Tag Archives | Visitor Submission

Pet Shop Boys – It’s A Sin

By on April 7, 2011 in Tracks

She’s back! Here’s some more emotional talk from All We Have Is Our Stories’ Stephanie.

Emotion : Regret

Artist : Pet Shop Boys

Track : It’s A Sin

Album : Actually

Release Details : Parlaphone, 1987

I get chatty when I’m drunk. I think I’m a witty conversationalist, holding court with my peers as they hang on my every word, when in reality I’m usually sat in the corner loudly slurring at a plant pot about how the Pet Shop Boys basically invented modern pop music.

My incoherent ramblings might be ignored by those who have tired of listening to my repeated diatribe but as any house plant in the Liverpool area will tell you, I make a valid point. Maybe invented is a bold claim but their influence is undeniable.

It’s A Sin was written over 20 years ago but whereas 80′s fodder is often characterised by the dated sound of that decade, this could have been created yesterday. Cleverly produced, an electronic masterpiece. From the attention grabbing opening bars leading to a crescendo of thunder, it’s unmistakably PSB work of art. That’s before you even begin to tackle the wordy bits…

A retrospective guilt filled verse questioning life choices and mistakes made, you can hear the resentment and anger in his intonation. As part of my inebriated reasoning I often compare PSB lyrics to poetry, they don’t rely on oohs and ahhs, they’ve got substance goddammit. You can relate to them, they’re a reflection of your SOUL. Oh yeah, and they’re proper dead catchy too.

Do you know the most annoying part though? Neil Tennant claims he wrote those lyrics in a quarter of an hour. Seriously Tennant? 15 minutes? That’s the same amount of time it took me to craft my works email signature which is very well presented but probably wont be remembered as a pop classic. It’s very difficult to get an email address to scan correctly when sung, the @ is particularly tricky. Maybe if I tried a jauntier font, possibly the
universally loved Comic Sans? In bold? Italics? I’m open to all ideas.

To get back on to my original point, once you add into the equation Chris Lowe on keys, some haunting choral bv’s and a bit of spoken Latin, you’ve got the ingredients for one of the best pop tracks of all time. Now go forth, get hammered and spread the PSB word.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Mike and the Mechanics – The Living Years

By on March 25, 2011 in Tracks

Next up is this tearjerker courtesy of Emma Jay.

Emotion : Regret

Artist : Mike and the Mechanics

Track : The Living Years

Album : The Living Years

Release Details : Atlantic, 1988

Fuck. If you can really listen to the lyrics of this song without getting a plum-sized lump in your throat, then you are either dead or you’re Margaret Thatcher (same thing). No other song expresses so acutely the frustrations that we experience with our parents or family; or stresses the importance of resolving disputes before they fester into Gollum-like levels of resentment, distorting the truth and cultivating lifelong grudges.

From the beautifully pure and searing vocals by Paul Carrack, to the doleful instructions from the inter-generational choir who sing the backing track, to the crescendos of tremendous drums – the whole track is designed to raise emotions and take them to the highest point . . . before you probably end up breaking down in a sobbing heap, pounding the floor with your fists and wondering why you never called your dad back after he’d really pissed you off for not turning up to your graduation ceremony. Man, even the video is a lesson in forgiveness.

I think if you have ever experienced loss, this song would really speak to you. Don’t you wish you’d told that person you loved them? Don’t you wish the unsaid things were, er, said? Yeah you do. And if not, listen to this and then answer me again. You selfish fucking prick.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Richard Marx – Hazard

By on March 25, 2011 in Tracks

Thanks to Steph for the first of today’s submissions.

Emotion : Suspicion

Artist : Richard Marx

Track : Hazard

Album : Rush Street

Release Details : Capitol Records, 1991

I have an affinity for power ballads and also a passion for cautionary tales of suspected premeditated murder. It’s not often I get to indulge in both areas at the same time, which means I usually end up reading gory Wikipedia entries whilst listening to Heart – Alone, often on Friday nights as putting these hobbies on Match.com doesn’t seem to be the bloke puller you’d imagine. Odd huh.

