Vor 30 Jahren Kraftwerk schafften es auf Platz 1 mit 'Das Modell' , möglicherweise der unwahrscheinlichste Rekord, solche hohen Status zu erreichen, und eine, die immer dem Aufzeigen würden die vier Düsseldorfians fest in der 'One Hit Wonder " listen. Natürlich können Sie und ich wissen es besser. Elegant gekleidete junge Männer und Pioniere der elektronischen Musik in einer Zeit, die westliche Welt ging ga-ga für lange Haare, Leder und Les Pauls, sie waren für viele der Ying zu den Beatles Yang. Einige können sogar [...]
Not the most well-known Orange Juice track, although it is on the self-same Rip It Up album as The Hit. And was released as the follow-up to that self-same number 8 smash hit, peaking at a slightly less chart-troubling number 41. Fame fame fickle fame, to paraphrase one of our other pop treasures. And not the coolest Orange Juice track either. That would be Blue Boy if you were wondering. And certainly not the best Orange Juice track, although there's something about Flesh Of My Flesh that brings [...]
Here's a thing. In the post-Winehouse search for gin-u-wine authentic blue eyed soul, any pretty young thing with a gritty voice and a decent set of breasts found themselves in a dusty, analogue recording studio listening carefully to whatever it was that the svengali their record company had plucked from indieland's dole queue was telling them to do. Leader of the pack was Duffy; 602s-steeped, Dusty-voiced (kinda) and produced by former hip young gunslinger Bernard Butler. Mercy , with its snapping snare and northern soul Perry boys in the video was, I'm not ashamed to say , a real [...]
Bleeeeeeaaaaaach . I'm from Ayrshire. I can't pretend to understand the gangsta leanings of Cribs 'n Bloods 'n West Coast v's East Coast. Not that that stopped every two-bit Burberry ned who ever stole from the music shop I once worked in. The 2 Pac posters were just about the most shoplifted items there. Them and the M People CDs, bizarrely enough. " Goat oaney Floyd, man ?" someone would ponder in your general direction. And as you did your best to be civil towards them, his pal would be lining the sleeves of his puffa jacket with [...]
Song To The Siren was originally released on Tim Buckley 's near-mythical Starsailor album. Long-since unavailable on CD, if you don't have it you can buy it these days on iTunes. I think a re-issued vinyl made a fleeting re-appearance a couple of years ago before burying its head once again in the sands of time. Or you can read to the bottom and see what turns up... There are two schools of thought surrounding the Starsailor LP. On one hand it's [...]
Today's hot news is tomorrow's chip paper and all that, and given that the music featured here is all of 5 days old, some of the more turned on and tuned in amongst you will have no doubt heard this already. But a quick scan of the blogosphere leads me to believe I may well be the first to feature this in mp3 form... It's only The Flaming Lips doing a 15 minute version of The Beatles ' blooze-fest I Want You (She's So Heavy) as part of their annual [...]
I got 5 years, what a surprise! ' Five Years ', Bowie's opening track on the Ziggy album ends with that afore-mentioned refrain. But you knew that already. You might also know that Plain Or Pan has now been going for 5 years. Or you might not. Either way, thanks for visiting time and time again. Whether you're one of the few who choose to 'follow this blog' or you're one of those misguided creeps who ended up here via Google after searching for ' Teenage Fanny ' and got the Bellshill Beach Boys instead, those visits [...]
Ooh! What's that bulging in Santa's sack? Buoyed by the swell of traffic following the Pogues post (a wee bit below), here's a shortcut to previous Plain Or Pan Christmas stuff: The James Brown Christmas album . Even better than it sounds. Here . Dora Bryan 's 1963 novelty cash-in All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle . Here . Julian 'The Strokes' Casablancas ' uber-rare I Wish It Was Christmas Today . Here . Some [...]
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwy rndrobwllllanty siliogogogoch. The ever-modest me gives this Headline Of The Year , even if there are too many characters to fit in and it somewhat loses the impact. Everyone's favourite Welsh psychedelicists Super Furry Animals ' first release in 1995 was the tongue-twistingly titled Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwy ndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygo fod (in space) EP . It was released just as the band were on the cusp [...]
