Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Classic Track - Only Love Can Break Your Heart

 

 

I never liked anything else they did before or after this blissful indie/dance crossover single. It seems a travesty of justice that the excellent Moira Lambert got the push in favour of Sarah Cracknell, but at least she didn't outstay her welcome; I wonder what she's up to now? Check out the typically early 90's video; the combination of football table and this song never fails to send me into a frenzy.

 

 



Terry & Gerry - Clothes Shop

I'd never actually seen Terry And Gerry before discovering this video, and in a similar way to Sophie and Peter Johnson they manage to almost perfectly reflect the picture I had in my imagination. Bad haircuts, the sheriff's badge and cheeky grins. Terry & Gerry attempted to revitalise the dour eighties with some funpacked, washboard stroking, skiffle based action. Needless to say they failed miserably as can be seen from the comatose reaction of The Tube crowd. It's a sad world when Lady Gaga cracks out 480 million hits on Youtube and Terry & Gerry manage just 181.

The Milkshakes - Exactly Like You

As soon as I got my first combined radio cassette I was eager to tape some music from the radio. Previously I'd made recordings using a standard radio with a cassette tape recorder propped up next to the speaker, but this always produced understandably disappointing results. The new-fangled machine facilitated the recording of a much more professional standard and the first results were treated with a kind of reverence by myself and Evlkeith not seen again until video was invented some years later.

The results of these fledgling recordings were collected onto a C90 known only as the legendary 'Farm Crazy Tape' and included the likes of Rip, Rig and Panic, B-Movie, 3-D A Fish in Sea and obviously The Farm. Tucked into this hall of fame were two songs by the Milkshakes that until now I had never managed to track down. 'Exactly Like You' sounds just as good now as it did then in a down and dirty, beat combo kind of way and at just over two minutes doesn't outstay it's welcome. Even though I've listened to it hundreds of times I'd never heard the last 15 seconds as an itchy trigger finger on record and play meant that a Dexy's song cut in on the tape and obliterated the ending. I'll work hard to get my hands on a copy of 'Fourteen Rhythm and Beat Greats' as I'm sure they have much more to offer.

Any additional Milkshake information gratefully received.

Classic Track: Television Satellite - Sophie and Peter Johnson 1986

It's hard to believe it's 25 years since Television Satellite was unleashed on the world. At the time it was just an obscure Peel track that squeaked into the Festive 50, but it was so much more mysterious than that. Synthpop was in it's infancy at the time, the internet was years away and information about indie artists was in short supply. In those days you let your imagination fill in the gaps and I only had the song and their two names to go on.

To me, Sophie and Peter Johnson sounded like a geeky brother who had learned to play synthersizer in his bedroom, with sister Sophie a stylish, prim and proper, girl next door type who worked in a library, enjoyed science fiction and spoke with a lisp. The video below is the first time I've ever seen them and I don't think I was too far away, admittedly they look like they're sponsored by Primark, but that was cool in the 80's. It's hard to verify the lisp or the library from the video. The song is an absolute cracker by the way!

Classic Track - Dreadzone - Fight the Power (1995)

When Dreadzone released Fight the Power in 1995 it was like some hybrid techno reggae monster. It still stands the test of time today, but at the time it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Too hard to be house, too dance oriented to be reggae and too political with a capital P to be pop. The time has come for each and everyone of you to decide...

Classic Track - Coldcut - Stop this Crazy Thing (1989)

Back in the 1980's dance music pioneers Coldcut were experimenting with samplers, sequencers, hip hop breaks, sound effects and various acts of cross-genre fertilisation. The results were the classic album 'What's that Noise?' with it's influencial mix of chopped up samples, quirky sound-bites and guest vocalists (Mark E Smith, Lisa Stansfield, Yazz). The best track on the LP by far is this classic Tarzan fuelled, skankfest with Junior Reid on vocals.

Mesh Update - Only Better (Alien 6 Remix) 2009

In the first of a new series of classic tracks, this is an update to the Mesh review from earlier in the month. While selecting the playlist for the Into the Valley Player, I spotted this version of the mesh classic. Alien 6 have upped the pop factor with this cheesey, 'Stock/Aitken/Waterman' meets chiptune style remix which I love at the moment for some reason. So for all you Mesh fans in Northern Europe, enjoy the first classic track...

Doccortex