However if I’m feeling indulgent, I’ll treat myself to a bit of Richard Marx and the in no way fictional account of when he moved to a town called Hazard, hooked up with some bird called Mary and definitely didn’t kill her. As far as cases for the defence go, it’s not the most compelling.

Let’s examine the evidence:

He moves to a town called Hazard. The dictionary definition of Hazard is “a possible source of danger”. It’s also the name for the lights in a car you stick on as you park on double yellows when nipping the cash point. It’s not a safe word, synonymous with trouble and parking tickets. Avoid Hazard, don’t move there you plank.

The residents of the town look at him with “prejudiced eyes”. My mum always says “there’s no smoke without fire”. She also says “as long as you can get from the taxi to the bar, from the bar to the taxi, you can buy the shoes”. She’s a woman full of sage advice.

They used to walk down by the river… How romantic!

…in the middle of the night. Oh. Do you know who goes for midnight strolls alongside water? Perverts and murderers.

No one understood what he felt about Mary psychotic tendencies are not shared by most of the population.

He swears he left her safe and sound Yes but where exactly were you on the night in question Richard? No alibi? Can anyone corroborate your story, do you have witnesses? I’d like to believe you, honest I would but my guv ain’t gunna swallow that one.

“There’s no escape for me this time” A cry of conscience. He knows he did it and by the sounds of it he’s done it before. We’ve got a rum ‘un here.

So there you have it. He might have an incredible bouffant of hair and an wardrobe of enviable chunky knits but do not let these superficial fineries sway you in your judgement. He’s guilty as sin, SEND HIM TO THE CHAIR.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Jodeci – Freek’n You

By on March 18, 2011 in Tracks

James Morton is a funny lad. He’s also intensely emotional about R&B. Regarde…

Emotion : The Horn

Artist : Jodeci

Track : Freek’n You

Release Details : Uptown/MCA, 1995

Is there any emotion as all-encompassing as lust?
It consumes the soul, fogs the brain and make you feel all tingly, like.
Jodeci knew this and their best songs are borderline psychedelic, so dense they are with pure, palpable libidinous rapture.

Freek’n You is what an erection would sing if it could. It’s also delightfully prudish, the word ‘freek’ used in place of, well, all the other words you can use for sweet, sweet intercourse.
We live in a time when Enrique Iglesias of all people can release a single called ‘Tonight I’m Fucking You’.
I want to go back to when groups like Jodeci could project total licentious desire with just a few well-placed euphemisms.

What is that warm feeling? Is it nostalgia. Oh… No. No it’s not.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Terrence Trent D’arby – Sign Your Name

By on March 11, 2011 in Tracks

Sexy disco times from Quoonbeatz.

Emotion : Unbridled Lust

Artist : Terrence Trent D’arby

Track : Sign Your Name

Album : Introducing the Hardline According to Terrence Trent D’arby

Release Details : CBS, 1987

They both knew the schedule well. The best mix of chart and party, with a half-hour erection section and the big power singalongs at the end. Friday and Saturday nights segued into each other as comfortably as Living on a Prayer and Never Forget.

He’d pinched her arse as she danced behind him during the RnB montage. It was only for a laugh though; she was like a dumpier version of Janine from Ghostbusters, awkwardly shifting from side to side, sucking her bottle of Castaway through a straw.

But that was two hours, three Cheeky Vimtos and a couple of red Aftershocks earlier. Now the lights were up, the bouncers were forcibly ejecting the stragglers from the dancefloor and he hadn’t copped off. He saw two of her stood sullenly near the toilets, waiting for her mate to stop necking so they could get their coats and a kebab. At this hour, the terms of engagement were different.

He approached her, coolly negotiating the sticky carpet that made him look like he was walking on the moon.

“Alright?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Scorpions – Wind of Change

By on March 7, 2011 in Tracks

My main man Phil sits in his room crying.

Emotion : Hope

Artist : Scorpions

Track : Wind of Change

Album : Crazy World

Release Details : Mercury Records, 1990

It starts with a lonesome whistle, drenched in reverb. Sadness. Fear. Then, in the space of a minute, the crescendo. What a fucking chorus!

