Memorabilia Podcast

A brilliant record by The Wannadies from 1995 to conclude the Memorabilia Podcast and a bumper episode for our final outing. We discuss the career and discography of Sweden's hugely underrated indie popsters, look back on live performances we attended, and provide a comprehensive guide through their breakthrough third LP, Be A Girl, including their Gold-certified single 'You & Me Song' featured in the movie 'Romeo and Juliet' and a couple of episodes of Coronation Street! We conclude our very enjoyable Wannadies chat with our album ratings. Spoiler alert - they're high ones!

We take a look back at August 1995 for the UK, and in particular, we share our thoughts and memories of the singles battle at the top of the UK singles charts between Blur and Oasis, which culminated in Blur hitting the number one spot the day before the release of Be A Girl. As well as the album charts from this week, the end-of-year singles charts for 1995 also come under scrutiny, which, on balance, was just about more good than bad. Artists discussed from 1995 include Radiohead, Supergrass, Michael Jackson, Coolio, Bjork, Ash, Robson & Jerome and Paul Weller.

At the box office, the likes of Judge Dread, Batman Forever, The Usual Suspects and Die Hard with Avengance are doing well, and Rick recalls an embarrassing story of getting stranded in a lay-by with a date after parking up following a trip to see Bruce Willis' third outing as John McClane.

We wrap things up with a recent gig review at The Crescent Community venue in York, where we saw Sheffield's Before Breakfast and York's The Howl & The Hum. We also discuss our favourite records, which we have covered on the podcast.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the Memorabilia Podcast during the last two and a half years, including Andy Strickland, Dan Donnelly, Simon McGuinness and all the people who have interacted with our output online and via social media.

Final single of the week choices:

Rick - Just by Radiohead from 1995 https://youtu.be/oIFLtNYI3Ls?si=kLpQ2hNUX9WW-Oex

Kate (2 choices!) - To Do List (After The Breakup) by Blossoms ft. Findlay from 2023 https://youtu.be/SeLvMaNClyk?si=NTt-5m4lZotMpH7B

Trust Exercises by Easy Life from 2023 https://youtu.be/4lrTbknMA8s?si=rRoThnRcglUd9fjC

Marit Bergman's cover of 'My Hometown' by The Wannadies: https://youtu.be/OtB9Igmtn5o?si=StwzVFqS0dbrNh3Q

Brilliant video for the song Big Fan by The Wannadies: https://youtu.be/Me4GSKBZ1Dw?si=pPrVfRW10L08z5G0

Funny video to The Wanndies Single 'Don't Like You (What The Hell Are We Supposed To Do)': https://youtu.be/hq-1uC67NaI?si=1KAED8vXDVUYDqpn

Two years in the making, Marc's labour of love to Russia, its tumultuous history, varied culture, proud people, and its kaleidoscope of musical sounds and influences was released on October 21st 2003. Twenty years old at the time of recording this podcast, we discuss how the album came into being, the various collaborations that run throughout the record, its impact on release, the reception it received, and whether the record has stood the test of time and still sounds fresh and relevant today.

With eighteen tracks to get our teeth into, we provide a flavour of the sound of the album, select our favourite songs, and each provide a mark out of 10.

Moscow Times article covering the jaw-dropping 'The Worker And Collective Farm Woman' by Vera Mukhina:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/01/architectural-treasures-of-moscow-the-worker-and-collective-farm-woman-a76203

Ooh, la, la , our Top 3's are songs sung in a foreign language with picks from Juniore, Dean Martin, and Falco, amongst others.

