Memorabilia Podcast

Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish. A cracking album to celebrate episode 25 for us and the 30th anniversary of it's release on Food records in the UK on the 10th of May 1993. Unthinkable given what came afterwards that Blur were in a bit of a pickle ahead of the release of this record. We discover why they were in serious debt, in threat of being dropped by the record company, and what were the songs that made the difference allowing the album to survive and thrive. We talk about the influence of producer Stephen Street, Blur's evolving sound and image, chart performance, critial reception, and provide a track by track analysis.

As ever, to set the scene, we cover the UK news, TV, movies, singles and album charts from the date of reslease with the usual eclectic mix of one hit wonders, established artists and breakthrough acts including the likes of Kingmaker, Snow, R.E.M, Whitney Houston, Utah Saints, Janet Jackson, New Order, Sting, World Party, Duran Duran, Clannad, Terrence Trent D'Arby, George Michael, and Cliff Richard.

Our Top 3's this week are things that are rubbish about modern life. Please forgive Rick's football related rant - he was in a fragile state of mind following Sheffield Wednesday's capitulation in their recent play-off semi-final first leg at Peterborough.

Singles of the week.

Rick has gone for the beuatiful, heartfelt and wonderful song that is 'Fat Black Heart', a 1993 release by Ian Prowse's Pele: https://youtu.be/_Vv7ovOnJEM

Kate has gone for a recent catchy release by the band Bloxx called 'Television Promises': https://youtu.be/_Vv7ovOnJEM

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It's Autumn 1992 and R.E.M. are suddenly one of the biggest bands on the planet, riding the crest of a wave after the global success of their seventh studio LP - The wonderful 'Out of Time.' How do you follow that and create an album that:

a) sounds radically different to anything you've produced before, is

b) critically lauded and,

c) every bit as successful commercially as its predeccessor?

The answer is that you come up with 'Automatic For The People' - an astonishing record that has stood the test of time and given joy to millions of people in all four corners of the world, as well as saving lives through the incredible words and music within.

We talk about how the record was formulated, the writing and recording process, how they came up with the name, and artwork, as well as disecting every track musically and lyrically.

Find out what we thought of the record, although there's a big clue in the fact that revisiting it some 30 years on lead us to ask the question, does it have the best 3 closing tracks of any LP ever made? Also, what would the album score out of 20 and could it dislodge The Cure from the coveted Memorabilia rating chart, currently at No.1 with a score of 18.5 for the 1989 masterpiece, Disintegration.

Our regular features, are all in attendance, with October 1992 getting the memorablia podcast treatment in terms of looking at the UK single and album charts, what was playing at the cinema, airing on our TV screens and happening in the news. We discovered a bit of a disparity between what was in the top twenty in terms of singles and albums featuring artists such as Neds Atomic Dustbin, Stereo MC's, Manic Street Preachers, Prince, Lionel Richie, The Shamen, EMF, Mike Oldfield, Extreme, and Crowded House.

For our Top 3's this week, we went with the top 3 songs about sleep or dreaming. R.E.M. had to feature in one of those Top 3's, but listen in to find out which song and who chose it for their list!

Links from this week's episode:

Ian Prowse tour dates: https://amsterdam-music.com/live/

Single of the Week (chosen by Rick's Mum) - Nuts, by George Melly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrL1YM3bqUo

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It's the end of March in the last year of the millenium and Marc Almond releases his tenth studio album 'Open All Night'. There's duets with Kelli Ali (Sneaker Pimps) and Siouxsie Sioux (of 'Siouxsie and the Banshees' fame), a dark undercurrent that weaves through the album, a regular backdrop of electronic beats and trip hop and some painful and bared soul lyrics. But, is it any good? How will our resident Marc Almond fan rate the LP and how will her score compare to Rick who'd never heard the album before? Tune in to find out!

Cheers,

Rick & Kate

A bumper episode for season 2, episode 2 with special guest, current Leveller and all round brilliant human being, the very talented Dan Donelly. As well as focusing on his terrific 2011 album 'Country & Northern', and hearing about the genesis of each song, we have some fun discussions about why drinking pints of Guinness in a music video isn't a great idea, and possibly being the last vanguards of 'the album'. There's also serious chat about depression and suicide, and why Dan feels this record is his 'Blood on the Tracks'. Oh, and we have actual music! There's a taster of each of the songs on the album, which is a good thing as I'm reliably informed that the record isn't on Spotify. However, if you've a spare thirty odd quid, then you can buy the CD on Amazon or eBay. It'll be money very well spent in our humble opinion. 

The UK singles and albums charts from May 2011 come under serious scrunity - well as much as we could muster for the singles as we only knew about 3 of the songs between us! As for the albums, Cee Lo Green, Rhianna, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Wombats and Adele all feature. There's much love for Dave Grohl, but not so much for Bruno Mars and Jessie J. 

