Seven Songs for the Week #46

The fifth VW album arrives in May and the first two songs arrived this week. I don't think VW have put out a bad record yet. When you've created a singular style, is it your fault if something sounds too Vampireweekendy? The little classical piano break is very VW, and feels like it's been done before, but overall it's very good. The video is excellent, dirty 80s NYC is the theme of the album apparently, and I'm here for that.

Some songs never go away, and this is one of them. The Chart Show was a Saturday lunchtime staple on ITV in the late 80s and into the 90s. I don't think it gets enough credit for unleashing certain musics on the world, possibly because it was solely a show driven by music videos and charts with no host. Because it didn't have the Top of the Pops adherence to playing stuff from the charts (although that lessened on TOTP over the years), The Chart Show could play advance releases and premiere videos, it would also play murky records from the Indie charts. So when it played Fanfare as a new release premiere, it stuck out like a sore thumb. It still does. I had to buy the album to hear the song, I don't think I could tell you much more about the album than it starts with this song, and then you can hit "back" and listen to the song over and over. BBC 6 Music still plays it every month. This week it popped on off a playlist I was playing and the other half asked "what's that?!?" (in a good way) so this song is still doing it's thing.

I'm not sure why the 12 year old knew this song, but they asked me who sings the Blue Skies song. Realising it wasn't ELO, he meant this.

I have been listening to the 2014 podcast U Talkin' U2 To Me, the encyclopedic and comprehensive guide to all things U2. If you don't know it, it's very very silly, but they do love U2. They mentioned this song on their All That You Can't Leave Behind and it's a great example of how U2 can't leave stuff alone. A perfectly serviceable song, with an off-brand ELO vocal hook in the chorus, that didn't stop the '2 from stripping the track for parts: the chorus guitar gets copy and pasted into Beautiful Day, the guitars in the middle section reappear in City of Blinding Lights. I think this song could've worked as the closing track of ATYCLB, as a Beautiful Day (reprise) type thing.

It's the most magical time of the year - Record Store Day. The list came out this week for April 20th and this album, Izitso by Cat Stevens is on it. You know, if this was getting a regular release, I might pass it by, but put it out for RSD and suddenly I'm interested! Although the hit from this record was "Remember the Days of the old Schoolyard" (Cat's last hit) the album should be celebrated for this proto hip-hop George Clinton instrumental jam. Mmmmm, 1970s drum machines.

Mmmmm, 1970s drum machines, part two. And Record Store Day Part Two, as this is also getting a release. The third of Todd's remarkable three album run of Something/Anything, A Wizard... and this. I've only ever owned it on CD. Four sides might be a better way to ingest it...as originally intended.

"Be obsequious, purple & clairvoyant" is a phrase that has rattled around my head for decades. Actually, for most of that time I thought it was "the obsequious, purple and clairvoyant" which is more of a non-sequitur. Anyways, I was walking somewhere last week and it just popped into my head again. Everybody now...