227. Rock and Roll Part 2 by Gary Glitter 1972

Gary Glitter - Rock 'N' Roll Par

Community Cup last Sunday. This was the theme song of the Megahertz. And hell, did it sound great blasting out over the sound system. Took me right back to when I first heard it 1972. Outside the chippy at my local shops in Blackburn South. Just as Double Barrell and the ska songs that started filtering through seemed to come from another world this song did pretty much the same thing.
It was like a machine was playing the instruments. Just pounds away. Two drums tight. And I couldn't work out why is Gary's solo record and all he shouted was "Hey" a few times. Especially when I read it was about the history of Rock and Roll. How fantastic..summing up the history with the word "Hey" Turned out all the lyrics were on side one Rock and Roll Part 1. Which I didn't get to hear for months until a mate bought the record. Too late the instrumental was embedded too well.
Yeah Gary Glitter turned out to be a creep but some of that stuff he recorded was totally brilliant.

Hey!

226. Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve 1997

YouTube - The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony


quite a slow song in reality but still a smash hit down at the Lizard Lounge in 1997. Although it was an alternative dance club really we just played anything at all ..didn't matter about the speed as long as the crowd could sing along. Just the sound of those strings at the start of this song and whoosh the crowd was away.
this was The Verve's moment even if it was kinda taken away by the Rolling Stones publishers Allan Klien who took all the royalties because it was based on a sample of The Last Time (an orchestral version from the mid 60s).
A few years later one of the acts on my record label Bloom got a song on the soundtrack of The Sopranos. Their version of 2000 Light Years From home. We would be paid 800 bucks for it. Allen klien however wanted 30000 dollars for the use of it from the makers of the show. So it was never used. Sad moment. Later I sent the ABKO 28 dollars which was their total royalties from the sales of the Bloom album at the time. I never did check if they cashed it.
'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life
Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to the money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah
No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change,
but I'm here in my mold , I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no

225. Alone Again Or by Love 1967

Love - Alone Again Or

I stumbled across this record a long time after it was released when I came across the 7 inch single at the Camberwell market and thought I'd give it a go. Around 1977. When we could we'd get up early Sunday mornings (or just stay up all night having a breakfast in Fitzroy) and then head to Camberwell Market or Victoria Market. I bought a big Mohair jumper at Vic Market, pointed shoes and basically punk fashion. Camberwell had lots of record stalls. I was furiously buying up any sixties single I could vaguely recognise.
When I got to this song I was quite stunned. How good was it? I played it continually all that afternoon. Opened the windows and shared it with Fitzroy. I loved all the different parts especially when the mariachi trumpets come in. That was such a top moment. After that I wanted at least one record with horns like this. I got there in 2001 with "keys To Your Heart" on the "home " album.
Back to 77. Then went looking for the album, trawling the second hand shops. Found it. Loved it.
Yeah, said it's all right
I won't forget
All the times I've waited patiently for you
And you'll do just what you choose to do
And I will be alone again tonight my dear


Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

224. Down The Tube Station At Midnight by The Jam 1978

The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Epic song and one that the Murders still cover. We first started playing this in the eighties and resurrected it again a few years back. It's such a great song to play even if there is quite a bit of words to remember.
By the time I got to England back in 1979 The Jam were the biggest band in the land and had just released their Setting Suns album. The markets in Camden were filled with T-shirt stalls inevitably stocked with The Jam and The Clash. I bought a few t-shirts to bring back to my friends. The one for Tube Station was my favourite. My girlfriend got in first and bought herself the t-shirt . I couldn't walk around with the same t-shirt so I ended up with no Jam t-shirt at all.
Down in the Underground we took photos based on the cover art. Trying to get the train leaving as I posed in my mod gear. Unfortunately we arrived in London after the tour was over so I never got to see them live. 30 years later we got to support From The Jam which was the Jam without Paul Weller. great night at The Prince of Wales. We didn't do Tube Station that night though!

