Seven Songs for the Week #66

I am a huge fan of the band Spoon. Having said that, I think of Spoon as Britt Daniel and Jim Eno. Anyone else in the band is a mystery to me. The Spoon subreddit told me that Benny Trojan, the Spoon bassist, had an upcoming solo album in August, and this is a track form it. I asked the teenager what year that thought this song was from and they said "1966... or now". They have learned well.

Robert Hazard passed away in 2008 at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer. You know one of his songs, but this is not it. Escalator of Life got to 58 in the US charts and was the only US hit he had in his own name. It's very of its time, but with a sound that has come around again. His mannered vocals scream Bowie, but you could imagine this song being by early eighties Sparks.

Robert Hazard also wrote Girls Just Want To Have Fun in 1979. He never officially released a version of the song himself, but the demo is online and reveals a very new wave-y track with a sub-Costello vocal, a different structure and an extraneous bridge. The track was radically overhauled for the Cyndi Lauper version, but Hazard kept the sole credit. I hope the royalties kept him comfortable all his days - Girls... was a hit everywhere and Cyndi's album sold 9 million in the US alone.

Donna Summer has popped up twice this week. I recently bought a 4CD Now 12" 1980 compilation for a £10 and her extended verison of On The Radio was on it. I was going to put out a playlist made up of songs called On The Radio, and I found this Chip Taylor version of Regina Spektor's On The Radio. It's enjoyably weary. Chip Taylor, here are the three facts that always get trotted out about him: (1) He wrote Wild Thing (2) He wrote Angel of the Morning (3) His brother is Jon Voight [fact (3b) His Niece is Angelina Jolie]

Onto Donna herself. I was in charge of a laptop at a bit of a do last weekend and I Feel Love was requested. You can never turn down a request for this track, it obviously still sounds great and the Atmos version sounds suitable otherworldly (on my laptop at least).

Two tracks now from that 4CD Now 12" 1980 compilation. First up, Viola Wills' version of the Gordon Lightfoot standard. I hadn't heard this version before, but the breakdown about 2:30 is lovely and then there's the great big piano chords. Lovely. Does anyone else think that The Greatest Love of All ripped off this song, in particular the bit "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows" sounds like "In a castle dark or a fortress strong With chains upon my feet" from IYCRMM.

Second up it's this track and when it started up I obviously cribbed that it's the original version of Ride On Time, but obviously better. A great overview of how Disco changed to Dance in a decade.

A bit of YMO to close out...