Typical, isn’t it? Even though you hadn’t been waiting for me to do a podcast, two of them show up almost at the same time. Believe it or not, I rarely use these as an opportunity to indulge in, er, self indulgence, although I’m perhaps a little guilty this time around, particularly with my first selection, Hole’s 'Celebrity skin'. I did manage to get a reference to ‘Margrave of the Marshes’ in there to throw you off the scent though, plus I have to remember that there are those among you who aren’t quite as approaching middle age as I am and may never have heard it before.
The main reason I had to cobble this podcast together so quickly after the last one is that, by hook or crook, I’ve managed to get hold of a copy of Franz Ferdinand’s new release and have shared 3 tracks from ‘Tonight’ with you today: ‘Ulysses’, ‘Turn it on’ and ‘No you girls’. Another newly released long player I’ve stumbled ass-backwards into owning is John Frusciante’s ‘The Empyrean’, from which you can enjoy the opportunity to listen to his interpretation of ‘Song to the siren’ (including some probably woefully incorrect discussion of the song’s place in Festive 50 lore).
There’s another live selection for you all, this time from The Police. The concert, recorded in Melbourne, Australia in early 1981, is a real curio, as it contains some incredible backstage chatter from the band members and their manager, Miles Copeland (brother of drummer Stewart). Songs you can enjoy are: Voices inside my head / Don’t stand so close to me / Walking on the Moon / De do do do, de da da da / backstage interview / When the World is running down, you make the best of what’s still around / Message in a bottle / Roxanne / backstage interview / Can’t stand losing you / Reggatta de blanc / Be my girl / So lonely.
Peel session lovers can also get their fix with what is, for me at least, a classic from Adam and the Ants, originally broadcast on 30th October, 1978. The session tracks are: Deutscher girls / Lou / It doesn't matter / Puerto Rican. Keeping with the Peel theme, I play one of my favourite Festive 50 tracks from the ‘80s, 19 Blancmange’s 'Living on the ceiling', which I think is the first 45rpm that I bought with my own pocket money.
Other tracks featured include Cocteau Twins’ ‘Pitch the baby’, Polly Paulusma’s ‘Back to the start’, Nightjar’s ‘Poor man's son’, ‘Bad before good’ by Day One, Kalli’s ‘It's over’, ‘Lord, Ive been on fire’ by BC Camplight, Soundgarden’s ‘Like suicide’, ‘N.T. parts 1 & 2 [original full length album version]’ by Kool & the gang and Jesse Malin’s ‘Broken radio’.
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