The distant echo -
of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
the ones that they love and who love them forever
The glazed, dirty steps - repeat my own and reflect my thoughts
Cold and uninviting, partially naked
Except for toffee wrapers and this morning's papers
Mr. Jones got run down
Headlines of death and sorrow - they tell of tomorrow
Madmen on the rampage
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I fumble for change - and pull out the Queen
Smiling, beguiling
I put in the money and pull out a plum
Behind me
Whispers in the shadows - gruff blazing voices
Hating, waiting
"Hey boy" they shout - "have you got any money?"
And I said - "I've a little money and a take away curry,
I'm on my way home to my wife.
She'll be lining up the cutlery,
You know she's expecting me
Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork"
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight

223. With A Girl Like You by The Troggs 1967

YouTube - The Troggs - With A Girl Like You (1967)
this was on one of my mate's brother's mixtapes he played in his Holden station wagon as he drove us around. Phil Joyce  opened my ears to a lot of the kind of music I wanted to emulate.  I loved the Troggs. They had some classic pop songs with a raw edge. And I loved the striped suits they wore while posed in caves. I guess it was showing off their cavemen wild beat thing. They were wild things!
This was one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar. So when The Fiction got going I introduced it to the band and we started playing it live. It went down so well we actually went into the studio for our first ever recording session and recorded this song along with 3 originals including an early attempt at Things Will be Different complete with Be My Baby drum beat.

222. The Real Thing by Russell Morris 1969

YouTube - Russell Morris - The Real Thing (1969)
In 1969 I belonged to a youth group called CEBS or Church of England Boys Society. In Box Hill. Don't know how I ended up there but I stayed long enough to go to the annual camp. We didn't have much money back then and couldn't afford a sleeping bag so my Mum made me a sleeping bag with sheets and blankets and giant safety pins. It was huge. My brother Tony was going to drive me to the church but with the packing and all (it was my first ever camp) we were running late. Really late. On the drive to the church this song was playing the whole way. It seemed to go on forever. When we got to the church the flotilla of cars had gone.
Luckily one of the leaders had to stop by and pick some stuff up so he drove me there. In my mind The Real Thing came playing the whole time I was standing outside that church having been left behind.
The Real Thing was number one for ages in Melbourne. Later on when we looked back we couldn't believe it was written by Johnny Young and produced by Ian Meldrum.   It was pretty much out there for the time! Even listening now it's pretty groovy.
Come and see the real thing, come and see the real thing, come and see
Come and see the real thing, come and see the real thing, come and see
There's a meaning there, but the meaning there doesn't really mean a thing
Come and see the real thing, come and see the real thing, come and see
I am the real thing!

Oo mama mow-mow (repeat x 4)

221. When You Walk in the Room by The Searchers 1964

YouTube - When you walk in the room - The Searchers
I remember one summer day being out in the backyard of my house in Blackpool watching my step father banging wood together to make this gigantic crate (in this 8 year olds eyes) in which we would put all our worldly possessions to ship to Australia. This was 1965. The Searchers were are on the radio but all I heard was the jangling guitars so it could have been this song or Needles and Pins (or maybe even Sweets for my Sweet) All I could hear was wonderful chiming guitars as I sat on the step.  Brazenly I asked Eric for sixpence for some sweets. One of my brothers told me to go and ask. The rebuff was such that I would never ask him for anything ever again.
Roll on to 12 years later and it's 1977 and me and my mates are really getting into the band scene in Melbourne. The first band we really latch onto and see as much as we can, are the Sports. One night we followed them from one gig to another. This was quite possibly because they kept getting the Boys Next Door to support them so it was a double treat. The Sports did a mean version of this song. Their recorded version never came near how good it sounded live. Still good enough to play at Kommotion though!
Listening to it again just now it's such a joyful sound. Forget the sixpence, enjoy the sunshine!
I can feel a new expression on my face.
I can feel a glowing sensation taking place.
I can hear the guitars play lovely tunes,
Ev-er-ry-time that you - walk in the room.

I close my eyes for a second,
And pretend it's me you want.
Meanwhile I try to act so nonchalant.
I see a summer night with a magic moon.
Ev-er-ry-time that you - walk in the room.

Maybe it's a dream come true,
Walkin' right alongside of you.
Wish I could tell you how much I care,
But I only - have the nerve to stare.

220. Be My Baby by the Ronettes 1963

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

One of the best pop singles ever and the peak of Phil spector's wall of sound I first came across this song late one night at a Trak session  for Mean Streets. I knew it was coming but I wasn't ready for how big it would sound in a theatre pounding out the speakers with Martin Scorsese images played behind it. And it was my introduction to Robert De Niro too. Out of this world. So much so that I can't get the images out of my head when I hear the song. The camera pans along the bar resting on various inhabitants. Slow motion.
And then that joyous sound. Even to hear it again it's unbelievable how good it really sounds. No wonder Brian wilson was so blown away that he spent years trying to bottle the magic contained within. compare it to the tinny sounds of mersey beat and the first Beatle records and they're left for dead.
From there it was trawl through the usual record shops buying as many Phil Spector records as possible. the ronnettes, the crystals ..just fantastic stuff. Finding a copy of Phil Spector's Xmas album and playing it every Xmas.
It's a pity he put such a crappy full stop to his legend.

