Bat For Lashes - Laura (2013)

Side A:
Laura

Side B:
Marilyn (Vogue Love Songs Sessions)

This is a nice one. 'Laura' is such a gorgeous song. Hearing it on this 7", after playing 7" roulette all night, feels just right. It doesn't quite feel like a song that came out in 2012. It feels timeless. It feels like I should have picked this dusty old 45 up along with the others I've blogged tonight.

I didn't, of course. This was released for Record Store Day in 2013 (but it's fairly easy to come by). I must say, I love the generic Parlophone cover (and who knew that Parlophone was still an active label?! Though, I remember thinking the same thing when Kylie Minogue was signed to them in the early 2000's), which I first encountered on the 2010 Bat For Lashes RSD release.

The version of 'Marilyn' here is, I hate to say, nothing special. Not that it matters. This one's worth the price of admission for 'Laura' alone.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge (1991)

Side A:
Under The Bridge

Side B:
The Righteous & The Wicked

This was an interesting choice to jump out at me. As I, generally, don't care for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. At all. I have Californication, and still enjoy that occasionally. And, 'Soul To Squeeze' is pretty great. They also seem cool as people. But, my interest in the band's music ends there.

This was another $1 purchase from the Old Reynella record shop. It's an old jukebox record, so it's pretty scratchy and well worn. 'Under The Bridge' has become a classic, I can't deny that. Even if says nothing to me about my life. Though, I must admit, I've kinda enjoyed hearing it tonight. Probably because it's been many, many years since I heard it. Growing up, most of my mates adored the Chili Peppers. A group of my high school mates even started a Chili Peppers tribute band, who still play around the place now. To say I got sick of hearing 'Under The Bridge' would be the under statement of the century. I've seen far too many drunk bogans passionately singing along to it. For a time, in my early twenties, it became the antithesis of everything I stood for in life.

Hearing 'The Righteous & The Wicked' tonight reminded me that I actually bought Blood Sugar Sex Magik on CD when it was fairly new. It was one of the first CD's I ever bought. Which I had completely forgotten about. I got it because I liked 'Under The Bridge' and 'Breaking The Girl'. I think I may even still have the CD. I don't care to search for it now. We'll save that for another blog.

[Another not-so-interesting aside, speaking of bands I don't like: The same day I bought this record, I also got a 7" of Pearl Jam's 'Alive'. I sold that on eBay - for $1, just like I paid for it - about 7 or 8 years ago. Which means that, thankfully, I don't have to listen to Pearl Jam for this blog].

Aretha Franklin - Think (1968)

Side A:
Think

Side B:
You Send Me

Now, this is an example of why I love hearing 60's singles on a crusty old 45. Hearing 'Think' digitally doesn't pack quite the same punch. And, I have noticed that 'Think' suffers more than any of Aretha's other 60's hits. On CD it sounds flat. On this 45, another from the eBay seller I mentioned earlier, it's full of life. The entire song joyously jumps off the vinyl, the cracks and pops seem to disappear. And, while not stated on the disc, it's clearly a mono mix. Mono mixes don't seem to translate as well digitally. For some reason, they sound gloriously rough and ready on old singles like this. I've enjoyed it so much, I've just dropped the needle back at the start for third time.

'You Send Me' isn't a song I'm fond of, in general. However, if I'm too listen to anyone do it, it's gonna be Areatha. She does a pretty good version of it, I must say!

This one also reminded me how nice it is to get a nice American pressing of (practically) any record from the 60's. The quality is so much better than the original Australian pressings. Even this 45. American pressings are quite sturdy, whereas the Australian equivalent are usually flimsy and, often, don't pack the same punch, sonically.

Joe Tex - Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) (1976)

Side A:
Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)

Side B:
I Mess Up Everything I Get My Hands On

Oh, lord. I haven't heard this one for a while.

I remember seeing it rage sometime in the late 90's. And found it fairly ridiculous. A disco song about not dancing with fat chicks. Ack. What were they thinking? It's kinda funny and kinda terrible.

My beloved Old Reynella record shop was another place where I bought many, many 45's. I think he must have bought a bunch of ex-jukebox stock. I remember going in one day, when i was about 17, only to be greeted with mountains and mountains of these 45's. Of course, I faithfully scoured these piles. I wince at the thought of what I may have left behind, but I ended up taking a great many home. Most he sold for $1, so I wasn't entirely fussy about what I took home. And, this was one. Purely for the novelty of the thing. I think tonight may have been the second or third time I've ever played it. Tonight is certainly the first time I've ever played the B-side (and considering how well worn the A-side is, and how clean the B-side sounds, I'm guessing it's one of the few times it's been played, ever).

