Seven Songs for the Week #62

The first Bowie album I bought when it came out. The first album of "The Grand Reset" wherein Bowie sets himself up for the rest of his career. It's possible to see the last two albums - The Next Day & Blackstar - as somehow separate, but I don't believe that. If you were into Bowie in the 90s, as I was, then those albums were just continuations. The Next Day and Blackstar get the kudos because the world had caught up with Bowie, we were desperate to hear from him, and, most importantly, he kept radio silence throughout. 90s Bowie had an odd ubiquity where he'd pop up on Top of the Pops or TFI Friday and the secret sauce that was his mistique in the 1970s was non-existent. His music is better served by appearing as some kind of communique, and without the support of a whacky appearance on Comic Relief.

The video for this song is a gem. He looks amazing. He is in a range of costumes. He's doing full-on mime and dance. There's spoken word bits. How it wasn't a huge hit is a mystery - probably it was just odd enough to put people off.

I heard this in a shop a few weeks ago and should've added it to the list then. Marina is tops, and this song holds up.

Brutal Youth has just had its 30th birthday, and depending on the day, it's my favourite Costello album, possibly his best. I will make the case that it is a concept album, one that deals with time. This is particularly true in the back end of the album as EC thinks about London (London's Brilliant Parade), his possible alternate lives (My Science Fiction Twin, Rocking Horse Road), alternate partners (Just about Glad). Then there's the retrospective aspect of the cover image.

At the time, this album was a big deal for me, having come on board with Elvis in 1989 I did not think I would get to see and hear the Attractions ever again, but here they are on some, but not all, of the tracks. YTAES is one of them, and to me it sounds perfect. Every instrument sounds like it should, gorgeous melody, a climbing frame of a song structure, wild harmonies. What's it about? Still not totally sure. It opens with more of the album's childhood imagery and might have something to do with an alcoholic parent. Somebody decided to put this out as a single.

B.A.D. were kinda dumb, but at least they weren't The Clash. This track came on radio this week and it recalls a more innocent time where you could sample what you wanted to with consequence. There's a good tune in here, with every 1988 studio kitchen sink piled on top of it.

New Nick Lowe! It's sounds so very old.

John Linell from TMBG turns 65 this week, and to celebrate, the radio played this song. That seems too old for someone indefinitely boyish. It was a surprise to me that he would've been in his 30s when Flood came out, but then again in Purple Toupee he sings about remembering the JFK assassination, so it checks out.

Albarn is the king of wistful thinking (see what I did there?)