The night we met I knew I needed you so 
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go 
So won't you say you love me 
I'll make you so proud of me 
We'll make 'em turn their heads 
Every place we go 
So won't you please 

Be my little baby 
Say you'll be my darling 
Be my baby now 

I'll make you happy, baby 
Just wait and see 
For every kiss you give me 
I'll give you three 
Oh, since the day I saw you 
I have been waiting for you 
You know I will adore you 
Till eternity so won't you please 

Be my little baby 
Say you'll be my darling 
Be my baby now 

219. Metal Guru by T. Rex 1972

YouTube - t rex metal guru

His fourth number one in the UK and a big hit in Australia it would seem that Marc Bolan could do no wrong. His singles were just so exciting and so damn catchy. He was the first superstar of the seventies. I found that by not drying my hair after washing it (oh for the days I used a hair dryer) it would start to curl up in small ringlets...depending on the conditioner I used. So I was trying to get that Bolan look going. At school the principal was in turmoil. he would get me and my mates together and berate us to cut our hair. Then he would get the skinheads togeteher and berate them to grow their hair. A real dilemna, One day in the library we were looking for their thin source of music books when Munroe, the principal walks in and grabs my mate's hair and lifts him up  "Is this a handle?" he says.
At least some of my friends were starting to get T. Rex now. When they first came out the music snobs into rock and prog gave me a hard time of my glam rock preferences but the seventies were getting into full swing now and the radio was blasting out all these great singles. And the girls liked them!
Metal Guru is it you, Metal Guru is it you
Sitting there in your armor plated chair, oh yeah
Metal Guru is it true, Metal Guru is it true
All alone without a telephone, oh yeah
Metal Guru could it be you're gonna bring my baby to me
She'll be wild you know a rock and roll child, oh yeah
Metal Guru has it been, just like a silver-studded sabre-tooth dream
I'II be clean you know pollution machine, oh yeah

Metal Guru is it you, Metal Guru is it you
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, rock!

218. Hey Boy Hey Girl by The Chemical Brothers 1999

The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl
Fancy waking up on Sunday morning with this song on my mind. Maybe cos it's I slept in for once. Something I hardly ever do. The cat woke me up at 6;30am by walking on my head. So I let it out the bathroom window and went back to bed. Didn't think I'd fall back to sleep but next time I looked at the clock it was 9am. Maybe the lateness of the morning took me back to lizard lounge days and waking up late on Sundays. I used to in 99.
This song was a huge hit at the Lizard. As was many of their songs. As the decade came to a close Lizard was playing quite a few dance hits with bands like Prodigy and Chemical brothers looming large. Of course we still played indie rock and alternative stuff but those beats just kept on coming. After the millenium dance music took over a bit too much and weighed the ship down leading to our sinking a few years hence.
And looking at the film clip for this it's I've been there..the Museum of natural History in london...cool!
Hey girls, B-boys, superstar DJs, here we go!

217. Slow Emotion Replay by The The. 1993

I had forgotten about this until this afternoon when I was mucking about in the garage and I found my old The The records. I loved the band when they first started and they were pretty much standard house records for a lot of places I went to in the Eighties. then they got a bit boring. Then a lot boring even when Johnny Marr joined. his second album with them Dusk however was a bit of a return to form and it had this killer track on it. I don't know if anything else came after.
The first time I heard it would have been at my friend Lee Lee's place. We were talking about Radiohead and how good it was and she asked if I'd heard The The's album. I wasn't interested but she still put it on. Not bad but when I heard this.  Great opening with the harmonica. great song. Still a stupid name for a band though. we did play this song at Lizard lounge for a while.
Lee lived with my girlfriend. My girlfriend bought a bookcase but the only place it would fit was in the kitchen. Now it's behind where I'm sitting full of books and DVDs. Slow emotion Replay!