We're delighted that Ian Prowse features heavily in the episode, as Dan tells us about the song from Ian's latest album 'One Hand On The Starry Plough' written about him, aptly entitled, 'Dan'. It's a song that 'Louder than War' commented on their album review: "Dan again sees Prowse deliver a character-led narrative, this time over a sea-shanty song that puts me in mind of The Decemberists, which from me is high praise indeed." Dan Donnelly himself recounts his first hand experience of hearing Ian playing the song live at a recent gig in Sunderland, at the venue that Dan co-owns with Futurehead Barry Hyde. 

We finish the episode with each of us picking an Ian Prowse 'Top 3' - a far from easy task with such an extensive back catalogue of brilliant and eclectic music spanning over thirty years. None of us choose his Magnus Opus 'Does This Train Stop On Merseyside' deciding that was a given, but there's some very emotional and personal choices amongst our picks. 

Thanks Dan! 

You can listen to more of Dan along with wife Kathryn on the quite brilliant 'Now That's What I call Bullshit' podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1756768

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NowThatsWhatI18 and Dan himself: https://twitter.com/dandinnerlady 

Or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nowthatswhatIcallBS and https://www.facebook.com/dansonovagun

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We are delighted to be back with a sublime album from the late 90's to kick-off Season 2! North Carolinan trio, Ben Folds Five, released their second LP on the 18th of March 1997 with much trepidation after a challenging time recording the album, trying to perfect the sound and document 'an event' by shunning the recording studio in favour of Ben's dilapidated house in Chapel Hill. If you've listened to any of our episodes during season one, you'll know we'll cover the origins of the band, each song in turn (both musically and lyrically) and finish by each giving a rating for the record out of 10. You'll discover how an auction bidding war that Kate was involved in is linked to the album opening track...

Before we get stuck in to all things BFF, we look back at 1997. What was in the UK album and single charts at this time, what were we watching at the movies and on the telly, and what was happening in the news? It was a time of political change in the UK, and musically, we were on the downward curve of Britpop, with boy-bands and girl-bands very prominent and dominating the higher reaches of the singles chart in particular. We talk about Bush, Dodgy, Cake, Kula Shaker, Gina G, Sash!, No Doubt, Wet Wet Wet, The Spice Girls, Blur, Mansun, Aqua, Chumbawumba, and Oasis amongst others. It was also the age of the 'hidden track' and we remember some heart stopping moments in discovering this new phenomena.

In the movies, we recall the likes of Bound, Fierce Creatures, Ransom, Jerry Maguire and one of Kate's favourites, Mars Attacks! On the TV, we discuss Sunset Beach, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the launch of Channel 5 (featuring the Spice Girls of course) and The Teletubbies. Halcyon days! 

We have a new feature for Season 2 - 'Top 3's'. As we're named after a Marc Almond song, much to Kate's consternation, we started with our Top 3 Marc Almond / Soft Cell songs. She said it would have been easier choosing a favourite child!! Let us know yours...

No surprise that this features: https://youtu.be/XZVpR3Pk-r8

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Cheers! 

For our final episode of Season 1, we are back in 1987 to visit the songwriting duo 'Hue and Cry' and their debut album 'Seduced and Abandoned'. Brothers Patrick and Greg Kane were raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge and were just 22 and 20 years of age respectively when the LP was released on the 1st of November 1987. We take a deep dive in to their journey to unlikely top 10 hitmakers, review the album in detail with a track by track analysis, and find out what's happened to the brothers' post late 80's fame. 

We set the scene before discussing all things Hue and Cry by visiting the month of November in 1987 which is a scary 35 years ago years ago as this episode is released in 2022! Chatting about what was happening in our own lives, we also review the top ten album and single charts in the UK, populated by the likes of Billy Idol, George Harrison, Rick Astley, Bronski Beat, U2 and The Bee Gees. The top 10 UK box office movies included some great films starring the likes of Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Bette Midler, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, and Cher. 

We conclude the episode and the season by reviewing Roling Stones Magazine's top 10 songs of all time which not surprisingly features The Beatles; but which position did their sole entry in to the top 10 finish and which song was it? Tune in to find out! 

Link to singles of the week for Rick and Kate on YouTube:

Rick - Let her go by Hue & Cry from 2017: https://youtu.be/RoCCiTwOGEM 

Kate - Dead Man's Curve by Jan and Dean from 1964: https://youtu.be/S1Cuekbklkg 

Thank you to everyone who has listened to, commented on, shared or appeared in any of our podcast episodes from season 1! We'll be back in 3-4 months with season 2, focusing on the albums that we have in our CD collections.

