JOHN'S GHOST 002 : Banana
Good evening. Or good morning or good afternoon, depending on when
you’re listening or where, or because you’ve fallen asleep on
the settee with the previous podcast still rattling around your
subconscious. You’re now listening to “John’s Ghost”, the
show based on my record collection set on random play.
🎵 Grinderswitch – “Pickin' The Blues” (from 'Macon Tracks')
Tonight’s programme wanders about a bit, again — country heartbreak, post-punk anxiety, chart pop, Jamaican basslines, and at least one song that sounds like it was recorded inside a saucepan. So, business as usual...
🎵 Selena Gomez & The Scene – “Love You Like A Song” (No.58 in 2011)
There we are — Selena Gomez. Pop music now so polished you can practically see your reflection in it. Mind you, people said the same about The Monkees, and they were marvellous.
🎵 The Moody Blues – “Top Rank Suite” (Live in Seattle 1979)
The Moody Blues there, proving prog survives perfectly well in the wild if left undisturbed.
🎵 Massive Attack – “Live With Me” (from 'Collected')
Massive Attack — music for walking home through rain while reconsidering several life decisions simultaneously.
🎵 Patsy Cline – “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (from 'Country Classics')
Patsy Cline. There are singers, and then there are voices that somehow rearrange the furniture in your chest.
🎵 Joan Armatrading – “Love And Affection” (from 'Me Myself & I World Tour')
Joan Armatrading there — one of those artists who never needed to shout to be heard. Fifty-four years later, and still a force to be reckoned with, her last album, "How Did This Happen...", is definitely worth seeking out.
🎵 The Damned – “So Messed Up” (from 'Damned Damned Damned')
Splendid noise from The Damned. Punk at its best always sounded like the group might collapse halfway through, and occasionally did.
🎵 Ralph McTell – “Jenny Taylor (Je N’étais Là)” (from 'Streets')
Ralph McTell — a man who can make London sound romantic, which is no small feat after midnight on the Northern Line. He sounds even smoother in French.
🎵 10cc – “4% of Something” (b side of “Johnny Don't Do It“)
10cc. Clever devils, really. Songs like crossword puzzles you could hum.
🎵 Sam Cooke – “Cupid” (No.7 in 1961)
Sam Cooke there. Human warmth pressed into vinyl.
🎵 Lynsey De Paul – “Won’t Somebody Dance With Me” (No.14 in 1973)
One of the great British pop singles, that. Slightly melancholy underneath all the glitter, which is usually the best kind.
🎵 Don McLean – “Vincent” (No.1 in 1972)
A song that somehow manages to be gentle and devastating simultaneously. Not unlike being politely asked to leave a pub.
🎵 David Bowie – “Janine” [BBC Radio Session] (from 'Space Oddity 40th’)
Young Bowie there — before he became an entire weather system.
🎵 Perry Como – “I Think I Love You” (from 'It's Impossible')
Perry Como takes on the Partridge Family classic, sounding as though absolutely nothing alarming could ever happen in the world. Quite comforting, really.
🎵 Dina Carroll – “Falling” (from 'So Close')
Dina Carroll — criminally underrated. British soul done properly.
🎵 Elton John – “Stone’s Throw From Hurtin’ ” (from 'Sleeping With The Past')
Elton in reflective mode. Always preferred him slightly bruised, musically speaking.
🎵 The Bachelors – “Jailer Bring Me Water” (from 'The Decca Years')
That sounded like it arrived by steam train from another century.
🎵 Madness – “Samantha” (from 'Keep Moving')
Madness, who managed to make melancholy danceable — no easy task.
🎵 Elvis Costello – “Such Unlikely Lovers” (from 'Painted From Memory')
Costello there, weaponising vocabulary again.
🎵 Madonna – “Die Another Day” (No.3 in 2002)
Still sounds faintly futuristic, that one. Like a Bond film scored inside a photocopier.
🎵 Kings Of Leon – “Pony Up” (from 'Come Around Sundown')
Kings Of Leon — Southern rock after discovering dry shampoo.
🎵 Ian Dury – “Very Personal” (from '4000 Week Holiday')
Ian Dury, one of the few lyricists who genuinely sounded like nobody else at all.
🎵 Bucks Fizz – “Cold War” (Extended) (from 'Lost Masters')
People forget Bucks Fizz occasionally wandered into very strange territory indeed. Which is why they’re worth revisiting.
🎵 Fischer-Z – “Cruise Missiles” (from 'Red Skies Over Paradise')
Cold War paranoia with a danceable beat. The 1980s in summary, really.
🎵 Harry Nilsson – “All My Life” (from 'Pussy Cats')
Nilsson could sing the ingredients off a cereal packet and I’d still be emotionally invested.
🎵 Bing Crosby with Jane Wyman – “Zing A Little Zong” (from 'Very Best Of')
That was utterly ridiculous. And therefore wonderful.
🎵 Jason Donovan – “Too Many Broken Hearts” (No.1 in 1989)
Written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman — who treated pop songs rather like engineers assembling highly emotional microwaves.
🎵 Cashmere – “Can I” (No.29 in 1985)
Bit of smooth groove there. Late-night radio was invented for records like that.
🎵 Jah Wobble – “The Bonds Of Love” (from 'Take Me To God')
Jah Wobble — basslines so deep they ought to issue scuba equipment with the record.
🎵 Cowboys International – “Thrash” (from 'Original Sin')
Post-punk that sounds permanently sleep deprived. Splendid. a hit that never was!
🎵 Johnny Cash – “Let There Be Country” (from 'One Piece At A Time')
Johnny Cash. Voice like an oak wardrobe falling downstairs, cataloguing his contemporaries.
🎵 David Bendeth – “Breakdown” (b side of ‘Feel The Real’)
That one had all the hallmarks of a man who owned several synthesisers and intended to use every one of them.
🎵 Richard Digance – “Shoemaker Shuffle” (from 'Best Of The Transatlantic Years')
Richard Digance there — folk music still at its best when slightly odd.
🎵 XTC – “She’s So Square” (John Peel Session)
Wonderful racket from XTC. Peel Sessions often sounded better than the finished records, which annoyed record companies enormously. This was taken from their first session for the show in 1977.
🎵 Patti Smith – “Frederick” (No.63 in 1979)
Patti Smith proving punk could dance if it wanted to.
🎵 Erasure – “Weight Of The World” (from 'The Innocents')
Andy Bell could sing a telephone directory and make it sound romantic.
🎵 Eddie Cochran – “Three Steps To Heaven” (No.1 in 1960)
Tiny record. Massive influence.
🎵 Chuck Berry – “St Louis Blues” (from 'Chuck Berry In London')
Chuck Berry — the DNA of rock and roll in under three minutes.
🎵 LTD – “Holding On (When Love Is Gone)” (from 'Togetherness')
Silky enough to lower your blood pressure slightly.
🎵 Holly Johnson – “Atomic City” (No.18 in 1989)
Still sounds expensive, that record. Like it arrived in a limousine.
🎵 Sinéad O’Connor – “V I P” (from 'How About I Be Me')
Sinéad O’Connor — incapable of sounding insincere for even a second.
And there we are. Thanks for
keeping me company through another show of glorious
confusion.
Remember — if you heard something you loved, tell
somebody. If you heard something you hated, tell everybody.
Goodbye 'till next time!