That chorus is the light at the end of the tunnel. What was impossible is now possible. The cold war is over. Hitler is dead. The ozone layer has healed. Pele’s got a lob on.

Listen to this and try and unclench your fist. Shit, you can’t can you?

Hope.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Corey Hart – Sunglasses at Night

By on March 7, 2011 in Tracks

Emma Jay gets a bit stalky.

Emotion : Deception. Betrayal. Psychosis. Delusion. Patrick Bateman.

Artist : Corey Hart

Track : Sunglasses At Night

Release Details : EMI, 1983

He watches her. He watches her with him. He hides behind his Wayfarers.

He takes another sip of his Bud, which has gone flat. She’s laughing and bending over the pool table. Flirting. Cheatin’. The way she looks at that dude. The way she licks her lips… He puts his hand in the pocket of his leather jacket and fingers the blade he has concealed within. She still hasn’t seen him through the smokey air of the bar. He smirks at this dive she’s chosen to conduct this, this masquerade – it reminds him of when they were happy. When they were innocent. But now. But now…

Neither of them will ever return to their basement studio apartment in Queens, this much he knows.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Chris Isaak – Wicked Game

By on March 3, 2011 in Tracks

We’ve got serious now. Proper. We’re not messing. Quoonbeatz is bringing the heavy guns out.

Emotion : Desolation

Artist : Chris Isaak

Track : Wicked Game

Release Details : Reprise Records, 1991

Container storage security guard. This is his destiny. He would pass the yard on the train as a kid, gazing in awe of the colourful metal containers piled high like a massive Lego castle. And now he’s here. The nights are long, but the solitude doesn’t bother him. This is his kingdom.

The contents are never specified to him but in his mind’s eye he knows. Smuggled nuclear weapons; stolen sports cars from the European black market; the hidden entrance to the Batcave.

Someone’s left the container log book on the desk.

Office chairs. Vauxhall Astra gearboxes. Corn.

Its over. Crushed. Fin.

He scrabbles for his last bit of change and thrusts 65p into the vending machine. B4 – Twix.

B4 doesn’t drop.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 3 }

Rita Monico – Thrilling (Main Title)

By on March 2, 2011 in Tracks

Super rare track suggested by our good friend Rob Hyde again. Luckily for him I have a large soundtrack collection.

Emotion : Guilt

Artist : Rita Monico & Ennio Morricone

Track : Thrilling (Main Title)

Release Details : Never officially released

Table for two in ‘Eataly’, Grove Farm Triangle Retail Park, just outside Leicester.
It had become a pre-AGM ritual. Arriving in separate cars. Both up for the same award this year, extra tension.
I’d booked us in the Marriott near the M1 exit, one of my favourite hotels in the world.

Zucchini fritti for Kate. Dough balls for me. Just like old times.
I could never leave Sally and the kids, it went without saying.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }

Enigma – Sadeness

By on March 2, 2011 in Tracks

My main man Quoonbeatz provides the first of tonight’s aural delights. You can see his (and my) photees over at Message From The Future.

Emotion : Enlightenment

Artist : Enigma

Track : Sadeness

Album : MCMXC a.d.

Release Details : Charisma, 1990

Never was the internal conflict of sexuality versus religion portrayed more evocatively than by Curly MC’s Enigma musical project. This ain’t no band; this is a musical project. This is business time. Getting your wife, Sandra (MC?), to whisper sexy French vibes while a posse of Gregorian monks chant away at the end of bed is the work of a man who gets real deep. Like an edgy Sting.

Its going great guns so far, but hark! A flute solo?! Whats to do? A sensual, mournful wail, fills the air, like a sausage dog howling at the moon– presumably Sandra has got a headache or is a bit tired tonight?

This is music for cushions and hookahs at dusk in the desert, with the curtains gently blowing in the breeze coming through the castle windows. That or it’s the ideal soundtrack for watching the 1991 4th division play-off defeat away at Torquay on a flickering giant screen at Turf Moor.

Sadeness indeed.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Comments { 0 }
Pages: 1 2 Next
← Older posts