You thought you were going to escape, but the Refresh button isn’t through with you yet. And I’d just like to say that even though music from the 80s does make up a goodly portion of my collection, I am not a throwback. Thank you.

But with tracks this good, I’m not complaining. Here goes this week’s Random Five, fortified with artwork.

Oh My Golly! by Pixies Album: Surfer Rosa
I’m new to this album; I always listened to Doolittle. But now I’ve bought a copy of it, and I’m finding it hard to put down. And not just because of the bare-chested cover either. Take this track, for instance. Staggered drumbeats tell us something weird is going on. Then manic energy. Are they singing in Spanish? Who cares! For that minute and a half, it rox.

Love in Itself by Depeche Mode Album: Construction Time Again
Let’s say you’re in an electronic band, and let’s say your band name is Depeche Mode. Hypothetically. Your leader (who we’ll call Vince Clarke) has decided he’s leaving the band to take up with that Alison Moyet singer person. It’s over, right? Well, not if you’re Depeche Mode, which for the purposes of this example, we are assuming you are. If you’re Depeche Mode, you say, ‘well, we’ll just write the songs and do everything ourselves’. And you do! And it works! And all without a real manager and while using copious amounts of illicit substances. This I find amazing. And I forgive Martin Gore all of his moon-June-spoon lyrics because of this one wise line: ‘There was a time when all on my mind was love. Now I find that most of the time, love’s not enough in itself.’ It’s the kind of thing you know when you’re going into a relationship, but would you do anything differently? Nope, because what else is there besides love? Ability to work together? To ignore annoying habits? To accept that we won’t ever get everything we want in a relationship because our partner is just one person and we are too?

Chorale by Ted Greenwald & Scott Hiltzik Album: Soul of the Machine
Too many thoughts. Next song. This album comes from the Windham Hill label, which was once all acoustic guitars and hammered dulcimers, and may I add the nicest music to be curled up with on a cold winter’s solstice. But, like Dylan, they could not resist the allure of the electronic. Hence this album. This track piles chords onto soft chords. Thoughtful and almost halting, like a ballet.

Paradise Place by Siouxsie & the Banshees Album: Nocturne
I never really listened to Siouxsie & the Banshees besides ‘Cities in Dust’, but I could see why people liked ’em. Quite the goth image, and the songs were mostly solid. I don’t know why they didn’t click with me. This live track sees them in surprisingly muscular form. I can almost smell the audience.

Girl Afraid by The Smiths Album: Hatful of Hollow
More Smiths! This is a fine example of everything that was so great about them, too. Johnny Marr’s exceptionally busy fingers working over this snappy melody, with Morrissey piling on the sexual angst in typically humourous style. “Prudence never pays, and everything she wants costs money.”

Someday the jig will be up, and there’ll be an embarrassingly inappropriate collision between my wide range of classical music and the horrible Limp Bizkit track that I just know I’ve forgotten to uncheck. Will the musical depantsing come next week? Tune in and find out!