Yo - Charm World

Now this one is really quite obscure. Yo were, as far as I can determine, a folk-influenced college rock band from the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco, and put out a few albums which were not particularly well-received, largely because no one could stand the singer's voice. To be honest I'm not sure what the big deal about it is. I've heard worse.

This was the title track from the second album, released in 1985. I think it's quite nice, with the mandolins and everything.

Nikki Sudden - Channel Steamer

Speaking of Swell Maps. Nikki Sudden had a huge catalogue of solo work and it's remarkably under-appreciated, especially considering how good a lot of it is. I think maybe his best known song is "Death is Hanging Over Me", which appeared on about half a dozen Creation compilations. It's a brilliant track but I'm too hungover to listen to it today.... I might be likely to take it a bit too literally.

Instead, here's a fun one from his solo debut, 1982's Waiting on Egypt.

Swell Maps - Vertical Slum

Swell Maps were great when they were doing this sort of stuff - short and snappy punk pop, like early Wire but a little more insane. This one's from their debut album, 1979's A Trip to Marineville. It's the first Swell Maps song I ever heard and the words make no more sense to me today than they ever did.

Fire Engines - Get Up and Use Me

Classic 1980 single that I can't believe I haven't put up already. The Fire Engines were from Edinburgh and were the noisy/abrasive wing of Scottish post-punk (a la Josef K), which I didn't like nearly as much as the tweer sounds of Orange Juice. Good in small doses, though.

I'd never seen the video before today, but it really captures the song well, I think. Manic and herky-jerky. You wouldn't want to watch this on bad drugs.

Blondie - Accidents Never Happen

A great album track (from Eat to the Beat) that I've rediscovered recently. When you hear the same six or seven singles all the time, it's easy to forget how good some of their lesser-known material was.

Check out Clem Burke in the background, looking like a little boy who's sitting in front of a drum kit for the first time.

Pulp - Babies

In which a teenage Jarvis Cocker watches an older sister (note: not his) having sex, ends up having sex with said older sister, and gets caught in the act by the younger sister, who was the object of his affections all along. Oops. I think this is probably my favourite Pulp song ever.

The Rose of Avalanche - Velveteen

The Rose of Avalanche were one of those silly commercial goth bands of the mid-1980s, like the Sisters of Mercy and Gene Loves Jezebel. The type of band it would be embarrassing now to admit to ever listening to - except that this song is still really quite good. At least if you ignore the lyrics. And stop before it gets to the "woo ooo ooo" part.

Anyway, nothing embarrasses me, that ought to be obvious by now.