Song of the day: Splendid - "Come Clean"

I was almost not going to play you today's song because of the swearing in it.

I'm really not much of a fan of swearing (to me it's an indication of a limited vocabulary – can't people think of other words to say?). I tend to sigh disappointedly when an artist starts dropping f-bombs or something similar in a song. I usually frown and wonder if they could have used their imaginations to come up with something more creative, something other than than a clumsy and ineffective attempt at "shocking" people or being "real" with their "street talk," or something else I can't think of at the moment that requires me to use "inverted commas".

Rant over.

Now, back to today's song.

Splendid is an Australian duo currently residing in Los Angeles. It's singer Angie Hart partnered by her husband Jesse Tobias. Angie's been in a few bands (such as the wonderfully-named Holidays On Ice), but her most notable success was with her first band, Frenté!, who had a run of hits in the 80's with songs like "Ordinary Angels" and "Accidently Kelly Street." ("Accidently..." was Song of the day a while back.)

Today's song, "Come Clean," was Splendid's second single. It does contains swearing (hence the rant), but I have to admit that I find it justifiable in this particular song because it's actually an integral part of the lyrics (you'll know what I mean when you hear the song), as Angie sings about her admission of infidelity. And another thing: because Angie sings with an angelic and totally beguiling voice, the swearing ends up sounding utterly inoffensive.

Okay, now that I've got all that out of the way (i.e., my objections to swearing in pop songs and elsewhere but sticking up for Angie's artistic cussin'), here's Splendid with "Come Clean" (1999):



As a bonus, here's the 'DNA Remix' of "Come Clean". One unusual aspect of this version is that it doesn't have any swearing in it. I don't quite know why. I had originally thought that maybe Splendid revised the lyrics in this version to garner radio airplay, but then I thought that may not be the reason because, as far as I can tell, a lot of artists nowadays try to include swearing in their songs so that the swearing will get bleeped for the radio which would (theoretically) result in increased sales because of all those teenyboppers listening to the bleeps and saying to their friends, "Wow, I gotta buy the unedited version! It's so naughty!"

Rant number two over.

Splendid - "Come Clean (DNA Remix)" (1999)


Angie Hart on MySpace

Song of the day: Vertical Hold - "Tears Of Emotion"

Here's Adelaide band Vertical Hold with their 1982 single "Tears Of Emotion":





As a bonus, here's the B-side:

Vertical Hold - "In Your Life" (1982)



(I nicked the graphic from Tom Mix Oz Music blog. I hope Tom doesn't mind.)

Musical coincidences #41

I was originally going use as many words as possible to express my utter amazement, incredulity, unbelievability etc at today's coincidence and go on and on about it, but I thought I'd just shut up, get out of the way, and let you hear for yourself:

The Fifth Estate - "Kisses For Breakfast" (1967)


The Beatles - "Drive My Car" (1965)


I mean, really!

The Fifth Estate were a US band who had a novelty hit in 1967 with "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" (from The Wizard of Oz). The Beatles, on the other hand, you've probably heard of. (At least I hope you've heard of The Beatles.)

I don't know what possessed The Fifth Estate to write "Kisses For Breakfast," but in a way I'm glad that they did. It answers the age-old question: what would a bubblegum version of "Drive My Car" sound like?

As a bonus, here's The Fifth Estate with their biggest hit:

The Fifth Estate - "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" (1967)

Song of the day: Pat Wilson - "Bop Girl"

Here's Pat Wilson with the fiendishly simple and catchy Australian #2 hit* "Bop Girl" (1983):





Many apologies if you're Australian and listening to this song for the umpteenth time. "Bop Girl" received an inordinate amount of airplay in the 80's in Australia which was probably due to Pat's proximity to hubby Ross who wrote and produced the song as well as providing the backing vocals. (Ross also responsible for a sizeable chunk of Australian rock history, being the main man for Daddy Cool in the 70's and Mondo Rock in the 80's, as well as producing a large number of successful Australian artists – but this is Pat's post, not Ross's.) But I don't think "Bop Girl" was played outside of Australia. Wikipedia says it was, but I don't always believe what Wikipedia tells me.

