Music of 2010, tracks 1 to 10
January 1, 2011
Didn’t listen to much music this year. Here are some of my favourite tunes anyway. See you 2011. Chris
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Bonus Number 10s
A run down of my tracks of 2010…
Django Django – Storm
Broken Bells – The High Road
Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill
Gruff Rhys – Shark Ridden Waters
MIA – Born Free
Black Mountain – The Hair Song
Cate Le Bon – Hollow Trees House Hounds
Cults – ‘Go Outside’
Summer Camp – Ghost Train
YACHT – The Afterlife
The Coral – Butterfly House
Miles Kane – Inhaler
The Streets – Going Through Hell
Here We Go Magic – Collector
MGMT – It’s Working
Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground
The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire
Beach House – Zebra
Tame Impala – Jeremys Storm
Badly Drawn Boy – Too Many Miracles
John Grant (feat. Midlake) – Chicken Bones
Gorillaz – To Binge
DJ Format feat. Abdominal – Participation Prerequisite
Elephant Stone – I Am Blind
Vampire Weekend-Cousinz
Thee Oh Sees – If I Had A Reason
Janelle Monáe – Tightrope
Paul Weller – Fast Car – Slow Traffic
Clinic – Bubblegum
The Fall – Bury! PTS 2 + 4
Blur – Fool’s Day
WE ARE ANIMAL 1268
Karen Elson – The Ghost Who Walks
Warpaint – Stars
Tame Impala – Solitude is Bliss
The Sums – Vegetable
Jonathan Jeremiah – Happiness (Quiet Village Remix)
Frankie Rose And The Outs “Candy”
Bang On! – Hands High
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The Good Heads is a musical thing based in Liverpool, Merseysippi, UK. The Good Heads = recorded collaborations, blog and podcast.
This blog sounds like (and doesn’t sound like) – Sweaty dancefloors, rocknfuckinroll, psych, soul, New Orleans funk, funk, garage, Tropicália, psychedelic dance music, reggae, Nuggets, The Merseysippi…. Some good things: Some Velvet Morning, Morricone, Primal Scream, Aretha’s Rock Steady, Cherrystones, The Congos Fisherman, Shake Some Action, The Action, Faust 72, The Small Faces, Carol Kaye – Bass Catch, The Clash, Helter Skelter, Gal Costa – Tuareg, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, Ananda Shankar – Streets of Calcutta, Heavy Music pt2, The Stairs (Edgar Jones), Sympathy For The Devil, Lee Dorsey, Flaming Lips, Shack & Michael Head, Electric Mud, Hendrix, Credence Clearwater Revival, Dungen, Frankie Valli The Night, The Maytals, Timebox Beggin’, Lee Mavers, Spencer Davis Group Im A Man, Damon Poor Poor Genie, Mani & Reni and the Stone Roses, Vishti Bunyan- Where I Like To Stand, The Meters, House Of Mirrors, Sly Stone, Mohammed Rafi, Lou Rawls, Sun Ra, Serge Gainsbourg, etc…
Music of 2010, tracks 11 to 20
December 24, 2010
Music of 2010, tracks 21 to 30
December 24, 2010
And so begins the countdown of my ‘finds of 2010′. Seeing that I only listened to the radio about three times this year (in May as I remember, which might account for the number of tracks from around then) it’s hardly a definitive best of the 2010. Some of the tracks are from 2009 for a start. Oh well, lets go…
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Bonus tracks (err 31 to 34)…
31
32
33
34
Just be thankful I didn’t publish the top 100. 20 to 11 up next.
The Good Heads – Podcast 2
September 24, 2007
[odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/16539333/view]
The Good Heads PODCAST 2 Tracklisting
The Good Heads – Death Star Sitar (edit)
Arthur & Yu – Absurd Heroes Manifestos
The Monks Kitchen – Head For The Hills
Colourmusic – Circles
Daisy Martey – Do Right Woman
Midlake – Roscoe (beyond the wizards sleeve mix)
The Coolabahs – Another Reason
The Seal Cub Clubbing Club – Aurienteering
Mexican Institute Of Sound – Bienvenidos a Mi Disco
Chris Joss – You’ve Been Spiked
Gruff Rhys – Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru
The Bees – The Ocularist
The Troubadours – Gimme Love
Caribou – Melody Day (four tet remix)
Shack / Michael Head and The Strands – The Prize (flute demo)
So that was the second Podcast by The Good Heads. Do check out the videos below!
