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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Soundtrack To Our Lives W/E 26/1/03
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Son Of Alice
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Re: Soundtrack To Our Lives W/E 26/1/03
Jan 26, 2003, 16:00
Strange week for me: a lot less caffiene, and zero metal. Here's what resulted:

Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide: I don't think the epic ambitions of this one quite come off, which is a shame, as it has some of Cope's best songs ever, especially on the first half (if my life were a TV show, then the theme song would be Hanging Up And Hung Up On The Line.) Played it a second time later in the week, felt the same.

Iggy Pop and James Williamson - Kill City: Patchy but not entirely unrewarding effort recorded right between Raw Power and Lust For Life, but unreleased until the late 70s. At its best, the two Jameses take many of the cliche riffs of the time and unshackle them to run wild like bulls in a china shop. The title track has become a personal favorite of late, which I plan to cover (it's about LA, but could just as easily be Miami or Ft Lauderdale.)

Lou Reed - Transformer: Until now, I'd dismissed Reed as dull and worthy, then took out a documentary late last week to fulfill my curiosity. From the bits of music, I could tell I would like this one, and I did. I have a much higher opinion of Bowie's behind-the-scenes work than his own recordings, and it's clear that, as with Iggy and Mott, the lines between pointing the artist in the right direction and using him as a blank slate for the producer's own vision get blurred. The weedy sound is less bothersome to me than it is on the Iggy and Mott albums of the same time; of course, having the late, great Mick Ronson as second guitarist and co-producer doesn't hurt at all. Oh, and before I forget, the docu also made me curious about the Velvet Underground, but then I discovered some backward-thinking motherfucker stole the Velvets box set from the library. Grrrr.

Propaganda - A Secret Wish: Vintage synth-pop at its icy, ornate best.

Top Gun soundtrack and Flashdance soundtrack: Caffeine Queen took control at this point. But even while coming to terms with the new technology, Giorgio Moroder could do no wrong for me. Still wish he'd come back from exile. Also need to mention Harold Faltermeyer, who for a while in my formative years, was a bigger name to me than any rock star, thanks to his ubiquity in movie soundtracks at the time.

Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power: This is the Iggy mix that met with such hostility. My view is that the Bowie mix, whatever its arguable merits, has contributed too many cliches in recent years. I don't see anything wrong with Iggy adding some much-needed bottom, especially with excess treble now running riot in the world of radio-friendly pap-rock.

Julian Cope - Jehovakill: Depending on my frame of mind, I find this either astonishing or bewildering. This time it was the latter, but who knows what the future holds?

The Clash - The Singles: I like this better than most of their albums. Skip over the dodgier ones, and there's a real sense of evolution here. Even the arena-ready, TV-ad fodder sounds just great in this context. Weird coincidence: that same day, MTV2 re-ran a special of Joe Strummer presenting videos by his favorite bands from around the world.

Billy Idol mix tape: Well, I finally put together my favorite album tracks from his first two albums, and it sounds awesome. If anyone else's name had been on songs like Nobody's Business, Hole In The Wall, or Blue Highway, they'd have gotten proper respect.

The computer's told me twice the list is too long, so I'll do a part 2 later.
In reply to:
Soundtrack To Our Lives W/E 26/1/03 (Joolio Geordio)		 Replies:
Re: Kill City etc... (Popel Vooje)
Part 2 (Son Of Alice)
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