216. Do You realise? by The Flaming Lips 2002

Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips Music Video on Yahoo! Music

There's something really special about this song. It gets me happy and sad both at the same time. That line about everyone you know will someday die was probably the first time I'd ever thought that (or I guess realised it) For some people it's a long way off and it doesn't need thinking about too much but there it is. 100 hundred years from now all but a really small few will be gone. Amazing stuff. Bleeding obvious of course but there it is!

But it's also a big life affirming song. Seeing them play it in concert with their stuffed animals and bouncing balloons it's positively joyful. There's a lot of emotion in Flaming Lips songs. No wonder it became the state song of Oklahoma. Voted in overwhelmingly. I'd vote for it.
One, two, three, four -
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don'-go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

215. Grip by The Stranglers 1977

The Stranglers - Get a Grip on Yourself1977 was such an exciting time for music. Every week there was a new record by a new band. It was a weekly trip down to the Import record shop. Every saturday. On Sunday night we still watched Countdown which was almost 95% rubbish but you were just waiting for a glimpse no matter how small of some of these new bands form the UK or New York. One night they played a snippet of Grip by The Stranglers. In those few seconds I got a pretty good idea of what they were about. Pounding drums, rumbling bass, raw vocals and an organ! The video was set in some underground club by the look of things. It was bloody exciting. And if it was on Countdown then it would be in the stores on Monday. And it was. Great album. Rattus.
High Cornwall played the whole album live a few weeks ago here in Melbourne. Unfortunately I was playing a gig myself. And by the sound of it there were more people at our gig.
6 months after Rattus they released their No More heroes album. My Mum sent it me for Xmas. And she wrote Merry Xmas Rob in the centre of the sleeve. Not very punk really!
Didn't have the money round to buy a Morry Thou
Been around and seen a lot to shake me anyhow
Begged and borrowed sometimes I admit I even stole
The worse crime that I ever did was play some rock 'n roll.

But the money's no good
Just get a grip on yourself
But the money's no good
Just get a grip on yourself

214. Do Anything You Wanna Do by Eddie and The Hot Rods 1977

Eddie and The Hot Rods " Do anything you ...

A great slice of power pop from 1977. I first heard about Eddie and the Hot Rods from a poster I saw at Bruce Milne's place the first time I went round there. We had met at a traffic light in Hawthorn, I told him we were in a band called Subway.. a punk band..he advertised in the Swinburne paper to find us and now here I was listening to a rundown of the Melbourne scene. I had missed the first big event which was held at Swinburne. Punk gunk I think it was called. Just from the way he spoke about them The Boys Next Door were the really special band in town.
Anyway then we got onto the world scene. Being 1977 the records we talked about were a mix of old and new. He had the poster for Eddie and Hot rods "Teenage Depression" but he wasn't particularly impressed by them. No one I knew cared much about. Most thought of them as a old pub rock band. I think they're very underated. Just bad timing I guess. Their first singles before the whole punk thing happened were fast furious slabs of r & b. Later they changed direction a bit and went more power pop. And this is one of the new pop singles. And it's just great. The kind of song I wanted to write.
I'm gonna break out of the city
Leave the people here behind
Searching for adventure
It's the kind of life to find
Tired of doing day jobs
With no thanks for what I do
I know I must be someone
Now I'm gonna find out who

Why don't you ask them what they expect from you ?
Why don't you tell them what you're gonna do
You get so lonely, maybe it's better that way
It ain't you only, you got something to say
Do anything you wanna do
Do anything you wanna do

213. Right Here Right Now by Jesus Jones 1990

YouTube - Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now

1990 was a particularly good year from what I can remember. I started off working as DJ at Rubber Soul and Beehive but by the end of the year I had my own two nights with Friday at Revolver (the name chosen because it was the next step up from Rubber Soul..later that club down Chapel Street would pinch the name off us!) and Lizard Lounge on Saturdays. Gradually we ditched Revolver and just became Lizard Lounge every night.
And after a particularly miserable time for music in the mid 80s (except for The Smiths and New order..actually I lie...it just seemed there was nothing about) music was getting better. It was all getting exciting. I was even pleased to see this song get to number 2 in the USA. Bands were mixing dance and rock together and it all seemed so new.
I went to Jesus Jones at the Greek Theatre in Richmond. The rave culture was starting to find it's feet and there were day glo sticks and bright happy t-shirts and bright happy people. The sound of Jesus Jones was loud and funky but with a rock edge. They really attacked the songs . Overflowing with energy. great night.
After a while their sound was a bit overbearing. Couldn't get through the whole album any more. Too much going on But this song still works. A more laid back sound for them I guess. More restrained. Cool.
And when the Berlin wall came down it seemed this song kinda summed up what was going on in the world at the time. Actually I went to Berlin the year after the wall came down. Bought a peice of the wall. But I think they were getting any old stones and putting paint on them. Anyway I lost it.