So if you're new to the song, bop away as much as you like. But if you're an individual who's spent the last couple of decades trying to forget it ever existed, I offer a heartfelt and sincere "Oops". Maybe tomorrow I'll have a song that you haven't heard.

By the way, the Lost In The Grooves blog has a nice article about "Bop Girl" with a lot of trivia.

(*I haven't been able to find out what song kept "Bop Girl" out of the number one spot. What was it?)

Song of the day: The Groop - "Woman You're Breaking Me"

Here's The Groop with "Woman You're Breaking Me" (1967):



Apart from its general grooviness (or should that be "Groop-iness"?), my favourite part of the song is the tom-toms. They're very well recorded, and possibly the loudest thing on the track. Listening to the song – and its rampant use of tom-toms – I wonder if the band had recently spent a lot of money on a new set of tom-toms for their drummer and were determined to have them recorded as prominently (and as often) as possible. ("Hey, engineer guy – we spent an entire year's allowance on those toms. You better make them loud and clear, pal...")

However, there is one thing about the song that concerns me: the lead singer sounds as if he has weak bones, because he keeps singing about how his woman is breaking him. (That can't be good. How is he going to perform in front of a crowd if he's broken?)

Song of the day: Delays - "Hideaway"

I can't for the life of me figure out why this particular song popped into my head and beckoned me to make it today's Song of the day. I hadn't heard this song since it was released in 2006, and I was listening to Mike Viola's Lurch at the time, so I'm at a complete loss as to why this totally-unrelated-to-anything ditty chose to appear. Ah, the mysteries of the human mind...

Anyway, today's song is by British band the Delays, and you'd be forgiven if you've never heard of them before. As far as I can tell, they've received minimal (if any) coverage in the press in Australia, and I'm guessing it's the same in the US. They may be better known in the UK, though. (I hope so, because that's where they're from.)

If you haven't heard anything by the Delays, then allow me to rectify this slightly dreadful state of affairs and acquaint you with...

Delays - "Hideaway" (2006)


You can keep your Radiohead, Muse, Coldplay and all those other terribly serious bands from the UK – I'd much rather listen to the Delays.

"Hideaway" appears on the Delays' 2006 album, You See Colours. As a bonus, and because I'm in the mood to listen to some more Delays, here's the album's opening track:

Delays - "You And Me" (2006)


To my ears, the Delays have that Big Earnest Sound™ currently used by U2, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Keane etc, but with infinitely better tunes. (Well, that's what I think anyway. Feel free to disregard any of my opinions if you're emotionally attached to any of those bands. I don't like em, but you might.)

Incidentally, a lot of people think that it was U2 who begat the Big Earnest Sound™, but I reckon it was Simple Minds who started it all. They slapped reverb (i.e., echo) on everything in their recordings, and their music ended up sounding enormous. (I was going to use the word "cavernous" but I already used that in another post. Considering that every Simple Minds song sounds as if it was recorded at the bottom of a canyon, how about "canyonesque"?).

To me, U2 pinched Simple Minds' Big Earnest Sound™ and ran with it on their way to world domination. Then Coldplay came along with a diluted version of U2's Big Earnest Sound™ on their way to world domination.

Unfortunately for me, there are now plenty of bands from all over the globe employing the Big Earnest Sound™ – even Australia, where Eskimo Joe is currently the King of the Big Earnest Sound™. (Eskimo Joe started out as a little power-poppy three-piece band but now they sound like a 726-piece band. And they've become very earnest.)

But you may completely disagree with my pompous pronouncements, and that's fair enough. For all I know, you may like your rock Very Big and Extra Earnest. As they say in the land of Americans: your mileage may vary.

Nevertheless, if I was asked to name a Big Earnest Sound™ band that I do like (and I'm full aware that no-one has – or is likely to), I'd say without hesitation that it's the Delays. Vive la tunes!

Song of the day: Regurgitator - "Freshmint!"

Here's Australia's most cynical band, Regurgitator, with "Freshmint!" (1999):

B-b-b-baby i could be your superstar
And take too many drugs in a celebrity bar
K-k-k-keep my skin soft and shining from afar
For my high speed death in the back of a car
B-b-b-baby i could be your superstar
And we could boot champagne and snort caviar
S-s-s-stick with me honey and you'll go far
As we watch the world burning from a heated spa

Burn baby burn (x4)

Regurgitator certainly don't mind biting any hand that feeds them.

