There ain't enough
Bourbon in Kentucky
For me to forget you
1. This train is bound for glory and it ain't stopping. We reach Session 32 of our weekly get togethers and well... it's been quite a ride hasn't it? When I started this little blog, I didn't think for a moment that we'd be still here towards the end of the year and it seems there's still enough fuel to keep us going for some time yet. It's been a real bunch of fun for me so far and it's fantastic that you've joined me and made it worthwhile. This week, there has been a little glimmer of hope with the news that the boffins in white coats are closer to announcing they've created a successful vaccine. With this in mind I thought we'd begin with this from The Flaming Lips 1999 offering The Soft Bulletin. This album is a trip from start to finish. Even the album cover is psychedelic. It's a photograph of Neal Cassady - one of the founders of the famous Beat Generation - dancing with his own shadow on Sunset Boulevard after drinking orange juice spiked with LSD. Race For The Prize is our opener this evening.
1. The Flaming Lips
Race For The Prize
2. Just recently I happened to (quite accidentally) fall into a conversation with a group of American Flat Earthers. Now these guys are nuttier than a pile of squirrel shite but to their credit, they were very polite with me even though our beliefs on this subject were (literally) poles apart. I respect them wholeheartedly for their steadfast determination to flatten the planet. This one is for them.
2. José González
This Is How We Walk On The Moon
3. I'll play this song by GoGo Penguin next. I've been listening to them a lot lately, especially this track which is titled "Branches Break." It's another one of those songs which are loaded with nostalgia. Maybe they're the ones I like best and I appreciate these more as I get older which kind of makes sense to me. I have a memory I can put next to this song. I mentioned in previous sessions about what we did as kids. One daft thing we used to do was climb a tree with a big piece of carpet tucked under your arm. More difficult than it sounds. Anyways, you climbed to the top of the tree and wrapped yourself up in said carpet as tightly as you possibly could before letting yourself fall through the branches for an exhilarating few seconds with the carpet acting as the protection from the branches as you hurtled downwards. It was a risky business but we were stupid and carefree. I can ever so clearly remember the sound of my friends crashing through from the 40ft drop and then laughing on their backs as they rolled out of the carpet (whipped and wounded but alive) to our cheers. We come this way but once. Oh to be young again.
3. GoGo Penguin
Branches Break
4. I heard this song today for the first time ever and felt it straight away. It got under my skin like the track above. It's great when that happens. I was in the car in the tunnel that takes you under the River Mersey. I'm always very apprehensive when I drive through there. The thought of mega tonnes of water over my head never fails to make me nervous, even after nearly 4 years of doing this journey nearly every day but today this song came on in the car as 3 police cars sped past. Their blue lights reflected off the walls of the tunnel and only added to the urgency of the music and the rush. Yes that's what it was. A rush. A euphoric rush. See what you make of this. I think it's nothing but wondrous.
4. Wings of Desire
Be Here Now
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5. The Fox has gifted us with an acoustic delivery this week and it's one you may already know but it comes from our local hero and boy-done-good Tim Burgess so Andrew gets bonus points for that. From the album Us And Us Only (super title that too) here we have The Charlatans.
5. The Charlatans
Impossible
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6. "I want to disappear. And have no sense of time." I'm pretty sure this track only came into my head because of that Flaming Lips album sleeve I wrote about earlier but none the less, it's a really great slice of heavy dream-pop from the 90's. It's got that Pixies style sludgy guitar drone that works so well with Brazilian singer Isabel Monteiro's voice. I think you'll like this.
6. Drugstore
Solitary Party Groover
7. This week saw the passing of the mercurial footballer Diego Maradona. Much will be mentioned about the darker corners of his life but it's the beautiful game he should be remembered for. He was 5.5ft tall but fearless. He just had it. He was mesmerising. He would have been one of my all time picks for people I'd love to have had a picture taken with as his warm ups alone were worth paying for. A once in a generation player. To me personally, especially when I think of how I felt as a kid when I watched him on TV, he was undoubtedly the greatest. Good seeing you all. Lets do this again next week. Ciao for now. x
7. Cat Power
The Greatest