Rick's Single of the week is the new single from The Beatles (and what a thrill it is to write that!) with a real divide of opinion on the video. If by any miracle you haven't seen it yet, watch on YouTube and let us know which side of the fence you fall on!

https://youtu.be/Opxhh9Oh3rg?si=SW9wya75BYJmD4Tn

Kate's single of the week is the joyous 'Bulletproof' from La Roux that she somehow missed the first time around when released in 2010:

https://youtu.be/Kk8eJh4i8Lo?si=bQmUm8HCwrWEsmQE

Link to the stunning cover of Marc Almond's 'Only the Moment' by the incredibly talented Katarina Kovac:

https://youtu.be/Jg_1gw07p60?si=_eHDkIg8fYnfwQb5

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Rick, & Kate x

Another 30th Anniversary episode for the Memorabilia Podcast, and this time it's 'The Modfather' Paul Weller and his second solo album release from September 1993, the Mercury Music Prize nominated 'Wild Wood'. The critically acclaimed record signalled his return to favour after the Style Council's fall in popularity at the end of the 80's, and the mixed reaction to his first solo release, 1992's 'Paul Weller'. We discover Weller's pathway into his musical journey with the Jam, through to working on this album with a number of familiar musicians to help him out along the way.

Our Top 3's this week are tree related songs! It gets a little contentious, but there are some belting selections amongst our picks, including The Beatles, Radiohead, The Presidents of the USA, and The National.

Rick's song of the Week: 'Take it or leave it', by RedFaces: https://youtu.be/z66u6G0u_Cw?si=9eCwqGgH6HvAf4gw

Kate's song of the week: 'Kerosene', by Big Black: https://youtu.be/ZLr5EXyoQCE?si=HCAHhPVlsz-hupua

Ian Prowse's cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Rosalita (come out tonight)' featuring Steve White on drums: https://youtu.be/4UhhqLKyaIk?si=5hFXqO9EeeRlr4H6

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Thank you and best wishes,

Rick, & Kate x

Our musical time machine on episode number 31 saw us land back in the summer of 1991. Specifically, one month before the release of Nirvana's masterpiece 'Nevermind', another pivotal grunge record was propelled into the world for the first time - the raucous, energetic, powerful, anthemic, yet often moving and highly emotional 'Ten' by Pearl Jam.

Rick and Kate are joined by good friend Simon to discuss the debut album from the Seattle five piece, how the band were formed, the meaning behind some of the tracks, plus there is an attempt to answer the question, which is the better album, 'Ten' or 'Nevermind'?

Our 'Top 3' picks are albums with numbers in the title - not as easy as you'd imagine, but we come up with a credible selection including records from the fantastic Ian Prowse, our regular featured artist Marc Almond, former episode stars Blur, and the wonderful Dolly Parton.

Singles of the Week

Kate: 'When Did We Get So Normal?' by Spector: https://youtu.be/jcm6ec_rIrE?si=2w8kgpNax5L59-La

Rick: 'Bath County' by Wednesday: https://youtu.be/3G1QmweBiVQ?si=5JwYd7SIG80x9TgN

Simon: 'Ten Years Asleep' by Kingmaker: https://youtu.be/yCf7WRvvzMw?si=JuKx4ysAA3SLkKb_

Please help our little indie podcast and help us to grow our audience of like-minded music fans by subscribing on your listening platform of choice, sharing links with your friends and family, and by taking a minute to leave us a review/rating on Spotify, and/or Apple Podcasts. On the socials, please follow us, or like us on Twitter or Facebook. We try and respond to every comment we receive and appreciate anyone who engages with any of our posts.

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Thanks and best wishes,

Rick, Kate & Simon x

Happy 30th birthday to 'The Last Splash' released on August 30th 1993! To celebrate we have dedicated our 30th episode (did you see what we did there?!) to the album which was the second release from the Dayton, Ohio, quartet, led by principal singer songwriter, and former member of The Pixies, Kim Deal.

We take a look at the formation and evolution of the group from their beginnings in 1989 to the present day, including other LP releases, line-up changes, gigs, and an appraisal of 'The Last Splash', their most successful album to date. We talk about our favourite songs, and single releases from the record, and its critical reception and sales.

Lead single 'Cannonball' was the catalyst for the success of the record, but what is the song about (it's fair to say it's open to some debate), and who is the Marquis De Sade, and what's his connection to the track?

As ever, there's a review of the UK single and album charts from the week of release, and if the previous episode contained arguably the best chart we've covered from August 1983, then this could well be the worst! There's songs from Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, UB40 and a glut of drum-machine based releases from 2 Unlimited, Apache Indian, SWV, Urban Cookie Collective, Bitty McLean, Culture Beat, and even Freddie Mercury.

