469. Jump by Aztec Camera 1984

For that old girlfriend who complained that I was wasting money on buying singles because I never listened to the B-sides here's a record I bought just for the b-side. Aztec Camera doing a kind of mellow version of Van Halen's Jump. Not that the original is bad but Roddy Frame changes the whole meaning of the song and produces a real gem of a song.
I liked Aztec Camera but was never a fan of the band. I was more into Orange Juice. My friends with the nicer cars liked Aztec Camera. I heard this on the radio while driving to the Fawkner Club Hotel in South Yarra to have dinner one night. The Fawkner Club was a popular hangout in 84. We wore white shirts and 501s. We lived local. we listened to RRR and Scottish pop bands. We were in transition. We'd have dinner and maybe later on move down to the Red Eagle. We drank Elephant beer and lost our car keys. It was a great time.
I think this was the first time I'd heard a rock song by an mega American band taken over by a small Indie band and played acoustically. To me it was a relevation. I love learning rock and pop songs which ae normally fast and slowing them down with my acoustic guitar. Even better if I lay my hands on a 12 string.

468. Strange Magic by ELO 1975

In the early seventies and before punk happened I was a bit of an ELO fan. I remember getting the New World Record as an Easter present from my Mum. She had stopped buying me Chocolate Eggs and instead would buy me an album. Alladin Sane by Bowie was probably the most memorable. I was miffed that I had to go away for Easter and wouldn't be able to play it til I got back.
But this wasn't from that album. It was from "Face The Music" which I didn't have and wasn't interested in after my mate Alan played it for me. A cassette he had picked up for 50 cents in Thailand. It seemed a little too bright after Eldarado which I loved. So I've always had this weird love \/hate thing with ELO. And when 1977 came along I hated them completely and didn't listen to their music again until 1999.
What made me go back and have another listen.? I went to see this film called "The Virgin Suicides" an d there's this moment when this song comes on and the cinema just filled up with this incredible sound. It sounded amazing. But then a lot of songs sound great pumping out of cinema speakers. But it made me go back and have another listen to ELO. I'd long ago thrown away the New World Record but I still had Eldarado. And I bought a greatest hits CD. And finally realised how great Jeff Lynne was. He still managed to put out a bit of rubbish though. Still can't go near those later ELO records.

467. Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat) by Detroit Cobras 200I

The first time I heard this song was on one of those give away CDs that every music magazine in the UK seems to have mounted to the cover nowadays. That it appeared on a CD dedicated to songs played on Bob Dylan's Radio Show made it even more intriguing. That the one song led me to another and another is one of the things I love about music and the places you find it.
After hearing Hot Dog I discovered I already had a few Detroit Cobras littered about my iTunes. Ya Ya Ya was even my ring tone for a while. But now I went scouring the Internet for more of their stuff. And everything I found was just a joy. And because they weren't a huge band all their stuff hadn't been uploaded so I had to buy the stuff. And it took some work. The music store I used to go to did have a label with their name on it, but the space where the CD was supposed to be was empty.
It took a bit of work but I tracked them down. And it's great driving music because the kids love it too. Everyone song is a hit. There is something about this simplistic garage meets blues rock and roll that the kids really get into. And they don't notice the sexual innuendo in Hot Dog.
Detroit Cobras happily sit next to the Modern lovers and the Ramones as great alternative, dare I say, car driving family rock and roll singalongs. Also brilliant to dance to when the kids are in bed and you're on your second bottle of red.