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Until the next time (!), Rick and Kate x

We are back in 1989 for a third time and this time it's a summer release from 'The The' that gets the Memorabilia Podcast spotlight. This was Kate's LP purchased not long after its release and she talks about what the album means to her, why she purchased it, what she likes about it, and how she used to prefer listening to the record.

Before we disect the LP track by track, we review some recent gigs we attended including Babybird, David Ford with Annie Dressner, and the wonderful Ian Prowse and Amsterdam. We then move on to the year 1989, talking about what we were both up to that summer and reviewing what was riding high in the album and singles charts, along with a look at what was packing them in at the cinema. There's appearances by Neneh Cherry (who provided vocals on the 1986 'The the' single 'Last Train to Dawn' - https://youtu.be/TfzvFKO1ud8 -), Queen, Guns & Roses, Simply Red, Pet Shop Boys, and Soul II Soul. 

We discuss the genesis of 'The The' and Matt Johnson's journey from teenage school drop-out to hugely respected artist and song writer, playing and recording with the likes of Marc Almond, Sinead O'Connor, Jools Holland, members of 'Orange Juice' and legendary guitarist Johnny Marr who he recruited to the band just ahead of recording 'Mind Bomb'.  

The LP receives the usual Memorabilia Podcast rating out of 20 and we pick out some thoughts on the LP from music critics as well as providing our own opinions on the 8 songs, reviewing both the music and lyrics for each track. 

We finish this 20th episode of the podcast be re-visiting the updated Rolling Stone Top 50 songs of all time and specifically numbers 15 - 11 featuring Rock and Roll royalty The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and The Kinks. 

We pick our singles of the week featuring Marc Almond, When in Rome, and Babybird and look ahead to what's in store for episode 21. 

The next LP will be our season 1 finale before we switch to our CD collections and Rick has chosen a record close to his heart from 1987 and the magical 'Seduced & Abandoned' by Hue & Cry. 

Links to some of the artists and songs featured in this episode:

What A Moonlit Night - Marc Almond single with all donations going to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal - https://www.marcalmond.co.uk/news/?fbclid=IwAR2ZR_1m0rZ9_impR-Ab3PxUUMTewT073KPGC9SGY97JN_45KPilu3nY6os

Twitter page for David Ford and Annie Dressner: https://mobile.twitter.com/dressnerford

Offical Website of Ian Prowse and Amsterdam: https://amsterdam-music.com/ 

Ricks Singles of the week -

Out of Sight by Babybird from the year 2000 - https://youtu.be/7lYb9NtRAD0 

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Early July 1990 and Harry Connick Jr. releases 2 albums on the same day and a 'home video' entitled Singin' & Swingin'. One of the LP's is with his Jazz trio entitled 'Lofty's Roach Soufle', but the record we focus on in this episode is 'We Are In Love' - a big band, jazz and swing masterclass from the 22 year old New Orleans native. Harry won his second grammy for the record in what was a momumentally busy time in the glittering career of the talented American composer, pianist, vocalist, actor and TV star. We talk about his music, movies, TV shows and his enduring marriage to former Victoria Secrets lingerie and swimwear model, Jill Goodacre. 

There's a full album analysis of all 12 songs (9 of which Harry had writing credits on) before we conclude the Harry Connick Jr. chat by each giving the record a rating out of 10. Current highest score of all the LP's we've covered to date is an impressive 18.5 (out of 20) for 'Disintegration' by The Cure. 'We Are in Love' needs to score 17 or above to break in to our top 5 - find out if it gets there by tuning in...

To start the episode we cover numbers 20 - 16 in Rolling Stones 500 greatest songs of all time list, featuring the obligatory single we've never heard of, along side classics by Queen, John Lennon, Prince and Beyonce. 

We'll be taking a short mid-season hiatus following this episode as we prepare for a busy time personally including a big house party to celebrate our 50th birthdays and the 18th birthday of our son, Sam. We'll be back towards the end of March with the 1989 LP 'Mind Bomb' by The The. 

You can listen to the full album 'We Are in Love' on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/6Q2COpAGHfW1BeZrMIIY82 or You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCDelnJmZ08&list=OLAK5uy_negIsZrxodVlFfJFCPvgAfqZBI5fRMIZY 

The scene from Friends discussed on the episode starring Harry's wife, Jill Goodacre and the brilliant Matthew Perry (playing Chandler Bing): https://youtu.be/Ewx4RYgl_OQ

Kate's Single of the week: The bouncy 'The Way To Your Heart' by Belgium duo Soulsister that was big in Germany according to Kate: https://youtu.be/fzyKYekdKBk

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Our most 'recent' album covered to date is 'San Fransisco' by American Music Club, presumably named after the Californian city in which they were formed back in 1983. San Fransisco was their 7th and final album before they disbanded in 1995. There was a reformation in 2004 which lasted for a further 6 years and saw the release of 2 further LP's by the band.