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THE GOOD HEADS PODCAST 2 Deluxe
To compliment the podcast here are some videos to help you put images to music. The videos here aren’t necessarily of songs included in the podcast. This is kind of the deluxe version of the previous post.
The Good Heads – Death Star Sitar (edit)
A video for a half finished instrumental. The list of guitarists that nearly played on this track reads like a who’s who of indie rock from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Step forward young pretender Ben from round our way – the ’10s will be yours! The full version, when it’s finished, will surface on our Myspace page to general indifference aside from love from some real heads.
Arthur and Yu – There Are Too Many Birds @ Live Easy Street Records
Smooth song from the recently released soundtrack to somebody’s summer ‘In Camera’. Happy Seattle folk Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott present to you in soft focus, sweet (but not sickly) retro harmonies…
The Monks Kitchen – Snake Charmer @ 12 Bar
First of two, from The Monk’s Kitchen, a moody little instrumental called Snake Charmer. Look out for the album ‘The Wind May Howl’ as it suggests these dudes could make sounds not heard since The Notorious Byrd Brothers. They’re gigging around at the moment so head over to their Myspace page for details of when and where. See them now before they are laying waste to stadiums.
The Monks Kitchen @ Down at the Redbricks @ The Black Gardenia 30/02/07
Colourmusic – Circles
A band from near Oklahoma City, which is home of the great Flaming Lips. I wonder what these badly dressed fellers will sound like over the course of an album? The stuff I’ve heard suggest it could be a cracker – kind of like a less pompous and populous Polyphonic Spree.
Colourmusic – Yes
Midlake – Roscoe (dir -sixyearsleft)
Maybe THE great song of 2006 presented here in the form of an alternative video that is perhaps more pertinent than the official promo which you can also watch below. You might of heard their sounds warped by Chemical Brothers on the album We Are the Night, contributing to the track “The Pills Won’t Help You Now”. The rarely heard version of Roscoe mixed by Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve can to heard in the podcast.
Midlake – Roscoe (official vid)
The Seal Cub Clubbing Club
The Wirral’s very own Krautrock pop puppies preview their super science fiction sounds. Check them out immediately.
Mexican Institute Of Sound
Retro futuristic underground Mexican lounge music? You’ve come to the right place…
Chris Joss – Discotheque Dancing
Retro futuristic underground discotheque boogie? You’ve come to the right place…
Gruff Rhys – Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru
Magnificent pop song from an unexpected treat of an album. Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru sees Gruff Rhys of the wonderful Super Furry Animals morph into Candylion as he goes driving. Candylion 2 please.
Gruff Rhys – Candylion
The Bees – The Ocularist (instrumental version 1)
The stand out track from Octopus, take a listen to the podcast for the full version with singing, vocal melodies and the like.
The Bees – The Ocularist (instrumental version 2)
The Troubadours – Gimme Love
Live version of the John Leckie produced single. Coming across like a pumped version of The La’s or a scally tribute to The Smiths these fellers are going places – and if they don’t they’ll leave us with a load of memories and cracking pop songs – so long as they don’t loose their sense of wonder.
Caribou – Melody Day
The podcast strips this song down to its bare essentials with the Four Tet remix.
Shack / Michael Head – Something Like You (live)
Time Machine, a collection of some of Shack’s best moments, is available any day now.
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Lee Hazlewood Dies
August 6, 2007
Lee Hazlewood has died at his home in Las Vegas after a long batter with renal cancer. He was 78.
A former disc jockey from Oklahoma, Hazlewood is best known for writing These Boots Were Made For Walking and a series of albums with Nancy Sinatra.
He retired in the late ’70s, but returned in 1999, before making his final album Cake Or Death last year when he knew he was terminally ill.
The family have requested that those wishing to honour Lee should make donations to the Salvation Army.