The album chart was a little more palatable and we also whiz through the UK box office, news, and TV for August '93, before concluding the episode with our Top 3's. It's a good one this week as we look at our favourite acts containing siblings. There's lots to go at, but did we select any of your favourites? Let us know!

Kate's Single of the week: 'Creep' by Radiohead, released 22nd September 1992 https://youtu.be/XFkzRNyygfk?si=1axqNkRaOMecogf_

Rick's single of the week: 'Venus as a boy', by Bjork, released 23rd August 1993 (happy belated 30th!!) https://youtu.be/7Z5aPaDwAkU?si=SQ2TZAzb5m8nlnJ_

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Thanks and best wishes,

Rick & Kate x

During the height of his fame with Soft Cell, Marc Almond had a side project. An outlet for the less polished pop side of his persona. Dark, passionate, intense, diverse, and riveting. And that was just the musicians that were part of the collective known as Marc and the Mambas. As we publish this podcast episode in mid-August 2023, it's precisely 40 years since Marc and the Mambas released their 2nd LP 'Torment and Toreros'. We celebrate by looking at the key personnel involved, the recording process they went through, and the songs that were released on this 90 minute long double album. You'll hear about the real life torment that emerged after the release of the record and Marc's extreme reaction to less than favourable reviews. For balance, there's comments from the fans that adore the album and what it still means to them 40 years on, Kate included.

From the same week of release, we enjoy a bumper hit of nostalgia. It was a great top 10 UK singles chart to wax lyrical about, featuring 80's gold from Depeche Mode, Wham, Spandau Ballet, Elton John, Paul Young, and The Style Council. The movies on at the box office were equally impressive, including some huge blockbusters and critically acclaimed films starring the likes of Michael Caine, Jennifer Beals, Harrison Ford, Roger Moore, Christopher Reeve, Julie Walters, and Matthew Broderick. The heat makes the headlines during the summer of 1983 in the UK, along with a new registration plate format for vehicles, and Kate gets rather excited about a couple of shows that aired for the first time in the UK on ITV.

Our Top 3 picks this week, are our favourite double albums of all time. Spoiler alert, all Kate's are from the same artist. I wonder who that could be!?

Singles of the week:

Kate goes for the modern classic from Sheffield's Reverend & The Makers - 'A letter To My 21 Year old self': https://youtu.be/8IQJTCrDI5Q

Rick sticks with 1983 and the pop gem from Aztec Camera that is 'Oblivious': https://youtu.be/2B2Sc2G_5ZA

For those on Facebook, here's a link to a post we published in the private 'Marc Almond' group with some great comments about the record: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4258153798?multi_permalinks=10161469921478799

Two recent podcasts featuring Anni Hogan:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5RJuwSD4NZjuxb7TOZ05fz?si=rBhS5rPxRgu11khgisWd1Q

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4kh3V42TjQBp3XlyaWAeVq?si=QWb-fyltSLaAR5aZ4EVKdA

Please support our indie podcast by subscribing on your listening platform of choice, sharing with your friends and family, rating us on Spotify, and/or Apple Podcasts, following, liking, or commenting on our social media channels, OR you can make Memorabilia podcast history and be the first non-family member to send us an email - a mention on a future episode is guaranteed (yes, we're still waiting on this one!!!) Email ⁠[email protected]⁠

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Thank you for listening and for your interest,

Rick & Kate x

p.s. the claim made at the start of the episode about us keeping the running time to 60 minutes moving forward, was clearly a blatant lie!

Nirvana's Nevermind brought about a seismic shift in the musical landscape on release in September 1991. From the music, the attitude, and the fashion surrounding the grunge era, things would never be the same again. We discuss it all, along with the lead up to the record, the recording and production, the reaction on release, as well as taking a deep dive into the songs that made this one of the best selling albums of all time. Will our ratings match its popularity?

With so much to talk about and a new voice joining us on the podcast - our dear friend Simon - we forego our normal comprehensive round-up of what was happening in the UK around the time of release, for a much truncacted look at the album and singles charts, featuring Jason Donovan, Paul Young, Dire Straits, Gun N' Roses, Rozalla, and Bryan Adams.

