432. This is The Day by The The 1983

Spent many an afternoon sitting on around on Sunday afternoons listening to this song and it's parent album. This was the kind of music we would immerse ourselves in as the eighties droves us into South yarra flats and bottles of chardonnay.
I had a flat just off Toorak Road. Three flights up. The balcony was the size of a dining room table and in fact you could only fit one director's chair on it. But the light streamed in and you could see the city over the tree tops. And all the furniture was off white.
I had to trade in my Fender twin reverb for something lighter because it was too hard to carry up the stairs after a gig and my Mazda couldn't lock up because the window was broken. Eventually I sold it and replaced it with a Fiat that would break down in hot weather.
I got myself a VCR and threw away my Beta cos there were no videos in the shops. I borrowed a video camera and made hours of tapes of my friends miming to Cure records. I wore white shirts and 501s and went to the Club in Collingwood but never watched the band for longer than 10 minutes.
My band was folding. Things were changing.

431. Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon 1978

In the grip of punk rock in 1978 and going to endless parties where they played Bowie and Kraftwerk I still found myself listening to artists none of my group of like minded inner city rock dudes were taking any notice of.
Warren Zevon was big on the radio with a track called Werewolves of London which I found 'too' funny. Never caring for funny songs longer than the one play when I would get the joke. So I wrote him off. Kinda. There was something in the piano playing and the casual looseness of the recording that I liked. The fondness bore fruit when I was at a teacher party in 79 (the kind of parties I would avoid because I found them quite alien to me) and someone sat me me down and said "you're in a band, you like good music, listen to Warren Zevon"..or something along those lines.
The wine was flowing from the casks. I was feeling alright so I thought I would give it a go. The first thing I heard was Excitable Boy and not only was the music great but I couldn't get over the lyrics. They were not only humorous but incredibly macabre. and the backing and the feel just got you singing along to these nasty doings by this serial nutter.
I ended buying the album and collecting his other stuff. It also made me like a few things Jackson Browne did after I learned of his connections to Warren Zevon.

430. Kinky Afro by The Happy Mondays 1990

1990 was a great year because I opened the lizard lounge and music was going through this amazing phase where Indie and alternative and dance music all seemed to come together. Madchester was on everyone's lips as we grooved to the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. This was a single off their "pills thrills and bellyaches" album which got them high rotation both on the home turntable and at the club. Just a fantastic groove.
It also had a very groovy video where all these beautiful model types dancing around the grotty looking Mondays. Magic.
Because I had opened a club that seemed to be doing alright I started getting invited around to record companies to collect masses of new records. I used to love going around to places like Festival records and coming out with a bunch of new vinyl. They would also throw in videos of the bands. Which was the first time I saw the above video.
Some of the record companies were a little bit more up tight and wanted you to come to DJ meetings where they sold the merits of particular songs. Never went to those. For me if it wasn't hello and thank you I wasn't there. I could buy my own.
When CDs came along it all went slightly weird and gradually became too hard because they didn't really want to part with CDs. Gradually it became a little too painful and I just bought my own stuff.

429. Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding 1966

Just found out that song was written in 1932 and had been around for a long time before Otis covered it. I heard the song first when it was a hit on the radio for a band called Max Merrit and the Meteors and though I was a bit of a Glam fan in those heady days of the seventies I could tell that Max was singing a great song.
But that was nothing compared to what I heard when someone finally played me Otis Redding. A slow build up that takes you right to the top and then it's over and you want to play it again straight away. When I finally got my hands on my own copy of the record and it did take me awhile to find the single I played it to death. And never got sick of it. Even when it was all over the place when the Commitments pushed it back into the limelight in the eighties.
Just a totally fab song that gave me my first real taste of soul. I was one of those saddos who carried Otis Blue to parties to show how hip I was. And it was the love of this music rather than electronica which made it important that the Mods of 1979 had to establish our own clubs.

428. You're Wondering Now by The Specials 1979

As I sorted out my records during the holidays one of the first pieces of vinyl I discovered missing was the first Specials album. It wasn't long before I discovered I lost a few more gems including all my Smiths records to. I've wracked my brains but I can't for the life of me even guess where I may have lost them. The only thing I can think of now is that a box went missing in between houses when I moved 6 years ago.
One good thing that may have come out of this is I'm back to looking through record racks searching down those cool records I lost.
"You're Wondering Now" is the last track on the Specials debut album. In the Mod clubs I DJed at in the early 80s The Specials were a big fixture of the night's sound. Gangsters. Little Bitch, Nite Klub, Message to You Rudi were all dancefloor favourites. And from Kommottion to the Venetian Room to Barbarellas to the Beehive and onto the Lizard Lounge the songs on this album were a staple of my DJ sets.
At the end of the night I would sometimes finish with this track. Sometimes to a half empty beer stained crowd. Sometimes to a capacity crowd who wrapped arms around each other and sang along. And went off into the night. Wondering what to do now this was the end.

427. Can't get It Out Of my Head by ELO 1974

This one always reminds of late night radio, second hand vauxhalls and college girlfriends.
Late night radio back in the seventies was a thing of pure beauty. Songs would go on forever. This song came from the album Eldorado. I heard it first on the album show.
I was out on a date with a girl from teachers college. She drove because I didn't have a license yet. Though I had a car. 400 dollars worth of Datsun Bluebird. 1965 model. She had a white vauxhall viva.
I think we went out to the pizza parlour. But I don't remember that too well. I remember sitting talking outside my house in her car and listening to the radio. Then this song came on and we just listened. And then I kissed her goodnight.
I sat on the fence as she drove off. And that song was in my head. I must have sat on the fence for a long time. It was just a magic moment.

426, My Girl by Madness 1979

When I hit the UK at the end of 1979 I had just released Little Murders first single "Things Will Be Different" and played a handful of gigs. Mainly at the Champion Hotel in Fitzroy which became home of the Little bands movement. I went over looking for all things Mod having read about the movement in NME and Melody Maker. But when I got there something else was happening,.
One night I was watching Top of The Pops and it featured three ska bands. The Specials, The Beat and Madness doing this song. It was wonderful. My Girl is a great song. Reminds me a bit of Ian Dury or Squeeze. But definitely Madness. So much going on but it all makes sense. Makes you want to get up and move.
And it was also the clothes these bands were wearing. They seemed to make wearing suits a little bit more groovy than some of the Mod bands. And for some reason the Mod bands weren't playing while I was there. Just ska bands. And a new band called Dexy's Midnight Runners.
It was the middle of winter and the radio was playing ska and soul. And the Jam were reaching their zenith. Great times indeed. And lots of ideas to bring back to Melbourne.