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood – Some Velvet Morning DOWNLOAD BUY
Recorded late 1967 the single made it to number 26 in the US chart in February the following year. Primal Scream covered this with Kate Moss taking on the Nancy role. Pure other worldly brilliance. A true psychedelic pop song.
Lee Hazlewood & Siw Malmkvist – You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
From the Swedish special Love And Other Crimes (1968)
Edgar ‘Jones’ Jones and the Joneses – The Way It Is
July 23, 2007
Beastie Boys – Off The Grid and The Rat Cage
May 29, 2007
The Beastie Boys are coming back in 2007 with an instrumental only album that’s sounding pretty cool from the stuff that’s leaked out so far. One of the few bands that improved album by album over a period of 10 years or so, peaking with Hello Nasty, don’t know the wisdom behind dropping the vocals but bring it on. Looks like there’s going to be a movie to accompany each track from the album so stay tuned. Here’s Off The Grid and The Rat Cage followed by an MP3 download of Off The Grid from another site. Don’t think Off The Grid is the lp version, just a live in the studio take.
Off The Grid
The Rat Cage
Off The Grid MP3 download, new Beastie Boys track. DOWNLOAD
Find an exclusive Beastie Boys remix by The Good Heads HERE
Candie Payne – I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
April 20, 2007
In anticipation of ‘I Wish I Could Have Loved You More’, the amazing debut album by Candie Payne, to be released May 2007…
Press Release 29/03/2007.
“After a successful debut tour with The Bees and with two highly sought-after limited seven inch singles under her belt, Candie Payne releases a new single I Wish I Could Have Loved You More, a retro-futuristic gem that sounds like the Neptunes collaborating with Phil Spector on the soundtrack to a sixties Kitchen Sink drama.
After several years spent playing in bands in Liverpool and fronting Liverpool indie group Tramp Attack, Candie signed as a solo artist to Deltasonic, the same influential Liverpool label that brought us the Coral and The Zutons.
Now, after writing and recording with Simon Dine (Noonday Underground), Candie’s debut album is due in May 2007.”
Candie Payne backed by Edgar Jones and the Joneses
The first clip, above, is I Wish I Could Have Loved You More by Candie Payne live at the Luminaire, 28/11/06 for Fact magazine. This video offers a rare chance to see the right half of Edgar Jones in stereo. Interestingly The Joneses line up for the Candie Payne tour included Paul from The Stairs on drums. Rumours Ged Lynn turned up to the audition but was scared off by Candie’s Bolton Wanders scarf and Tarzan undies cannot be confirmed. As close as we’ll ever get to a Stairs reunion? Probably. Wonder if they had a go at Skin Up For Me Baby or Weed Bus in the soundcheck for old times sake? It’s also worth noting that Candie was the lead vocalist for Edgar’s original line up of The Joneses and although she’d long left the band she does feature on backing vocals on a couple of the tracks on Soothing Music For Stray Cats.
The second clip is an alternative video for ‘I Wish I Could Have Loved You More’. Click the big button above.
Noonday Underground and Paul Weller – I’ll Walk Right On
So, if you’ve read the press release you’ll know the album was co written with Simon Dine of Noonday Underground. Noonday Underground happened to cut this track with Paul Weller. It’s a cracker.
Now you’ll be going out to buy I Wish I Could Have Loved You More quite soon, I can tell you that there’s a Candie Payne track tucked away in the Good Heads hugely unsuccessful podcast thing. PODCAST HERE
Candie Payne will be getting remixed by The Good Heads real soon. She doesn’t know it yet. Neither do the other half of The Good Heads.
