So did everyone have just a wonderful holiday? This year my friends and family finally wised up and didn’t buy me any vinyl, since whenever they do I already own it and then I’m a dickhead for saying so. My prized gift is the new three-disc edition of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, which includes all three versions of the classic sci-fi film. I’m the same way with alternate film cuts as I am with remixes and extended versions of songs, I got to watch them all and note all the differences. I’m sick like that.
This’ll be my last post for 2007 so everyone have a happy and drunken New Year’s.
Against Me!
You Must Be Willing
My pick for the best album of 2007 is Against Me!’s shockingly great New Wave. Now, whenever I hear someone say “this is the next Nevermind” I want to punch them in the taint, but this time I actually believed it. I’m still dumbfounded by the somewhat lukewarm reaction this masterpiece is getting. Hey you fucking kids, do you want to be remembered as the generation that left behind Against Me! for the latest My Chemical Romance album? Get your shit together. Fucking wankers.
Spoon
The Underdog (Demo)
It Took A Rumor To Make Me Wonder, Now I’m Convinced I’m Going Under
Another great album of 2007 was Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (it does win my award for best album title). I got a 45 when I bought it, and these are the tracks that were on it.
Arctic Monkeys
The Bakery
Plastic Tramp
Too Much To Ask
I got these off of a 10” single for “Fluorescent Adolescent.” Great song title that one, wonder what it means. Whenever I hear the title I think of the most annoying thing in the world, since both fluorescent lights and adolescent douchebags are the two most annoying things on the planet. Good song tough. The very end of The Bakery is a little scratchy, sorry bout that but I couldn’t do much to fix it.
Blur
Girls & Boys (Pet Shop Boys 12” Mix)
M.O.R. (Road Version)
Pop Scene (Live)
Song 2 (Live)
Bustin’ + Dronin’
Tender (Cornelius Remix)
So You
Okay, my plan was to dissect the famous chorus to “Girls & Boys” and through a process of elimination figure out who/what likes who/what in the song. After about 10 minutes and a killer headache I gave up. I got that remix off of a peachy keen neato transparent orange vinyl a few weeks back. The rest of these remixes and B-sides are from CD-singles I scored whilst Christmas shopping. Remixing “Tender” was kind of a bold move on their part, as “Tender” is probably one of the most beloved songs in Brit-Pop history. The remix is decent, but it doesn’t really do anything for me other than make me want to listen to the original version again. The live version of “Song 2” is nuts, since they somehow managed to make it a few seconds shorter than the already short studio version. Reminds me of Pearl Jam when they do “Lukin‘” live, they’ve managed to cut that tune down from 1:02 to under 48 seconds on occasion. That’s totally punk rawk.
Awesome post – thanks for sharing your holiday gems. I need to pick-up that Against Me album before they arrive in town opening for Foo Fighters.
i tried doing the same thing to “girls & boys” and i just get confused every time. i always end up forgetting something that came earlier in the song.
New Wave is extraordinary.