No.793: “Easy Pieces” by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1985)
Country-tinged 80’s pop from a very underrated songwriter in my opinion. Following on from the band’s debut ‘Rattlesnakes’ (of that later), Cole followed it up with this album full of songwriting at it’s best. Includes the glorious single plus this clever little ditty too:
I’m slamming on all these YouTube vids but I don’t actually get the chance to watch them myself. Got a lot of catching up to do someday I think!
We’ll have a couple more today and then I’ll return on Friday night with my next instalment.
No.792: “Fandango” by ZZ Top (1975)
The bearded Texan’s fourth album from 1975. Would you like a little Tush? You know you would…
Incidentally, while I’m putting this all together each day, I select a classic album to listen to. Today it’s been Procol Harum. You forget just how many great recordings that band made.
Anyway, I’m digressing again. Here’s your final one for today:
No.791: “In It For The Money” by Supergrass (1997)
What a superb indie-rock band this trio are. Much respected for their albums and quite impressive flow of singles, they released what was probably their loudest single with this one, which is pure raw punk rock 20 years too late!
Not so many this time round, tried hard with The APP but never got them.
Lloyd Cole loved Rattlesnakes. Only cams close once to seeing the Who, buggers never turned up, leaving the then unknown support band to fill the night which they played a blinder. (Curved Air}
Just seeing Sonya Christina walk past would be worth the admission price alone I should think.
Yes, I suppose some of Dylan; stuff could have been early Rap. I tend to think of ‘The tide is high’ by Blondie.
Glad to see The Cars. As I mentioned earlier, I still have the single ‘My best friend girl’ and also have J’ust what I needed’ in picture disc. Both are only worth a couple of pounds though.
Thanks for the info on Rattlesnakes.It 's good.
I always thought Lloyd was American for some reason ???
I would class ‘The Tide Is High’ as an old reggae song tbh. But perhaps their 1981 song ‘Rapture’ would fit the bill as a rap track, plus it was quite comical with it. An alien who ate cars and bars:confused2:
Rattlesnakes is a stunning album and for me is on a par with another great 80’s debut, Raintown by Deacon Blue. Both are very high in the list.
Talking of being on a par, apparently Lloyd Cole has a 2 handicap at golf (just a little trivia for you).
Found time for just one today:
No.790: “Nantucket Sleighride” by Mountain (1971)
Progressive rock band from the early seventies featuring Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi. Their most famous song was used in part for the theme from ‘Weekend World’ on TV.
More tomorrow.
yep sorry that’s what I meant. 
Okay, let’s do it…
No.789: “Reverence” by Faithless (1996)
Rave music never sounded so good. Mostly instrumental, Faithless combined 90’s dance with hip hop culture for DJ’s all over the planet. The track Insomnia is a stone cold classic, here’s the single edit:
No.788: “Electric” by Richard Thompson (2013)
Wearing his permanently-attired beret but ditching the acoustic guitar, Thompson made this bold swing to a full-on band album a few years ago. Nothing Thompson does is bad and he’s regarded as one of the world’s best guitarists and his lyrics on this aren’t that bad either:
Faithless had a string of good albums intelligent music wit,h a creative core the added many quality members for each new release. Like Massive Attackn an interesting discography.
For some reason they passed me by when it all came out in the 90’s. I think I was more into the indie-rock bands to be honest.
No.787: “Cheap Thrills” by Big Brother & The Holding Co. (1968)
Janis Joplin and her band with their third album of raw raucous blues and soul. She was an acquired taste but nobody can say she didn’t give it her all. Ball and Chain:
No.786: “From Elvis In Memphis” by Elvis Presley (1969)
One of Elvis’ true classic albums (in fact, there aren’t really that many as most are either dire film soundtracks or compilation), ‘Memphis’ captures The King in great late form on a selection of more obscure recordings (i.e. not the hits). Here’s a vinyl rip of the full album:
No.785: “Marquee Moon” by Television (1977)
Tom Verlaine’s New York arty punk band with a masterful album. Very typi
cal of the scene at the time, Television were part of the legendary CBGB’s club which also made famous such stars as Patti Smith, The Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie.
No.784: “90125” by Yes (1983)
Missing Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, Yes recruited the brilliant guitarist Trevor Rabin and reunited Tony Kaye with the band for this absolute 80’s smash of an album. No.1 in the states with both album and lead single ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’, it transported Yes into MTV favourites for a short while and even made an unlikely pin-up boy out of singer Jon Anderson.
No.783: “Tempest” by Bob Dylan (2012)
http://www.annemargaretdaniel.com/images/402807_10151229611739416_1895154556_n-330.jpg
Dylan’s Tempest album featured a stirling assortment of story songs, old-time whistle stop ditties and the remarkable 15-minute title track telling the story of the Titanic disaster. I dearly wanted to show that song in full but as is the case with a lot of major artists, the record company won’t allow it to be aired on YouTube. Shame, so here’s a sampler promo of the record instead:
