a strange fear gripped me....

Earworms of the Week

Electric 6 – “Gay Bar”

I’m working on a project for something called a “Technology Bar”. Inevitably, that has been abbreviated to “tech bar”, and we’re only a very short leap from there to this extremely potent earworm. I did suggest that we renamed the project entirely, but apparently having a “Gay Bar” means something completely different and might not be considered appropriate.
Pfff. Squares.

Fleetwood Mac – “Albatross”

It’s quite remarkable how soothing it is to hear this record as you have your first cup of tea of the day. It’s also quite astonishing how far away this is from the band that Fleetwood Mac became. I can almost hear the seagulls.

Daft Punk – “Giorgio by Moroder”

I spent most of the first half of the week listening to the new National album – which is excellent – but inevitably as the week has gone on, I have drifted into listening to the Daft Punk album. I streamed it from iTunes last week, and I wasn’t initially bowled over by it at all. It seemed decent, but nothing grabbed me in the way “Get Lucky” grabbed me when I first heard it. You know what? It’s really good, although I doubt you need me to tell you that. My favourite track is this one. It’s long and has the epically unpromising premise of having the now-73-year-old talking about his life. It’s brilliant though. Moroder has an interesting story, which is a good start, but the tune behind it, when it kicks in, is just fantastic. It’s over 9 minutes long, but it definitely doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. I’m not one of those people who is saying that this is a solid gold classic record already, but certainly I’m not one of those people who hates it and is determined to say how much they hate it. I instinctively prefer the National album, mainly because they’re very much more my default music preference, but Daft Punk have really got something, no question. A very, very accomplished album.

Thin Lizzy – “Whiskey in the Jar”

A single mention of the Cork and Kerry mountains by an Irish colleague at last week’s wedding and I was away……

Ash – “Burn Baby Burn”

Not my favourite Ash song (mmm. “A Life Less Ordinary”. Or “Orpheus” or maybe “Goldfinger”. “Kung Fu”, even). Not even my favourite Ash song from this album (“Shining Light”), but y’know, this is kinda catchy, isn’t it? They did some great records, didn’t they? Speaking of great records, and Ash and Supergrass are vaguely connected in my head, have you hear the new one by Gaz Coombes ("One of These Days")? It’s brilliant... although I can't find a link.  It's on iTunes, mind.

The Knack – “My Sharona”

Unbeatable. It’s practically perfect.
Wooo!

Rodriguez – “I Wonder”

Pretty much worth the price of entry for this lyric:
“I wonder how many times you had sex
I wonder do you know who'll be next”
I bought the OST to the film “Searching for Sugar Man”, and boy it’s good.

Simply Red – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

As you know, I hate Mick Hucknall, so you can only imagine how much this particular earworm is giving me pain….Let me explain: C. has been assessing this week and she came across one guy who was completely and unironically like David Brent. Awful, apparently…. And then she got back to the office to the news that someone had hired this guy to work on her team. Ahahaha. Well, eagles may fly high, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines, so…. David Brent, of course, famously recorded the definitive version of this song.

The Flaming Lips – “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”

Celebrating their 30th anniversary. I’ve never been their biggest fan, and in fact I don’t know all that much of their stuff at all…. But this song is just deliriously brilliant.

The Smiths – “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”

Speaking of deliriously brilliant….. On the BBC4 documentary the other day, I was watching a musicologist at a piano explaining the genius of Johnny Marr. For this song, he was talking about how the verse is in interesting minor chords, but suddenly this all resolves into a completely irresistible major chord for the chorus and you can’t help but feel uplifted…whatever the lyrical content about suicide pacts. To be honest, as a teenager, I was more interested in relating to Morrissey’s heartfelt lyric about darkened underpasses…. But I’ve kissed a girl now, so we’re all good and I can appreciate the music now. Beautiful song by an untouchably brilliant band. As Steve said in the comments below, probably not my favourite band, but DEFINITELY the band that I hold the dearest and that has meant the most to me.

Right, well…. That’s it. Enjoy the long weekend, peeps.