This time last year I read an article in one of Mrs Plain Or Pan's magazines about Christmas. The article asked a carefully selected sample of celebrities to describe their perfect Christmas Day. " A long walk in the woods with my fiancé ," cooed Kathryn Jenkins, " before curling up in front of the log fire with a glass of mulled wine ." "We always start the day with a champagne breakfast, " revealed Maureen Lipman. " Traditionally, we open presents after dinner, then the whole family settles down to watch The Snowman." Christmas Day seems just [...]
When people discover that I'm into music in a big way they will ask the inevitable question, " What music do you like then? " My standard glib and non-commital reply has always been, " Oh you know, anything released before 1986 ," which, on the one hand tells you nothing, but on the other hand tells you everything you need to know. Why get into the present when there's so much from the past just waiting to be discovered? Of course, just to be contrary, I'm very much into the present. Two albums currently on heavy rotation (do iPods [...]
Mixing Pop and Politics He Asks Me What The Use Is . That's a Billy Bragg line. From ' Waiting For The Great Leap Forward '. But you knew that already. Mixing pop and politics always sits slightly uneasily with me. A bit rich coming from someone who loves the early work of Bob Dylan I know, not to mention the socio-soul of Curtis 'n Marvin 'n Stevie, The Specials and all of 2 Tone, the angry young Mr Weller (when I think about it, I could go on and on and on), but you've got to agree [...]
Danny Daze was responsible for one of the bigger records this year with Fall Away From Love/Your Everything. And after hearing a few of his remixes I honestly thought it was going to take a while for the dude to find the momentum he needed to back up that massive single. Obviously I was wrong, the dude can write original tracks no doubt. This latest one is coming out on November 14th for Noir's Second Chances & New Romances compilation. I honestly didn't expect to hear these kind of sounds coming from Danny Daze but I'm not complaining. [...]
There's only one thing good about Hallowe'en and that's tablet . I despise Hallowe'en. Really properly hate it. I think it dates back to the times when I was a wee boy and I was sent out every year as a one-man band - my Dad's old guitar (it was old then, it's ancient now), a coathanger fashioned into a half-arsed harmonica harness, two cardboard cymbals between the knees and a massive big bass drum hanging off my skinny shoulders right down to my backside. Oh, and a couple of bells strapped round [...]
Keeping It Peel , eh? A worthy and admirable affair since you're askin'. Click on the face of the great man just over there on the right to find out more. Late 80s/Early 90s music in the UK was a strange place to be. The Smiths were long gone but still on everyone's lips and Morrissey was trying to carve out a solo career and somewhat failing (the lukewarm Kill Uncle limping behind the giddy thrill of Viva Hate ). New boys on the pedestal, The Stone Roses (whatever happened to them?), were on extended [...]
Keeping It Peel , eh? A worthy and admirable affair since you're askin'. Click on the face of the great man just over there on the right to find out more. Late 80s/Early 90s music in the UK was a strange place to be. The Smiths were long gone but still on everyone's lips and Morrissey was trying to carve out a solo career and somewhat failing (the lukewarm Kill Uncle limping behind the giddy thrill of Viva Hate ). New boys on the pedestal, The Stone Roses (whatever happened to them?), were on extended [...]
My PC went on fire at the weekend. You can insert your own joke about burning CDs here: _______ Back to normal soon, I hope.
Six Of The Best is a semi-regular feature that pokes, prods and persuades your favourite bands, bards and barometers of hip opinion to tell us six of the best tracks they've ever heard. The tracks could be mainstream million-sellers or they could be obfuscatingly obscure, it doesn't matter. The only criteria set is that, aye, they must be Six of the Best . Think of it like a mini, groovier version of Desert Island Discs… Number 9 in a series: [...]
When is it that the arrogance of youth takes flight, mortality strikes and reality bites? Some folk get depressed over milestone birthdays - the 21st, the 30th. Many of my friends are currently agonising over turning 40. That wasn't a problem to me. The day I turned 27 was my biggy. That was the day I realised I'd never play football for Scotland. Truth be told, I knew from the age of 14 12 10 eh, make that 8 that I'd never play for Scotland, but We Have A Dream and all that. [...]
Next week sees Rhino's much anticipated release of The Smiths ' back catalogue, tantalisingly remastered by Johnny Marr and available in any number of combinations, including a lottery winner's wet dream of a vinyl 'n CD box set. Old Morrissey's disowned them already, but what does he know? You really should start sweetening up your other half. Tell them they've lost weight, or that that new haircut really takes the years off or.....you get the idea.....if you want one of these babies, you're gonna have to do a lot of grovelling. [...]
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