mazzy Star, unfulfilled dream of a thousand nights! This woman really is special and I'd give both my legs for spending just half an hour in conversation with her, believe me! I mean, not that I would be able to speak only one reasonable word, I would just sit there and stare at her sheepishly, but no matter ... it would do for me! I still can't understand that she spent so much time with this bad-tempered midget out of The Jesus And Mary Chain ... I would have carried her on my hands instead!

Mazzy Star - 'Blue Flower' (another cover, waaay better than the original by Slapp Happy) (from 'She Hangs Brightly', '90)

Apparently our friend Drew prefers the more Nordic type, stone cold, blonde and a bit dangerous. Then again he's from Scotland, which by and large is located on the same latitude as Denmark, home of  Sharin Foo out of The Raveonettes, someone else you wouldn't want to get in trouble with, I would think:

Ah well, I'm lost for words, you too, I suspect?

The Raveonettes - 'That Great Love Sound' (my favourite tune of theirs, a 7" from '03)

Moving on to Mr. 'More Soon' - Jez. He said: "Kim Deal. Not the front-woman of Pixies, but goddamit Kim and her twin sister Kelly in The Breeders". Now, if this made any sense to the rest of you, congratulations! I didn't understand it! Jez, are you trying to tell us that Kim looked a great deal differently when still being in The Pixies compared to how she looked when forming The Breeders a little while later? How confusing it all is, to be sure!

Either way, here are The Breeders, for you, mate:

The Breeders - 'So Sad About Us' (from the 'Safari' - EP, '92)

Phew, that's it for today, friends. I bet you've all been wondering why our friend Robster hasn't been featured. Well, he's a man of r.e.a.l.l.y. acquired taste, let's put it that way, so much so that the sheer mass of suggestions he came up with will easily fill a third part of this series! And if everything turns out according to plan (i.e. I get up early tomorrow morning and get this done before Little Loser comes back home - he's not in tonite, staying with two girls he goes to school with ... him being 8 years of age, now that's an example of how to do it properly for you, should you need one - I'll even have this third part ready fairly soon!

Until then, take good care,

Dirk

"Too Hot To Handle ... Rock's REAL Godesses!"

Evening fellows,

the sexiest woman in rock? To the five readers this blog has this certainly isn't bloody Tina Turner, although media tries to make you believe exactly that since 50 years!

No, we stayed young - well, only at heart, because, at least so I assume, our bellies and our thin hair don't make us look young at first sight nowadays. Perhaps that's why we still are deeply and profoundly in love with some of rock's hottest women, and I mean real hot! They started playing with their bands some 20-25-30 years ago and - unlike us - they have aged well, all of them ... must be their rock'n'roll lifestyle, surely!

When we were younger, they by and large were our age, so young and innocent. But contrary to us - having boring 9-5 - jobs and/or studying some nonsense - they already fronted a band. Which of course was waaaay cooler than everything anyone of us did back then. We admired them for what they did, they way they acted and we admired the racket they made. We admired what they said in interviews and we did our utmost to go and see them playing live, whenever we had the chance to do so. Yes, we also admired their good looks and in our dreams, we ... I mean, hey, we're male, so do you really expect anything else than that?

So what are the best bands led by awesome looking rock godesses? If you ask SA, it's Garbage, because of Shirley Manson. If you ask Charity Chic, it's Bananarama, because of Siobhan Fahey. If you ask JC, it'll doubtlessly be Altered Images, because of Clare Grogan. If you ask Badger, it's Mazzy Star, because of Hope Sandoval. If you ask Brian, it's Lush, because of Miki Berenyi. And if you ask Robster, it'll be all of the above plus an extraordinary number more, because our Robster is a man of taste, that's what he is!

So hopefully over the next weeks or so I will find the time to make further investigations and try to sort out some more bands in addition to those mentioned above, start a little rambling about them and add one or two tunes of theirs. Any suggestions are - of course - more than welcome here!

So, without further ado, let's start with a personal favourite of mine: Galaxie 500,  whose bass player and part-time vocalist was the outstandingly cute Naomi Yang, pictured in all of her glory here:

Now, some explanation: those pictures don't even show halfway how cute Naomi really was in real life, but it were the best ones I could find. And, believe it or not, I'm some kind of expert on Naomi, because I once stood right beneath here for half an hour at a gig in Germany in 1990, where Galaxie 500 were on one bill with James, Einstürzende Neubauten and others. I think it was James we watched together, but I cannot vouch for that these days as I was in a state of shock because of Naomi's presence. Literally we only stood about 30 centimeters away from each other, when suddenly her left hand slowly started caressing my  ..... no, I made that up, of course: the distance was true though, but nevertheless I did not manage to speak a single word to her in all of those 30 minutes. 'What a poor loser', you might think, and of course you'd be perfectly right!


The tunes? Well, neglectable, I hear you say! But we all know good looks ain't everything in life, so please enjoy:


1) 'Blue Thunder' - from the 'On Fire' album, '89
2) 'Ceremony' - from the 'Blue Thunder' 12", '90
3) 'Submission' - from a Peel Session, '90
4) 'Melt Away' - from the 'This Is Our Music' album, '90


So, I do hope you liked my choice for today and - to quote Jez from the ever wonderful 'A History Of Dubious Taste': more soon!


Regards,


Dirk

"Wales, You Deserve To Succeed!" (for Robster)

Well,


indeed do you, Welsh team, after yesterday's match! Having kicked the bloody Russians' arses the way you did on the pitch yesterday evening plus your fans' spirit justifies this little tribute perfectly well, I would think:




mp3: Armstrong: 'You Deserve To Succeed'


A neat tune, from 1996, and Armstrong are in fact a Welsh outfit, although I don't know where they come from exactly: I'm sure though Robster does .... I mean, at the end of the day, somehow they're all distantly related in Wales, aren't they?


Cheerio,


Dirk