A massive thanks to EVERYONE who replied to our thread on the Reddit Nirvana sub-forum about the album. We read a number of the brilliant comments out during the podcast, but you can view them in full here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Nirvana/comments/14np5k9/nevermind_was_this_an_album_that_changed_your_life/

Our Top 3's for this episode feature songs with the slacker mentatlity. Songs that say 'I don't give a sh*t' and stick their middle finger up to the world.

Shout-out to the fantastic 'Now That's What I call Bullsh*t' podcast which Kate and I recorded an episode for this week. It should be published by the end of July. We chose 'Now That's What I call Music 14' from 1989 to chat about. Massive thanks to hosts Kathryn and Dan Donnelly for having us. You can find what the show's all about and find all their episodes here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1756768

Dan Donnelly of course appeared on a previous episode of our podcast talking about his fantastic record 'Country & Northern' from 2011: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/memorabilia-podcast/episodes/Dan-Donnelly---Country--Northern---2011---Ep-23-e1oobvp/a-a8kq51q

Dan's brilliant single 'I don't Care' which is one of Rick's 'Top 3's' picks: https://youtu.be/Ok44tNJEvgE

Kate's Single of the week: Summer by Mumm-ra https://youtu.be/CB6h3irXRSU

Simon's single of the week: Keep on lying by Costellos: https://youtu.be/s2J0rTDUyfE

Rick's Single of the week: Postpone The Revolution by The Chesterfields: https://youtu.be/OIXlkGUkdJo

Please support our wee space on the world wide web by subscribing to our podcast, and sharing with your friends and family, rating us on Spotify, and/or Apple Podcasts, following, liking, or commenting on social media, OR you can make Memorabilia podcast history and be the first non-family member to send us an email - a mention on a future episode is guaranteed!!! Email [email protected]

Twitter @Memorabiliapod (https://twitter.com/Memorabiliapod)

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Thank you for listening and interest,

Rick & Kate x

A favourite album of Kate's receives the Memorabilia Podcast scrutiny this week as we focus our attention on the intense, brooding, magnificence that is 'Murder Ballads' by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds from 1996. Their 9th studio album release, notable for its dark subject matter and cameo appearances from PJ Harvey, Kylie Monogue, and Shane McGowan, was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Benefitting from the substantial airplay received for lead single 'Where The Wild Roses Grow', the record remains the bands most commercial succesful release to date. Discover the story behind the songs, how the album came to be, and what Rick and Kate thought of the album, each scoring it out of 10. Can it trouble the top ranked 5 LP's covered so far?

The UK singles and album charts reviewed are from the 5th of February 1996 with the usual mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Rick declared the top 4 albums as the best covered to date and argued strongly that it wasn't just because he owned all 4! In the news we heard about divorce, the splitting up of the most successful British band of the 1990s (no tears were shed from our presenters), Jarvis Cocker's infamous escapades at The Brit Awards, and channel tunnel challenges. The UK box office including a film that wasn't based on George Orwells Animal Farm (although it did star a pig), a David Fincher classic and another top 10 where Kate hadn't seen a single movie!

Or Top 3's this week include songs by Ian Prowse, Tom Jones, Rage Against The Machine, Eminem, Johnny Cash and Aerosmith. Find out what subject links them all together (bit of a clue in the subject of this episode's featured album!).

Singles of the Week

Rick's: One of Us by Joan Osborne from 1996: https://youtu.be/aDdOnl0bHO4

Kate's: Greenhands by Sundara Karma from 2019: https://youtu.be/9Xkrbt1dQso

Other songs / performances mentioned on episode:

Where The Wild Roses Grow by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds featuring Kylie Minogue: https://youtu.be/lDpnjE1LUvE

Stagger Lee, and Henry Lee performed by Nick Cave and The Badseeds and PJ Harvey on The White Room 1996: https://youtu.be/OOLW_EvpWTc

Jubilee Street performed by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds live in Copenhagen: https://youtu.be/kf_zVzvYWuw

Satellite by The Hooters from 1987: https://youtu.be/RVXjBMK3EkI

Jarvis Cocker interrupts Michael Jackson at The Brits: https://youtu.be/ymCQyq-9APw

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