Research Turtles new website

Do you remember a few days ago I featured a new band called Research Turtles in a Song of the day? (If your memory's like mine, then you won't at all.)

Well, the band just let me know that they have a shiny new official website you can have a gander at.

And...

Not content with sending themselves broke by sending me copies of their album (thanks, guys!), they've also taken it upon themselves to hand out free downloads of their album on their new website for a limited time.

So, if you're in the mood to download the Research Turtles entire discography (i.e., their debut album) completely free of charge, then shimmy on over to researchturtles.com.

Enjoy!

Song of the day: The Summer Suns - "Thank You Holly"

Here are The Summer Suns with the slightly jangly, slightly garagey "Thank You Holly":



"Thank You Holly" was released sometime in the '90s*.

The Summer Suns on MySpace

(*Don't you hate liner notes that are quite happy to give you a detailed biography of the band telling you how great they were, but neglect to mention when the songs were actually recorded and/or released? Grrr.)

Song of the day: Ray Columbus and The Invaders - "She's A Mod"

Mr. Suave, this one's for you...

Here's New Zealand Australian band Ray Columbus and The Invaders with "She's A Mod" (1964):





And here's the original from England:

The Senators* - "She's A Mod" (1964)




(*Trivia time for Led Zeppelin fans: The Senators' drummer was John Bonham. Yep, that's John Bonham playing on "She's A Mod.")

Musical coincidences #40

Today's coincidence is a purely guitar-oriented one, so if you have no interest in guitars or guitarists, come back in about 20 minutes when everyone aelse has finished reading this post.

Here's a bit of the start of Adelaide band Cold Chisel's live version of "Conversations" (1979):



And here's a bit of the start of non-Adelaide band Van Halen's "Girl Gone Bad" (1984):



If you can't spot the similarities, it's basically the guitar playing an Asus2 chord...

...followed by an Fmaj7#11...

If you want to put it into non-weirdo-chord-name terms, it's like playing A minor then F major except that the first two strings (the skinny ones on the right of the pictures) are open (i.e., you play them without putting your fingers on them) for both chords.

Despite the differences in backing instrumentation, the guitars in both those songs are doing pretty much the same thing.

It's noticeable to me because I've only ever heard that particular chord progression happen in those two songs. There may be plenty of other songs that do it, but I haven't heard 'em.

Here are the full versions:

Cold Chisel - "Conversations" (1979)


Van Halen - "Girl Gone Bad" (1984)


I couldn't let today's coincidence involving Van Halen go by without playing you my favourite song on 1984, "House Of Pain." It's the last track on the album ("Girl Gone Bad" is the second-to-last), and Eddie Van Halen throws everything at the song. There's so much going on, guitar-wise, that it seems as if Eddie wanted to catalogue his entire repertoire of tricks in three minutes. Along with all the incidental noodling during the song, there's a jaw-dropping guitar solo in the middle of it and some magnificent dive-bombing as the song fades. It's great stuff for guitar fans:

Van Halen - "House Of Pain" (1984)

Song of the day: Town Criers - "Hey Girl"

Here are the Town Criers with a great little rave-up, "Hey Girl" (1969):



"Hey Girl" was the B-side of "Love Me Again" which, I've only just noticed, was Song of the day less than a month ago. Oops*.

Anyway, here's the original:

Small Faces - "Hey Girl" (1966)


(*I really must space out songs by the same artists a bit more than I'm doing at the moment. I'm sure that whenever you read a blog you want variety from it – and two Town Criers songs in a month doesn't help at all. Sorry about that. But at least I can safely say that tomorrow's song won't be by the Town Criers**.)

(**If you're a Town Criers fan, sorry about that.)

Song of the day: Robin Jolley - "Dancing On A Saturday Night"

Here's the aptly-named Robin Jolley with possibly the mildest glam song ever recorded*:

Robin Jolley - "Dancing On A Saturday Night" (1972)


(*But I still love it.)