S4L Radio: Show #5 Playlist

Another helping of some fine tunes drawn from the deep well of musical history past and present. Enjoy!

The Playlist

On The Playlist

 Private Radio - The Bouncing Souls

From their 2001 album on Epitah Records How I Spent My Summer Vacation. One of my favourite bands from New Jersey (man that place is loaded with talent!)

A Fab Four Shout Out

The Beatles influenced so many down through the years and so here's four covers of songs by the Merseyside mop tops.

I was never a massive fan of them when I was younger. I did like a few songs here and there and so my favourite track from them is included. It's probably only in the past decade or so that I have really sat down and listened to them and discovered that I actually like a lot more than I thought I did.

Help - The Damned

B-Side of their Debut single New Rose. Yep, even the Punks couldn't hide the fact that The Fab Four had made an impact on them! Siouxsie and the Banshees also recorded a couple of Fab Four tracks in their time (Helter Skelter and the massive hit single Dear Prudence).

She Said She Said - The Chords

From their brilliant Debut (and their only album) So Far Away, released on Polydor Records in 1980. Many Mod revival bands turned their hands toward the likes of The Action, The Kinks, and the Small Faces etc and from what I can recall not too many did The Beatles. South London Lads The Chords pulled off a smashing cover of the 1966 track that appeared on the Revolver album

Come Together - Arctic Monkeys

A live version appears on Isle of Wonder album from 2012 though I am not totally certain where the Studio version hails from.

 Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett

Surely one of the finest cover versions of a song written by Lennon/McCartney (just pipped into first place by With A Little Help From My Friends by Joe Cocker that was released in 1968). The song was suggested to by Duane Allman who was part of the band at Fame Studios. His guitar work on the single is beyond brilliant!

Things We Said Today - The Beatles

B-Side of A Hard Day's Night single in 1964 and also included on the Sountrack the film A Hard Day's Night.

Fake Happy - Paramore

From their latest hit album After Laughter (Top Ten both sides of the Atlantic).

Linger (Acoustic Version) - The Cranberries

From their latest Something Else album that spotlights a number of their most well known songs and are given a fresh acoustic treatment. I always loved this song from way back when it was first released in 1993.

I was watching a show on Sky Arts a couple of days ago that I had recorded spotlighting Two-Tone  and so I thought a wee blast of some classics from that label would be in order.

 Ghost Town - The Specials

Such a huge Single for The Specials (#1) and one that 36 years later still sounds so relevant!

Easy Life - The Bodysnatchers

Their Debut single Let's Do Rocksteady peaked at #22 in the UK but Easy Life stalled at #50. They were only together for two years and never got around to releasing an album. Their song The Boiler, a harrowing tale of rape was later recorded by The Special A.K.A. that featured Nicky Summers on bass and Rhoda Dakar on vocals.

Three Minute Hero - The Selecter

The follow up to On My Radio in 1980 reached #16 on the UK Chart.

Ranking Full Stop - The Beat

The other A-Side to their one and only Two-Tone single Tears of A Clown. The version I have included on the Playlist is the excellent version they recorded for their John Peel Session in 1979.

 The Prince - Madness

Their one and only single for Two-Tone backed by a cover of Prince Buster's Madness (from which they got their name) rocketed into the charts along with The Specials and The Selecter and peaked at #16. It was the first of many hits they would enjoy on Stiff Records, Zarjazz and on reforming with Virgin Records and Lucky 7 Records.

The "Oh My Goodness You Have That Record" Spot!

Sanctuary - Iron Maiden

This was their second Single release (Running Free was the Debut) and it broke into the Top 30 in the UK. The artwork for the single caused a spot of controversy when it was released but not enough to take it any higher in the charts than #29! In this day and age you could not imagine a major record label allowing such artwork to be allowed in these "sensitive" times!

Of all the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands Iron Maiden were pretty much the most amazing live (I saw them a number of times at the old Marquee Club on Wardour Street). I didn't particularly like much from that scene but this Single I thought was magnificent and still sounds stunning.

Old, New, Borrowed and Blue
Segment

Old

 In A Big Country - Big Country

Third Single from Stuart Adamson's Big Country released in May 1983 and was also the third single to be taken from their Debut Album The Crossing. The Single reached #17 on the UK Charts.

New(ish)

Coming Backwards - The Alarm

Currently showing the Young Guns how it's done on the Vans Warped Tour 2017. This is taken from the latest Studio Album Blood Red. After a huge tour in the States the band are planning on releasing another new album this year entitled Viral Black and then will be back out on the road in the UK in support of the album. If you have some spare time on your hands I urge you to watch the recent Documentary While We Still Have Time that spotlighted both Mike and Jules Peters battle with Cancer.

Borrowed 

Let The Day Begin - Simple Minds

Cover of The Call's classic little tune and released on the Simple Minds album Big Music in 2014. Black Rebel Motorcyle Club also did the definitive cover version of the song.

Blue

The Story of The Blues (Part 1 and 2) - Wah!

One of the best singles ever released in the 1980's (1982 to be exact) and one of the finest from the pen of Pete Wylie. It is highest chart placed single of his long and illustrious musical career reaching #3 in the UK.

It just hit me that there is a connection between these four bands/artists:
Mike Peters sang with Big Country and recorded an album with them.
The Alarm supported Simple Minds a few years back.
Mike Peters sang together with Pete Wylie in an early incarnation of Dead Men Walking and Bruce Watson of Big Country was also involved with them.

The Parting Shot

Goodbye - Plankeye

From their fifth Album Relocation released in 1999 on BEC Recordings.

A wonderfully haunting song that I have loved ever since I first heard it, can hardly believe though that it's 18 years old!