466. Antmusic by Adam and the Ants 1980

In 1980 we thought ourselves very cool in mod outfits dancing to groovy tunes like Green Onions or jumping around to My Generation. But there was other music out there. The Clash were still a major part of our lives. Ska music was bursting through. And then there was Adam and the Ants and Antmusic.
I first saw the film clip on Countdown, early Sunday evening. I knew about Adam Ant.from early Roxy meets punk records. But this was completely different. and mesmerising. All those colours. Pirates and Indians mixed in together. And the warrior paint across his nose. To quote the Clash  "He punched a hole in the radio when it hadn't sounded good all week!"
We had a Mod club down at the Prince Alfred and we played it. And I played it for the next 30 years. It's a great song.
A few months back Jason who used to DJ at the Beehive and went on to run Twister got a gig DJing at the Adam and the Ants concert. He invited Dan and I along. He played some great rock a billy which I guess was Adam's roots. Adam came on and played a great set. With a whoomping version of Stand and Deliver. Hit after hit until it seemed he had no more. And he didn't. For the last part of the show he'd played all the hits and was beginning to just go on. So Dan and I left. But that first 40 minutes was a killer.

465. Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel 1977

Amongst all the chaos and anarchy that 1977 brought with the advent of punk rock there were a few songs that slipped through that came from sources I would never have looked at. Genesis was a band I never had time for and after buying one of their albums it took me less than a week to get it back to the second-hand shop I bought it from. The album I bought did have a major fault. Both sides were exactly the same! That it took me a few plays to even realise. This shows how much I cared about it. I guess that copy might be worth a fortune now. As misprints usually are.
So I was unprepared for how much I would like Solsbury Hill. Completely different to Genesis. Actually, the records Genesis brought out after Peter Gabriel left are completely different to their old stuff too as Phil Collins took over the driver's seat.
But Solsbury Hill resonates with it's strange rhythm pattern and its life-affirming lyrics. I know it might seem a little corny but I have used this song to motivate me to make leaps and changes. He nails the feeling of leaving. Getting out of a rut. Not in an angry shouty way which the punks were doing. But making it joyful. Mind you I was a shouty punk in those days playing dives into the wee hours.
I did eventually find a Genesis song I liked "I Know What I Like (in your wardrobe)"

464. Song 2 by Blur 1997

Hit record written all over this one. I remember hearing it first on its parent album and really like having my socks knocked off. A perfect piece of rock and roll British grunge from a band we'd almost give up on. Well after the cute and quite sickly Country Life single which we liked for about the length of the film clip and then realizing that the Oasis album was so much better Blur looked like they were going nowhere. But they turned it around and started making some really interesting and cool songs. This was a standout.
Just the first few treated drum beats at the beginning, and I'm not even sure they're real drums, and I'm taken back to the Lizard in the late Nineties. The punters would scramble onto the dance floor for this one and when there was no more floor they'd be pushing against the tables that ringed the floor. Or they'd be dancing down in the lower bar area. The lights would swirl and the beers would be held aloft as Damon came in with his Wooh Hoo and we'd be off. For 2 minutes they'd go mad while the DJs would frantically look for something to follow it up with.
I seem to remember it only got to number 2 on the national charts both here and in a few other places in the world. A slightly cosmic joke or just my imagination?

463. Like Eating Glass by Bloc Party 2004

In 2004 I had just about quit all DJing except for a party or a wedding here or there. Mostly I would build some mix tapes that party hosts could put on at intervals during the night. Later I would just pass over mp3s.
So for a long time before this I was listening out for records that would play well on the dance floor. Now I was free to go out and listen to stuff just for sheer enjoyment. This was a time when a fresh crop of bands were coming out of the UK with a sound I really liked. On my iTunes playlist I called it the new Britpop. Probably not a great idea after the slagging that the old Britpop gets now.
The first album I bought was Silent Alarm by Bloc Party. I can't remember which track initially peaked my interest but when I first put the album on I was gob smacked by the first track "Like Eating Glass" I'm a sucker for good drumming and this was just totally wild. It made we want to go and find my Mum's old knitting knees and start banging away on biscuit tins. And it's not just the drums. It's the Robert Smith type whine on the vocals and the guitars like wailing sirens. It's just magic.
Little Murders didn't really have a drummer at the time. Which was lucky because I might have pushed this frenetic style onto them. The band after a couple of albums and a support slot for Buzzcocks at the Prince of Wales went very quiet and just did acoustic gigs finally ending up with me doing solo shows. So I had plenty of time to listen to new records. And enjoy them.