Seven Songs for the Week #174 - 5th Aug 26

This week’s list is informed from being at the All Together Now festival last weekend. I was most excited about was Pulp, even though I’ve seen them before. I managed to get right up to the front and watch Jarvis from about 10 foot away, which I would recommend. It was the most 20th century gig experience I’ve had in a while - very few phones, lots of jumping up and down. It speaks to the quality of the Pulp comeback that this new song was a highlight.

Heard on the PA right after Pulp. There are lot of things I don’t like about The Clash but this song is not one of them. Might be time for a full Sandanista listen-thru.

DJ Paudie, from Kerry, finished his Saturday evening set with this track. De La Soul popping up a lot this year.

Twice I went by some random tent and someone was belting a Joe Dolan number, and twice someone walked past me with a Joe t-shirt on. This means I experienced more passive Joe Dolan at the festival than Beatles by a factor of four. If you’re Irish you know who Joe is; if you are not, it’s tricky to explain his place in the Irish culture, but I’ll try. Emerging from the Drifters (not them) showband in the 1960s, he became a beloved entertainer in Ireland with the adage “there’s no show like a Joe show”. In the 1990s he gained a new wave of young follwers by releasing covers of The Universal and Common People who were tricked by the associated post-modern irony to experiencing his genuine live showmanship. Joe passed away in 2007 at the age of 68. He is commemorated with a statue and a bridge in his home town of Mullingar. Also, he was nearly my godfather, but that’s another story.

I don’t know The Replacements as well as I should. Whenever I hear them, I like them, but have never taken the time to ingest it all. Swinging Party was playing on the PA over the weekend and it sounded good to me. It has to be said that the newer Ed Stasium mix is miles ahead of the original version. In fact, it’s a brilliant lesson in the power of the mixer’s art to put the two versions side by side and realise how the same recording can be presented so differently by how the base materials are managed.

There were two celebrations of Talking Heads/David Byrne at ATN. The latter on Sunday night was an abridged recreation of Stop Making Sense. The previous evening had “Byrne’s Night” a celebration of all things DB/TH hosted by a drag queen with a constantly rotating crew of singers and players. Amidst the usual hits, the guitarist stepped forward to perform this song, which is one I hadn’t thought of for a while.

The fun of festivals is seeing things that you would never have thought to go see by yourself. Barrington Levy was down to play in a tent on Sunday at 15:50. This slipped to 16:00. Then the band appeared at about 16:20 and did a rapid, real-time set up and soundcheck, vamping until it seemed everything was working. By 16:35 we were ready to go, and the man himself came out on stage, and did his thing. Despite getting the crowd to sing “more” and “run that track!” the late start meant an overrun and at 17:15 his mic was switched off because Kate Nash was due on at half-past, and you don’t keep Nash waiting.