A woman on the radio talks about revolution
when it's already passed her by
but Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about you
you know it feels good to be alive
I was alive and I waited waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

212. Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand 2004

YouTube - Franz Ferdinand - Take me Out

I love it when you hear a song and you just want to hear it again straight away cos it's that good. Take M e out is one of those songs. But this time instead of waiting for the radio to play it again I went straight to the Internet. Unfortunately the mp3 files on there were just ripped off the radio.  But I still got to play it. Then I soon had the real track which (a new one on me) the whole family loved. we'd be in the car singing Take Me Out quite loudly. Especially Ruby. And it was a big song at the Lizard lounge. Really, you couldn't get away from this song. And like the double meaning. Assasination or assignation. Cool
Later they were on the Brits performing this song and the performance was just so exciting. I got up early the next day so I could get a copy on my DVD recorder. Newly purchased just for such occassions. Unfortunately no other Franz Ferdinand songs ever got to me like this one. And I accidently left my DVD Recorder on the side of the road too when we moved house.
So if you're lonely 
You know I'm here waiting for you 
I'm just a crosshair 
I'm just a shot away from you 
And if you leave here 
You leave me broken, shattered, I lie 
I'm just a crosshair 
I'm just a shot, then we can die 

I know I won't be leaving here with you 

I say don't you know 
You say you don't go 
I say... take me out! 

211. Cars by Gary Numan 1979

"Cars" - Gary Numan

I can remember where I first heard this song. Of course I was sitting in my car. I was outside Doncaster Shoppingtown. I used to return to my old haunts. When Friday night shopping began in the Seventies that was a night out for a teenager if nothing else was on. I guess they still do it now. Hang around the mall waiting to see if you might meet a girl. never did though. Then again I only did the mall thing a few times. I was more than happy to spend my time going through every record in the record shops.
Cars is an amazing track. Electric was great too but I think Cars is on a whole new level. It's exciting, dramatic and makes driving your car a little bit more enjoyable. I didn't love my car. But I loved the sound of a car stereo. It was like sitting inside giant headphones. I've always had the volume up a bit too loud.
Here in my car 
I feel safest of all 
I can lock all my doors 
It's the only way to live 
In cars 

Here in my car 
I can only receive 
I can listen to you 
It keeps me stable for days 
In cars 


Here in my car 
Where the image breaks down 
Will you visit me please? 
If I open my door 
In cars 


Here in my car 
I know I've started to think 
About leaving tonight 
Although nothing seems right 
In cars 

210. Venus De Milo by Television

Television - Venus

Never get sick of this song. I keep returning to it again and again. A perfect combination of words and music. I remember when this album came out there was a full page record review of the album in NME. It was described as music that would change your life. It really didn't change my life but there were quite a few good songs on it.
I kept all my NMEs under the bed for years. Then one day I realised they were starting to take over the floor. So I gave them away to my friend Jimmy. Really I should of kept a few of them. Like the first Clash cover and the first Jam cover. Oh well.
This record is very New York. 13 years after it came out I went to new York. I had a copy of this on my Walkman. Strolling down Broadway. Into the arms of Venus de Milo.
Tight toy night, streets were so bright 
The world looked so thin and between my bones and skin 
there stood another person who was a little surprised 
to be face to face with a world so alive 
I fell. 

Did you feel low? 
No 
Huh? 

I fell right into the Arms of Venus de Milo 
I stood up, walked out of the Arms of Venus de Milo 
You know it's all like some new kind of drug 
My senses are sharp and my hands are like gloves 
Broadway looked so medieval 
It seemed to flap, like little pages 
I fell sideways laughing with a friend from many stages 
How l felt 

Did you feel low? 
Not at all! 
Huh? 
Suddenly my eyes went so soft and shaky
I knew there was pain but pain is not aching
Then Richie, Richie said:
"Hey man let's dress up like cops
Think of what we could do!"
But something, something said "you better not"
And I fell

Did you feel low?
Not at all!
Huh?

I stood up, walked out of the Arms of Venus de Milo