Welcome back to the fragile plastic box of delights that is the prequel to the CD Melodic Randomiser, a selective plundering of my huge collection of cassette tapes, some of which are approaching forty years old and still going strong.
This selection is made up of music from the eighties and early nineties (the closing half of the cassette’s glory days) both from this side of the Atlantic and the other, not to mention the other side of the border and across the Irish Sea too.
The first of today’s trio is one of two compilations, this is one called Absolution and is themed around what I suppose you would call the indie-goth sound.
The first half is livelier, more spiky and abrasive, with side two demonstrating the introspective side of the genre, building to an angry, bass driven, post-punk classic.
I keep feeling the need to use that word, classic, but it can be applied to so many songs here, including this, from arch-miserablists Echo and the Bunnymen and their 1983 hit, The Cutter…
…then there is this, my all-time favourite David Bowie cover, the Bauhaus version of Ziggy Stardust.
Closing side one is a bona fide goth anthem, The Jesus and Mary Chain with the wondrous Some Candy Talking.
Side two starts softly and becomes darker as it goes on, with Enjoy the Silence from Depeche Mode…
…followed by the surprisingly gentle and sophisticated tones of The Stranglers with this, European Female…
…and Absolution ends with a thundering beast of a song, New Model Army‘s No Rest, which is so good, I’m giving you the full album.
You’re welcome.
Tape two is another much-played favourite, a solo project from Husker Dü frontman, Bob Mould, and I’ve chosen the single, If I Can’t Change Your Mind from Sugar‘s 1992 album, Copper Blue.
If you like that and want to hear more, you can listen to the whole album HERE.
Which brings us to the last of my random selections for today, a slightly poppier affair, compiling some upbeat chart hits from Scottish and Irish bands of the nineties, from which I’ve picked Orange Juice and their biggest single, Rip It Up…
…this unlikely hit from the fabulously named Goats Don’t Shave and Las Vegas (in the hills of Donegal)…
…and I’m finishing this third dip into my magnetic archives with an absolute, genuine, fully-fledged, copper-bottomed pop (yep, I’m gonna use that word again) “classic”, the sublime Somewhere In My Heart from Roddy Frame‘s Aztec Camera.
Go on, sing along, you know you want to.
I hope you can join me again soon for the next spool back into the past and in the meantime, remember…
