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Best tunes of 2020: #11 The Reds, Pinks and Purples “Forgotten names”

<< #12    |    #10 >>

Memory is a funny thing. And it seems to have gotten an even more bizarre sense of humour over the past half decade or so.

I used to have a great memory, being able to recall the names of every actor and every director of all my favourite films, having the names of all the great musicians and bands I love at my fingertips at the odd chance that someone might ask for my opinion or any music recommendations. It hasn’t been quite as reliable of late, some of that being related to certain medical issues that I’ve been recovering from, but some of it might just be my age, and even just the age we’ve been living in, with all the collective insanity of the last five years. All in all, my relationship with and my thoughts about memory have definitely changed and so when I think about it, see references to it in films and hear raps on the theme in music lyrics, I take note and ponder.

And even though it may not be the case, it feels like Glenn Donaldson, frontman and driving force behind The Reds, Pinks & Purples, also seems to have a complicated relationship with memories and nostalgia. His songs (and there are a lot of them of late) mostly sound like they are ruminations on some memory or other, whether explicitly or implicitly, directly through narrative or hinted at through the dreamlike quality of his music. Whenever I put on his records, I know that my mood is going to be quite nostalgic by the end, whether I started out that way or not.

I got into The Reds, Pinks & Purples with their third release, 2021’s “Uncommon weather“, and immediately went digging for more of their tunes. There was already plenty to find and there’s been no lack of new output every year, given that Donaldson has been quite prolific with this project, releasing over 8 albums and just as many (if not more) EPs since his first release in 2019. And the tunes have been consistently great, and consistent in their dream pop sound that hearkens back to heyday of late 80s John Hughes soundtrack material.

“I always said you were the thief
you’ll be a star
with a red guitar
you took from better bands we used to see”

Track two on “You might be happy someday”, the 2020 mini-album by The Reds, Pinks & Purples, is a spritely three and half minute wistful guitar jangle wonder called “Forgotten names”. It’s held together by a jaunty but cheerful drum beat, seemingly content to just hang out, cool for cats, simply drifting in all the reverb, but it’s there to tempt your toes to tap. Donaldson’s voice is typically plaintive, like a memory of a dream faintly remembered from a lemon-light sunny Sunday afternoon nap, the kind where you dip in and out of consciousness, you’ll never know which was which later on. It feels like a song about those people that have made a mark on us, like it or not, something they said or did coming back to haunt us at random moments, even though they may have only passed through our lives for a short time and though their names are long lost to us.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 1994: #29 The Lightning Seeds “Perfect”

<< #30   |   #28 >>

Back when I was a young man, especially in the years just before, during, and immediately after my time at university in Toronto, I was a proverbial night owl. I would often stay up all night and only go to bed a few hours after the sun rose on the new day.

This behaviour likely had its roots in the job that I started the year after I graduated high school, working at the local 7-Eleven. I often worked the midnight shift because I was the new guy, was young, and appreciated the meagre shift premium. And often on those shifts, my good friend Bowers, who was also a late nighter, would pop into the store on the nights he wasn’t himself working at the paint factory, coming in during the wee hours to rock the Addams Family pinball machine, shoot the proverbial poo with me and whichever young lady was my shift partner on the night, and we’d walk home together when my shift ended around 7am. On those nights when we were both off work, I’d head over to his place and we’d watch movies all night in his basement over pizzas and beers.

During university, I had no lack of friends who also enjoyed partying late into the night, drinking, listening to tunes, laughing, and generally being ridiculous. On those later evenings, there was always a point where others would disappear off to bed and only the hardy few remained. Those were the moments where the decision was made either to pack it in or realize that you might as well wait to make sure the sun came up. Of course, it was usually the latter.

And when the sun did peak its bright rays over the horizon, it was magic.

It was pure perfection. The air was crisp. The streets were quiet. The skies were replete with a myriad of colours. It felt like the world belonged to you (and your friends) and nobody else. There was a joy. But there was also a sadness.

This song, “Perfect” by The Lightning Seeds, perfectly* encapsulates this feeling, this mood, this magic. Frontman and driving force, Ian Broudie puts into music and words exactly how we all felt in those moments.

“Now tomorrow’s here today
And yesterday’s today’s just fade away
Watch the morning chase the night
Rolling home, it’s getting light
Feeling sleepy, full of wine
Fall in bed, just in time.”

“Perfect” is track one on the Liverpudlian indie pop band’s third album, “Jollification”. It starts off with low level music already in progress, sounding off in the distance like a faraway bird, a shadow in the bright blazing sunrise. Then, the song proper starts, a jolt of life, that second wind, roaring guitars and dancing synth washes and a drum beat that matches the beat of your heart. The song feels bright and wistfully happy – a song of hope for a new day but sadness for the night we’ve lost.

*Sorry, not sorry.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1994 list, click here.

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Eighties’ best 100 redux: #83 [Tie] Yazoo “Only you” (1982) & The Flying Pickets “Only you” (1983)

<< #84    |    #82 >>

The #83 position on this Eighties’ best 100 (redo) list is occupied by two very different versions of the same song: Yazoo’s original synth-heavy New Wave hit and The Flying Pickets’ a capella cover of “Only you”.

Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode after the release of their debut album, “Speak & spell”, in 1981 and formed Yazoo (known as Yaz in the U.S.) with vocalist Alison Moyet. “Only you” was released as the duo’s first single and would later appear on Yazoo’s synth pop trailblazing debut “Upstairs at Eric’s” in 1982 but was actually written by Clarke back when he was still with Mode. Yazoo would only release one more album before calling it quits in 1983 when Clarke went on to form Erasure (another synthpop duo) with Andy Bell.

Though Yazoo’s “Only you” hit #2 on the UK singles chart, it was actually beaten by The Flying Pickets’ a capella cover version of the same song. They scored the coveted Christmas number one spot on the UK singles chart in 1983 when they recorded and released it as their debut single. The Flying Pickets started as a six piece group that specialized in a capella covers and were very active on the political left. They have never officially broken up but the members have changed so much over the years that not a single original member remains.

Both versions of the song bring me back to grade 10 music class because this is where I first heard the two of them. Ms. Harrison, the music teacher, brought in The Flying Pickets’ version to play for us and to show us an example of a capella singing. Many in the class liked the song so much that we listened to it again the next day, and the next, and it got to be almost a daily ritual at the end of each class. Finally, someone in the class or maybe it was Ms. Harrison again (my memory on this is a bit fuzzy – it was a few decades ago) brought in the original Yazoo version to bask in the differences in sound, feel, and emotion. To this day, though I am a much bigger Yazoo fan than I am of The Flying Pickets (can’t say I know any of their other songs), I love both versions of this tune equally.

Here is the original Yazoo version:

Here is a cappella cover by The Flying Pickets:

Original Eighties best 100 position: #83

Favourite lyric: “All i needed was the love you gave / all I needed for another day / and all I ever knew / only you.” Okay. Maybe I’m cheating here because this is the chorus but I do love singing along with it.

Where are they now?: Yazoo reformed for a tour in 2008 that brought them through Europe and the US but that was pretty much it. Erasure is still very much Clarke’s primary project. And as I mentioned already, Flying Pickets are still plugging away out there somewhere.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.