Five – A History of Dubious Taste

Friday Night Music Club Vol 83

Evening all.

It may be less than two weeks away, but there’s nothing even remotely Christmassy about this week’s mix (actually, that’s not true; I’ve realised that the reason one of tonight’s tunes had ear-wormed its way into my brain is because it appears in a Xmas ad…grrrr). In fact, I’m undecided as to whether or not I’ll be doing a Christmas mix at all this year. Thought I’d let you know in the unlikely event anyone was relying on me knocking one off to soundtrack their festivities. If I don’t do a new one, I’ll post links to previous ones to save you searching for them.

Anyway, this week there are tunes from a-ha; Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan; a couple of Kinks covers from The Pretenders and The Fall: the Bangles, Edwyn Collins, Art Brut and The Wedding Present make appearances, along with a long forgotten..erm..classic by…erm…Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction, before a bit of pure pop from Five/5ive with a fine suggestion which I accepted, lobbing in tunes from Fatboy Slim, Utah Saints, The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk, before finishing off with an indie classic courtesy of The Beta Band.

Oh, and there’s some Quo too, but not in the way you might think.

Fancy a listen?

Friday Night Music Club Vol 83

Track-listing:

a-ha – Hunting High And Low (7″ Remix)
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Ramblin’ Man
The Pretenders – Stop Your Sobbing
The Fall – Victoria
Edwyn Collins – A Girl Like You
Bangles – In Your Room
Art Brut – DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake
The Wedding Present – Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?
Pulp – Lipgloss
Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction – Prime Mover (Automatic Cannibal Mix)
Five – Let’s Dance [Radio Version]
Utah Saints – What Can You Do For Me
Fatboy Slim – Kalifornia
The Chemical Brothers – Galaxy Bounce
Daft Punk – Veridis Quo
The Beta Band – Dry the Rain

More soon.

New Mood on Monday

As Richie and I drove to Cambridge on Monday night, the topic of stuff we’d watched on TV came up.

We often swap recommendations and opinions on things we’ve seen, as I’m sure most of you do with your besties.

Amongst the shows that came up this time was the three-part BBC documentary Boybands Forever, which recently aired and is (probably) still available to watch on the BBC iPlayer.

As you’d expect, it’s a warts-and-all look back at the history of boybands, mostly put-together by some music mogul or other, fewer actually self-formed.

It’s a really interesting series, for it exposes what I think most of us know deep down: being a popstar is not as much fun as it looks. Tales of conflict, resentment, regret, but moreover, of being worked to the point of physical and mental exhaustion are aplenty (for more of this, see also Netflix’s Robbie Williams documentary).

I mention Robbie from Five describing them as “a commodity”, and also from Five, Sean (I think), who I genuinely felt sorry for: right on the brink of quitting the band due to mental health issues, he felt pressurised into staying for fear of letting his bandmates down, and wished he hadn’t.

It’s very much a hot topic these days, mental health in the workplace. Great progress has been made, More employers have things in place for those who need help, and more people are admitting to struggling and reaching out for that help, which is very much a positive. But I can’t help thinking that perhaps if those employers made more of an effort to make the work environment, expectations and workload a bit more bearable, then perhaps there would be fewer people needing help. And, yes, I am speaking from personal experience and am arching an eyebrow in the direction of my current employers.

Anyway, I don’t say this in the car on Wednesday, but on the mention of Five, Richie – a dyed-in-the-wool Indie fan – nods sagely and adds: “I was really surprised at how good Five were!”

I’m less surprised, but you know me and my love of pop music: they had some absolute bangers, and this, from 1999 and therefore towards the end of the band’s (first) life-span, was their first #1, and it’s just perfect to get you going on a windy and rainy Monday morning: