Tag: 1990s

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Tunes

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

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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.

Categories
Playlists

Playlist: May (or May not)

It’s been quite a while since I’ve put together and shared one of these playlists on here. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I purposely put together a mix of any sort, even for myself, for my own consumption. I typically just press shuffle on a massive collection I have on Apple Music of some of my favourite songs and go with whatever Apple puts forward. And yeah, of course, it’s always good. However, I felt inspired this week, even as I recover from a nasty spring cold, and decided a new mix was in order.

The inspiration? This winter felt very, very long to me, even longer than normal. December and January actually feel like a complete void to me because of the health issues I was experiencing at the time and then February got cold, real cold, and we received dumping after dumping of snow. March was a mixed bag weather-wise and April seems to have been unseasonably cold and rainy*. Things finally felt like they turned the corner when the calendar was flipped to May last week, even though I haven’t necessarily felt well enough to get outside to enjoy it just yet. The sun has been out, brightening everything and warming everything up. I’ve heard the chirping of birds every morning, the grass on the ground is coming in green and the trees lining my street are starting to bud. All of this has cheered me considerably and has me hoping for good things for the rest of the year.

So I wanted to put together some tunes that reflect this feeling. You know? A collection of the kind of songs that just scream sunshine and flowers. A melody that brings a smile to your face and lyrics that beg to be sung along with. Tunes that perk you up from the very first notes and have you wanting to get up and dance, wherever you are, whoever you’re with.

Many of these songs are old favourites (like “Lay back in the sun”, “Everything you’ve done wrong”, and “Movin’ on up”) and have appeared on many of my mixes over the years, some of which may have already appeared on playlists on this site. Some of these songs are newer ‘classics’ (like “Weighty ghost” and “Dreaming of you”) and some are even brand new tunes that I can’t seem to loosen from my head when the mood takes (like “Somebody new” and “Simmering”).

I’ve kept the playlist to twenty-five songs to keep it from being unwieldy but there were many more that I could have added. Perhaps there will be a volume two to share if the summer turns out to be as positive as I’m hoping it will be and if the mood takes me to make another mix to share so soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this collection of songs as much I’ve enjoyed putting it together and that you play them on repeat like I’ve been doing this week. Perhaps they’ll bring the same wide smile that I’ve had on at times while listening. I sincerely hope so.

For those who don’t use Apple Music, here is the entire playlist, with links to YouTube videos:

1. Spiritualized “Lay back in the sun”
2. Bedouin Soundclash “When the night feels my song”
3. The Waterboys “Glastonbury song”
4. The Cure “Friday I’m in love”
5. The Submarines “You me and the bourgeoisie”
6. The Verve “Bitter sweet symphony”
7. Real Estate “Somebody new”
8. Wintersleep “Weighty ghost”
9. Sloan “Everything you’ve done wrong”
10. Pixies “Here comes your man”
11. The Coral “Dreaming of you”
12. Suede “Beautiful ones”
13. Luna “California (all the way)”
14. Doves “Catch the sun”
15. Violent Femmes “Blister in the sun”
16. Allo Darlin’ “We come from the same place”
17. Primal Scream “Movin’ on up”
18. Morrissey “Sing your life”
19. Belle & Sebastian “The boy with the arab strap”
20. The Radio Dept. “This time around”
21. Young Galaxy “We have everything”
22. Blind Melon “No rain”
23. Pale Blue Eyes “Simmering”
24. The Clientele “Bookshop Casanova”
25. The High Dials “Our time is coming soon”

And here is the promised link to the Apple Music playlist.

*Yeah, I know, April is known to be rainy… but still…

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1994: #30 Beck “Loser”

#29 >>

I’m starting off this list of my favourite tunes of 1994 with an artist with whom many of you are likely quite familiar. In fact, you’re all probably more familiar with Beck Hansen (also known mononymously as Beck) than is this humble blogger.

I remember hearing this very track on alternative radio and watching the video on MuchMusic ad nauseum back in ‘94. I found it amusing at first, deeming the tune catchy yet quirky, but soon grew to dislike it, as well as the other single* that was being slogged from “Mellow gold”. The singles from his next album, “Odelay”, though they too were overplayed, rang more true for me and I purchased that album on CD. I very nearly became a fan after that, if it weren’t for the Britpop explosion that followed, dragging my tastes in a completely different direction for a time. Still, I paid attention when I heard his name spoken on commercial radio over the years that followed but it took catching him at Osheaga back in 2013 to finally hook me for good.

In truth, “Loser” was originally released as a single in 1993. It was released by indie label Bong Load Custom Records with a limited pressing and somehow got picked up by college radio stations along the west coast. Modern rock stations started playing it next and pressings quickly sold out. Our hero musician, who from his folk roots had always been indie at heart, found himself signing with a major label, DGC, to keep up with demand. They re-released the song in 1994 as a preface to Beck’s third album but first on a major label, the aforementioned “Mellow gold”. The rest, of course, is history. A dozen or so albums released, millions of units sold, Brit awards, Grammys, household name.

“You can’t write if you can’t relate
Trade the cash for the beef for the body for the hate
And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite
That’s choking on the splinters”

In hindsight, this is a crazy tune and crazy that it became so successful. Beck mixes and matches with genres and sounds, throwing blues, folk, and hip hop into the meat grinder and cranking away. He’s got samples, a wicked drum machine beat, slide guitar, and sitar**. Above it all Beck is spewing nonsensical words at random in a rough hewn sing-speak that some have strangely compared to Dylan. By contrast, Beck has called out his own rapping prowess, which incidentally, is the real basis for chorus line that became like a clarion call for the so-called slacker image of generation X.

“Soy un perdedor
I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”

*I remember making the connection for a university acquaintance between “Beercan” and the artist that performed “Loser”, without realizing until later I was sounding arrogant and making her feel small. Not one of my finer moments.

**When I saw him at Osheaga, he had Elephant Stone’s Rishi Dhir playing the sitar on stage with him.

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