Sony BMG Press Release 2007
Candie Payne was four when she was uprooted from an idyllic suburb of Liverpool to 1980’s pre-Guiliani New York. Hip hop was the sound on the streets, and this fast moving, multi-racial metropolis was a world away from what the young Candie and her family expected she would be growing up in. She spent her pre-teen years’ roller skating around the landings of the many apartment blocks she was to move in and out of during this time in her life. “We were always in Queens, just different areas of it; Jackson Heights mostly.” It was a precocious talent for drawing that helped her bridge the gap between herself and her peers at the many different schools she attended “I wouldn’t say I was shy, but I was very sensitive and quiet, so I just used to absorb myself in my pictures and the other kids would come over to see what I was drawing, and get me to draw things for them. That’s how I would make friends.” It was art that would remain her passion up until her late teens, right through her permanent move back to Liverpool in the early 90’s- From block-rockin beats to smiley culture. Toughened up by her formative years in the Big Apple, Candie returned a more confident and outspoken character.
It was in her early teens that the music which had so far permeated her everyday life via her musical family began to gain real interest for her. “My mum and dad have always had fantastic records, Artie Shaw, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, any of the greats you could name, and they were always on.” Aside from her parents’ quality taste in music, there were her elder brothers’ record collections to broaden her listening spectrum even more, bands like The Who, Nirvana, The Byrds and Jimmi Hendrix. And of course the obligatory tea making duties of a little sister as her brother made demos in his bedroom. Her reward? Committing her very own versions of ‘Norwegian Wood’ and ‘A Day In The Life’ to tape.
Fast-forward through a teenage happy hardcore rave phase, and Candie’s ambitions still lay in the art-world, particularly fashion design. So much so that she was already designing and making clothes for herself and her friends as a sideline to her exams. This enthusiasm continued until an ill-fated and short-lived spell on an art foundation course left her disillusioned and re-thinking her long held dreams of a career in the art-world. “I was totally directionless, I knew I wanted to do something creative, I just didn’t know what, so I made a conscious decision to be open to any opportunities that came my way.” And these proved to be many, due to a plum job landed in the trendy vintage clothes shop Resurrection in the centre of Liverpool, with all the bands, dj’s, photographers, movers and shakers passing through for jeans and stopping for coffee to exchange records or gossip, “It was in this environment that my interest in music stepped up a gear, and my lifestyle began to reflect that. It was in that shop that I heard bands like Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, and The Metres for the first time; records I may not have heard otherwise. To me, those years spent working in Resurrection were as formative in musical terms as hustling on and off subways in New York was character building.”
So in between the modelling, illustration and other sideline offers that she dabbled with, Candie first dipped her toe in the musical waters with a rendition of the Dolly Parton classic “Jolene,” performed with local heroes Tramp Attack. The word spread and she was quickly headhunted by ex-Stairs lead man Edgar Jones to front his new project, and honed her skills in earnest for the best part of a year. A change of direction in the band and Candie jumped off at the next stop, which was little more than the occasional turn with a Liverpool based jazz band. However, fate was to intervene when Bandwagon lynchpin and long time friend Gary Bandit, introduced her to producer Simon Dine, who happened to be looking for a singer to co-write with. A rough demo and a clutch of hand written verse later, and Candie and Simon set to work in the studio on what was soon to become the debut album.
So how does Candie Payne sound?
The title track blasts off in confidant style, with an incessant melody and pounding drums and a soaring vocal. Next, ‘Why Should I Settle For You’ draws you into one of the albums many dark corners. Such as ‘A Different You’, a big brash epic – all booming drums and syncopated percussion that makes Candies’ love lost lyrics sound all the more fragile and beautiful. At the other extreme ‘By Tomorrow’ canters along like a three-minute white knuckle horse back ride. And ‘Hey, Goodbye’ beefs up Candies sixties sound to the point where is sounds like a train is coming.
Make no mistake this album is trenchantly modern, updating the sonic and stylistic tricks of decades past. There is a fresh and spontaneous sound to this record that stems largely from this 24 year olds’ passion for singing, music and recording. She recently recorded a selection of songs from the soundtrack to Bugsy Malone, just for the fun of it and because “they are amazing songs, and taken out of the context of the film, they stand alone as classic tunes.” Look out for them on future b-sides.
