Saturday Random Five

Because of extreme slackness (or could it be I’m actually working?), the Friday Random Five is being moved to Saturdays. Fridays are always too busy for me.

Oristano Sojourn by Scott Cossu Album: Windham Hill: The First Ten Years
I’d like to say as little as possible about this one. It’s very instumentally and musical, with flutes, piano, and drums. It comes from Windham Hill, which was a great label, except that some of their more modern stuff grew into a genre which was known as ‘adult contemporary’, which today is known as ‘shit’. It’s all a bit Teshy, which I know sounds dismissive, but I don’t care. Skip, and maybe uncheck.

God’s Gift by Lush Album: Nothing Natural (Single)
‘Nothing Natural’ was the first Lush song ever I heard. X96 in Salt Lake gave it loads of airplay. This b-side’s good too. Has Miki ever overcome her ‘man issues’? Because the trajectory between this song and ‘Ladykillers’ is pretty much a straight line, and that may not be good.

Heavy fingerprints of Robin Guthrie here — as producer, he even made Chris drum on pads so the beats could be quantised. Even so, nothing could mask the sullen jangle of Lush guitars.

Get Off the Stage by Morrissey Album: Piccadilly Palare (Single)
I had the worst time trying to figure out who Morrissey was talking about in this song. I had an idea that he’d turned his gift for relentless parody on himself, as the ‘silly old man’ who should hang up the musical career. But ‘mascara’ and ‘Fender guitar’ (which rhyme) doesn’t describe our Moz. Could it have been Robert Smith of the Cure, in one of their famous fights?

Thank the FSM for the Internets, which makes it all clear: it’s Mick Jagger. I quote:

As a verse drags on like a month drags on
It’s very short, but it seems very long

And the song that you just sang
It sounds exactly like the last one
And the next one
I bet you it will sound
Like this one

It was true twenty years ago, and it’s even more true today.

Take On Me by A-ha Album: Hunting High and Low
Pity the extreme A-ha fan. A-ha has had a long and honourable music career for the last twenty years, but does anyone think of the acclaimed ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’? Or the new live album? No, it’s always bloody ‘Take On Me’ from 1985! The completist will be spitting chips. “They’ve done a lot more than that!” he’ll say.

Oh, calm down and watch the video, which is still amazing for its narrative style and animation technique. And Morton’s wounded-deer eyes.

No really. Go watch it. I’ll wait.

This song should never be chosen for karaoke. You think you can hit the high notes, but you can not. You will suck.

Babooshka by Kate Bush Album: Never For Ever
I always think of this song in the same category as ‘The Piña Colada Song’ by Rupert Hines, but in reverse. You see, in his song, the guy gets bored of his girlfriend, and tries to find someone else using a personal ad. (Warning: spoiler!) The new girl turns out to be his old girlfriend, who was just as bored of him. But it works out because now they realise that they have more in common than they thought, e.g. piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.

This song’s the disasterous mirror image. The wife decides to tempt the husband into an affair, with herself in disguise as bait. He goes for it, but only because this ‘new’ woman reminds him of his wife when she was young and beautiful. That it’s her he loves matters not one whit to the wife, who now knows her husband is potentially unfaithful. Ah, cruel irony! Leave it to Kate to find the dark side of a potentially hilarious situation.

‘Babooshka’ means ‘grandmother’ in Russian, but many English-speaking people have gotten the odd impression that it’s some kind of voluptuous nickname. I cannot explain how this might have happened.

And a sixth, to cleanse the palate:
Paris by Pérez Prado Album: Our Man in Havana: The Very Best of Pérez Prado
Could mambo be the best Latin music there is? Is there better music to give a party that atmosphere of festive weirdness? In the hands of Cuban bandleader Pérez Prado and his orchestra, the correct answers are yes and no, respectively. Uurgh!