Beard here now . Ian McKellen as Gandalf in Jehovah of the Rings "Yes this is worse than 'Bicycles', wrote Suzi last weekend and I could see her place of view. Bicycles was, and shall remain, a prince among topics, one that allowed us to research issues of community, freedom and how pleasant it feels to pootle along at 10mph in suburban Surrey.
Bicycles was a brilliant topic, the best, and any other root is leaving to die in comparison.
I may not have been well for the nomming, but last week's thread was right for the interpretation and unlikely in the listening, most notably in the list of 60s curios nominated.
Some of them make yet made the A-list (click on to take the tower that discusses the choices): The Beatles are in town - The Fondettes; Ringo Beat - Ella Fitzgerald; What More Can I Say? - Danger Mouse; Guitarrero - Luis Vagner; Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl? - The Barbarians; Randy Scout Git (Alternate title) - The Monkees; Kiss Me - The Wave Pictures; The Beatles and the Stones - House of Love; When We Was Fab - George Harrison; Hey Joe - Daniel Johnston.
After that, it seems only legitimate to continue to the B-list. And so we shall:
The Residents - Beyond the Vale of a Day in the Life
Russ Meyer meets Sergeant Pepper via a hitch in Hotel Brain Bend. A total freak of a song, and so stiff in psychedelia it's a storm to feel it was made in 1977.
The Beatles - Glass Onion
Oh yeah. A bit too zedded for the A-list (even for me), but despite the frazzled edges of this song, I wish the ease at its core: three chords, short lines, flat intonation. Unusual Beatles.
Captain Beefheart - Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones
Get off the drugs son! Or if you're not on drugs, then please severely limit your photo to avant-garde rock'n'roll! Not really, Beef fans! This call might be wilfully difficult (cocking a snook at the Fabs) but it's certainly intriguing and has a bit of a groove too.
PiL - No Birds
Couldn't quite establish securely in my own idea that this was, as claimed, a return to And Your Bird Can Sing, but it is a part of both manic and mournful rock'n'roll. Plus it's got the same guitar line as Jilted John.
Titles - Barclay James Harvest
A corny conceit (compiling lyrics from Beatles titles), that doesn't contain this call from actually being both touching and melodic.
The Stones - We Know You
Liked this a lot. Again it's been chipped right from the ehart of the 60s and, like Beefheart and Glass Onion, it has experimental aspirations. But beyond that, it still rocks.
The Wild Race - Girl at the Window
Loved all the stuff about Jeff Lynne on the wind and his position as Beatles fanboy #1. This sounds more like a Beach Boys offcut mind, but the lyrics are unimpeachable in their brown-nosing: "They were playing lovely tunes/ by the fall of the moon."
Beta Band - Space Beatle
A part of noughties psychedlia to complement the originals, complete with ticking-clock percussion and dreamy harmonies.
Billy Joel - We Didn't Get the Fire
It may be just Marconius and myself who have fond feelings for this number, but look back, the 80s had a certainty, a trust that reflected the 60s and so a cut that, in the year the Berlin Wall fell, attempted to condense 50 days of account is not so out of place. Fukuyama rocks!
The Delgados - All You Take is Hate
A bit tangenital this, as I believe the Beatles link is special to the paronomasia of the title, but this is 4 minutes of well-composed and quite delightful bombastic indie.
So that's last week, but what most this? Illusion is the subject and not the sort you're thought of. Unless you're thought of Michael Moorcock, in which case, it is. Basically I am looking for songs set in imagined worlds. So this may cast into science fiction territory, but it also applies to mythical worlds or, you know, ones with hobbits and stuff. I'll be on the blog tomorrow should clarification be needed, but I trust this topic finds you well.
The toolbox: Archive, the Marconium and the Spill.
The rulebook:
DO post your nominations before noon on Monday if you like them to be considered.
DO post justifications of your choices wherever possible.
DO NOT carry more than one third of the lyrics of any song.
DO NOT dump lists of nominations - if you must send more than two or 3 at once, please try to free your choices.
Finally, no biting, spitting, buking, puking or hair pulling.
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