I quite like 'I Mess Up Everything I Get My Hands On'. It's a fairly decent soul/disco track. But I don't think I can enjoy 'Ain't Gonna Bump No More'. I don't mean to be the fun police, but come on. Let the big fat woman bump!

Kate Bush - Babooshka (1980)

Side A:
Babooshka

Side B:
Ran Tan Waltz

Ha! This is the second 7" I randomly selected. And, funnily enough, there's not a lot to say about it after the last blog. This was another acquisition from the aforementioned eBay seller. Usually, a rather sizeable package would arrive (and more frequently than I care to admit), so it's not that surprisingly that I picked another one that came from him.

Again, this one goes without saying. I love 'Babooshka'. What's not to love? Tonight, however, I'm more interested in the B-side, 'Ran Tan Waltz'. I don't think I'd ever listened to it. I quite like it. It's a non-album track, but wouldn't have sounded out of place on Never For Ever (not than I'm an expert on Kate Bush, as much as I do enjoy her). It does sound a bit like the uglier sibling of 'Army Dreamers'. Maybe that's why she left it off? It's a nice little song, though.

Prince - 1999 7" (1984)

I'm going try and blog a few 7"'s tonight. Because I have a shitload of them. Some are lovingly collected and sought out (Magic Dirt, PJ Harvey, the never ending stream of Madonna), others I just acquired somehow and may be just songs I like - I may not own any albums by the artist, but if I dig the song and stumble across the 45, I usually buy it.

I'm going to play a little game of 7" roulette. I shall close my eyes and pick a few at random. Hopefully, they'll make for short, snappy blogs. Let's see what we get.

First up:

Prince - 1999

Side A:
1999

Side B:
Little Red Corvette

Oh, lovely! If I remember correctly, I got this off eBay from a guy that would sell hundreds of a records at a time for a starting price of 1 cent. I'd go nuts, bid on a ton of shit, and inevitably end up with a rather interesting selection of bargain records. It was in the months after I'd returned from London, having tried (and failed) to find a job in London. I really missed those London record shops once I was back in Adelaide. This guy and his eBay bargains were just what I needed to get through.

At the time, I had a real thing about buying 45's. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because they were plentiful (and cheap) in London. I've always bought them, but over the following year or so, I really stepped it up. And, I ended up with a lot from this particular eBay seller. This was one.

No prizes for guessing why I wanted this one. One of my favourite Prince songs on either side! I actually didn't realise these were released as a double A-side (my childhood love of Prince started around the time of Diamonds & Pearls. The Hits cassette I had was my only education I had in classic 80's Prince, at the time). It was also around this time that I (finally) started to seek out vinyl copies of Prince's 80's albums (the few I had as a kid were long gone). This one made a nice addition, too.

And, that back cover! Oh, Prince. Only he could get away with something so pompous - especially to the point of making it endearing. I guess that's why we love him.

Right. Next!

Madonna - Music (2000)

Versions:
CD (EU)
CD (Australia - Tour Edition with bonus disc)
CD (Limited Edition - Black)
CD (Limited Edition - Rose)
LP
Cassette

Tracklisting:
1. Music
2. Impressive Instant
3. Runaway Lover
4. I Deserve It
5. Amazing
6. Nobody's Perfect
7. Don't Tell Me
8. What It Feels Like For A Girl
9. Paradise (Not For Me)
10. Gone

Best Tracks:
Paradise (Not For Me)
Don't Tell Me
Impressive Instant

Fuck me, I didn't realise I had 6 copies of Music. I guess it's bound to happen when I'm constantly (and mindlessly) picking up Madonna knick knacks. I'm not really surprised, once I think about it. It'll probably happen more as I dig through and blog the (extensive) Madonna library.

Anyway. Music. It was this album, along with Ray Of Light that re-ignited my interest in all-things-Mads back in 2000. By the time I was 17, I had thought (however erroneously) that Madonna would forever be a nostalgic remember of my childhood. Given that I was only about 14 when I decided to hide my Madonna CD's and cassettes in a bottom drawer so that my friends wouldn't see, we were only apart a few years (and during her Evita phase. So, there was that). Occasionally, I'd hear an 80's hit on the radio or in a shop and smile knowingly. At the time, obsessed with 60's music and (gulp) Marilyn Manson, I would not have thought - at that point in time - that I'd rediscover Madonna's music. And with such a vengeance.

I mean, I was always going to. It was inevitable. I couldn't stay away forever. The love never stopped, as much as I tried to deny it. After Music came out, I embraced it wholeheartedly.