American Music Club were a band that Rick was totally unaware of, having only made a minor blip in the UK charts - listen to the episode to get the story of why Kate purchased the LP and what her thoughts are on it having re-listened to the album ahead of the podcast recording. 

Recording date was 9th of January 2022 and apologies that it's taken much longer than normal to edit and publish - life sometimes just gets in the way of all the fun doesn't it?! If you're reading and listening to this ahead of 23.1.2022, feel free to send Kate a happy 50th birthday message! Our social links and email address are as follows:

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As ever, we explore the history of the band, with extra focus on enigmatic singer/songwriter Mark Eitzel of whom 'Rolling Stone' magazine were big fans. Discover why Rick likened Mark to Bryan Adams much to Kate's surprise. There's a track by track anaysis of the record, and a rating from both presenters.  

The record was released either September or October 1994 (the records are sketchy!) where the tide of manufactured pop, novelty acts and established radio and chart artists was starting to turn in favour of more alternative guitar bands, traditionally confined to the indie charts and late night radio shows. Blur, Oasis and the like were lurking with intent out side the top 10 of the UK single charts and the album charts included artists such as The Cranberries and R.E.M. It was an exciting time to be an alternative / indie music fan. 

As well as the autumnal music scene in 1994, we review news events from the UK, what was showing at the cinema, and which programmes were casting light into the lounges up and down the country from the television sets of the nation.

Part one of an interview with Mark Eitzel from 1988: https://youtu.be/yb6G58u_4c4

Kate's Single of the Week - 'Happy Birthday' by Altered Images: https://youtu.be/6t1vaF50Ks0

If you have an iTunes account, or use the Apple podcast App on an iPhone or iPad, please rate the podcast and/or leave us a review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/memorabilia-podcast/id1574340220

We'll be back next episode covering the Harry Connick Jr. LP from 1990 'We Are In Love' - we're nothing if not eclectic!

We are up to episode 17 and it's a pivotal LP both culturally and musically - The Stone Roses much revered eponymously titled debut album from May 1989. Unbelievably, the record was released on exactly the same day as an album we have already covered - our top rated LP to date - Disintegration by The Cure. A very different sound, but will we both rate it as highly as that album? 

The record buying public and critics certainly liked it with the NME fan readers poll for 1989 voting The Stone Roses the Best Band, Best New Band, Best album and Best Single (Fools Gold). In the year 2000, the NME awarded the record the title of 'Best Album Ever', with the 2009 remaster release receiving a 10/10 rating from 'Pitchfork'. 

We cover the genesis of the band, including an important chance meeting for Ian Brown with legendary R&B singer Geno Washington, as well as the numerous line-up changes before the 4 lads that recorded the album - singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, drummer Alan 'Reni' Wren, Gary 'Mani' Mounfield' - came together to create such an improtant musical body of work. Along with the impressive songs, their swift ascension during 1989 was fuelled by their unwavering self belief and nose for publicity. The album gets the usual track by track analysis and Rick explains why for quite a while he thought the A-side was the B-side and vice versa. 

There's a look at what happened to the band after the release of the album including their infamous Spike Island gig, the court case that lead to the 5 year delay in the band releasing a follow-up album and their unlikely 2011 re-union after the bands demise in 1996. 

On our continued coverage of Rolling Stones top 500 songs of all time, we review tracks 25-21 inclusive. You can watch the YouTube videos for each song by clicking or copying and pasting the links below:

Runaway by Kanye West featuring Pusha T from 2010: https://youtu.be/Bm5iA4Zupek

A Day In The Life by The Beatles from 1967: https://youtu.be/usNsCeOV4GM 

Heroes by David Bowie from 1977: https://youtu.be/lXgkuM2NhYI

Be My Baby by The Ronnettes from 1963: https://youtu.be/jSPpbOGnFgk

Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday from 1939: https://youtu.be/Web007rzSOI 

New music from 2021 liked by Rick:

18 cigarettes by Ducks Ltd: https://youtu.be/qsZb9U0_T9U

Country by Good Mornin: https://youtu.be/agNRqAbTxtg

If you haven't had enough of Christmas yet, here's Rick's single of the week - Christmas wrapping by The Waitresses: https://youtu.be/nud2TQNahaU

favourite cover versions of the song - Christmas Wrapping performed by Belle and Sebastian: https://youtu.be/EHQP3LN9QoQ and a slower version by the wonderful Summercamp: https://youtu.be/nqb_QqkS6Dg 

Kate's single of the week - Only The Moment by Marc Almond: https://youtu.be/ibusVXUyZJI

And the sublime cover version by Katarina Kovak: https://youtu.be/Jg_1gw07p60 

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We'll be back early-mid Jan covering the album 'San Fransisco' by 'The American Music Club' from 1994.