In all, ‘I Wish…’ evokes Dusty in the daisy age, an air of Francoise Hardy, Nancy Sinatra, John Barry, or Scott Walker with a warped modern approach not dissimilar to that of Aphex Twin or the Wu Tangs’ RZA. Her furious girl meets boy kitchen pop songs recall late sixties British cinema or a Smiths single sleeve. “It’s pop music on the surface, in the sense that it’s catchy. But there is an underlying eeriness and even loneliness. These songs are trying to communicate the thoughts and feelings that go through your head when you’re struggling in a relationship, the things that you might not be ready to say out loud yet. And they are very personal to me. I felt I could only write and sing about things I knew a little bit about.’
You’ll Never Walk Alone
April 15, 2007
Anyone who ever had a heart knows why this post is here today. Keep on keepin’ on… The Good Heads
This is a celebration of a song…
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for their 1945 musical, Carousel. It was sung in the original show by Christine Johnson and later Jan Clayton with chorus. In the movie Claramae Turner (although the weeping Shirley Jones first tries to sing it, but cannot) belts is out, and later reprised by Ms. Jones and a chorus.
You’ll Never Walk Alone became the anthem of the supporters of Liverpool FC in England in the sixties. The song has also been adopted by many other football clubs across the world most notably Celtic FC.
You’ll Never Walk Alone has been covered many, many times – the most well known of these versions (in the UK) being the Gerry and the Pacemakers standard dating from 1965. But this post has given me the opportunity to present some stunning recordings of a timeless song.
Ray Charles – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
Perhaps the most beautiful version not sung by the Kop? There’s so much hope in Ray’s heart has he belts this out. A pure show stopper.
Johnny Cash – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
Johnny Cash is already a hero of The Kop but few realise he recorded this cover. This track can be found on the Unearthed box set from 2003.
Gene Vincent – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
Similar arrangement to the Gerry version but with some rockin’ roll guitar, doo woop backing versions, alternative lyrics and cheesy final chord. Great.
Elvis Presley – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
This sounds like a hymn. You can see the golden sky when Elvis sings this.
Five Blind Boys Of Alabama – You´ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
How many great versions of this song are out there? Here’s another for the collection.
Aretha Franklin – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
Jazzy gospel jam that oozes with class. This was the version John Peel chose to play back when he needed to.
The Kop Choir – You’ll Never Walk Alone. (the link has expired)
Podcast 1 (Heavy Music)
April 8, 2007
I Am The Resurrection. It’s nice to be back.
There should have been a play podcast button here but Word Press doesn’t support that. Shame.
For the moment you can find the podcast here:
http://goodheads.podbean.com/
Podbean is just a free podcasting site I’ve found, so let me know if they insert adverts into the recording or something bizarre. Also, let me know if I run out of free bandwidth, you can’t hear the mix, it won’t download / play, etc.
Track Listing:
Intro
Bob Seger and The Last Heard – Heavy Music, Part 2
Candie Payne – All I Need To Hear
Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control (Le Tigre Remix)
Buddy Miles – Train
The Good Heads vs The Beastie Boys – Keep On / Oh Word
Kasabian vs The Stone Roses – Processed Waterfall
Merry Clayton – Gimme Shelter
Lee Mavers of The La’s – Human Race
The Adacement – Stone Folk
Podcast notes:
First up is a storming piece of 1967 Detroit mod / soul / punk rock from Bob Seger. Heavy Music indeed. Steve Winwood ain’t got nothing on Bob. Give a serious listen to the Candie Payne track. She’s gonna be massive. The album could well be the record of 2007 if the label actually get round to releasing it. The version of the Gossip’s ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ included here can be heard in TV shows such as The L Word and Skins in the UK. It’s kind of here in the podcast to sucker ‘passing traffic’ into listening to the Candie Payne song. No apologies. Buddy Miles is best known for his association with Jimi Hendrix but check out this runaway train of a track. The Good Heads would like to thank Mike D, Adrock and MCA – it was a pleasure guys – before going on to introduce ‘Processed Waterfall’. You may realise Merry Clayton co-vocalised on the original Gimme Shelter, this is her own interpretation of perhaps The Rolling Stones’ finest moment. And it’s nice to be back today of all days with a taster of what Lee Mavers has been up to. Taken from ‘the crescent’ rehearsal in the late 90s (it’s not the greatest source material really, but hey). Please release that second La’s album sometime soon feller.
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