I had heard Ray Of Light and quite liked it. I thought 'Frozen' was great when that came out. But, that was it. I'd always meant to check it out further, and never did. Then the 'Music' single came out, flooded the airwaves, and was catchy as hell. Then 'Don't Tell Me' came out and was actually a fucking great song and had that great cowboy video. Then 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' gets released as a hard techno remix with a Guy Richie directed video. I loved all three. I couldn't hold off any longer. I got one of my mates to burn me his sister's copies of both albums, and gave them a whirl.

I fell in love with both, pretty well instantly. Both were on high rotation, much to the chagrin of my Nine Inch Nails worshipping pals. Personally, I didn't think Madonna and NIN were that different.

The songs on Music are, generally, very good. Aside from the 'Beautiful Stranger' re-write 'Amazing' (which was almost a single, but thankfully wasn't), there are no songs on Music that I don't like. 'Music' was a great single and showed that, in 2000, Madonna was still a trendsetter (as Jennifer Saudners, playing Edina Monsoon, in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous said, 'Lo, she hath spoken! Cowboy hats is back!'). 'Don't Tell Me' is still one of my all time favourite Madonna songs. As well as being a wonderfully produced slice of pop goodness, it's actually a beautiful song. 'Impressive Instant' really should have been a single (and Madonna fans on the internet in 2001 would have told you that it was the biggest travesty of her career that it wasn't). The song shows that heavy vocoder use can, believe it or not, be used to great effect. 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' is a sweet song, but I have grown the love the Above & Beyond single remix much more than the album version. 'I Deserve It' and 'Gone' are softer guitar based songs (yes, this was when she started playing guitar and speaking with a British accent) which, despite songs very naff and clichéd lyrics ('This guy was meant for me, and I was meant for him' - guy....Guy! Guy Richie! Get it!), both hold a special place in my heart for some reason. They don't come close to 'Don't Tell Me', but they're nice anyway.

The dark horse of the whole record is 'Paradise (Not For Me)'. It came out on Mirwais' Production album before it came out on Music. I remember Triple J playing it, saying something to the effect of 'You won't believe this is Madonna!'. Considering she'd worked previously with Massive Attack and co-written a song with Björk, it wasn't that much of a surprise. That said, it was quite unlike anything she'd done before. It doesn't sound like it in 2015, but in 2000, it was strikingly different. It was not the type of song that a mainstream pop singer would produce. Thankfully, mainstream pop music became a little more adventurous in the 00's. I think it speaks volumes about the state of pop music in 2000 when a song like 'Paradise' could evoke such a reaction. 'Paradise' is still a really great song. I may even go so far as to say it's Madonna's best song that was never released as a single.

The first copy of this album I got (because the burnt copy just wouldn't do) was the 2-disc tour edition. Why a tour edition was released in Australia (it was even pressed in Australia), I do not know. Since it's 2015 and she still hasn't fucking toured here. Interestingly, the version of Music used on the tour edition is the US 10 track version, not the standard Australian version with 'American Pie' and 'Don't Tell Me' b-side, 'Cyber-Raga' as bonus tracks. I've not included those tracks in this blog because, first and foremost, they don't belong on Music, but also because the 10 tracks version is the version I'm used to hearing (even the vinyl has 'American Pie' frustratingly tacked onto the end. I've also - strangely enough - never picked up a copy of the Australian CD. Which is rather unlike me). The bonus disc of the tour edition features remixes found on the singles released from Music. For some reason, it doesn't include the Above & Beyond remix of 'What It Feels Like For A Girl', which renders the whole thing just about pointless.

I found the vinyl copy at The Muses one fateful day. They had this, Ray Of Light and American Life. They just randomly popped up. After squealing like a schoolgirl, I bought all three. I have two of the limited edition hessian cover versions. The black (which is apparently the hardest to get) I found years ago in a secondhand shop for $10. The rose coloured one I got off eBay more recently for under $10. Both are quite nifty additions. The hard cover looks very cool. The CD pictured with the 6 for £5 price tag I bought in Manchester, during my trip following Madonna around the UK. For reasons best known to itself, my iPod wiped itself while I was staying in Dublin. And, I didn't fancy catching the train back to London from Manchester iPod-less. 6 Madonna CD's for £5? That was money well spent. Even if I did have them all at home already. I left the price tag on as a reminder (usually a big no-no for anything in my collection).

Music has actually aged quite well. While it may not be Madonna's best album, it's certainly up there. It is easily one of her most consistent albums. Which may be down to it's 44 minute running time. Only her first three albums run less. While others (Erotica, Ray Of Light, Hard Candy and the stifling 25 tracks on Rebel Heart) push well past the one hour mark. As such, Music has a directness that most of her others records lack. This one doesn't really fuck around too much.