https://songstothesiren.com/ 2023-07-27T02:57:36+01:00 David Stevenson urn:uuid:48d35c25-87c4-4df9-95f9-49d16ea10976 https://songstothesiren.com/song/ThankYouForHearingMe.html 2023-07-27T02:57:36+01:00

Sadly, I write this on the day we learn that Sinéad O'Connor has passed away. I talked about her covers earlier in this blog, but she was a tremendous songwriter in her own right. I became a committed fan when I saw her at a festival in 1994 or maybe 1995 when she was promoting Universal Mother, having previously only known her own song Mandinka, and Nothing Compares 2 U, the cover that made her famous. I was knocked over by this performance of melodic music somehow influenced by folk and dub at the same time.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/NoCurse.html 2023-06-18T01:59:13+01:00

Recorded for the Shaking Through project, this song was written around the time of the 2017 Waxatchee LP “Out in the Storm”. Like most Waxahatchee songs, it combines simple chords with sweet melody, but in this case a slicker-than-usual production elevates it above the norm.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/HowNotToDrown.html 2021-07-04T01:23:59+01:00

This is my second 2021 collab offering - like the previous one, this features two very different voices that combine so well. Here, Chvrches work with Robert Smith of The Cure to produce a track that is greater than the sum of its parts - even though its parts are great alone. This is definitely one of my favourite tracks of the year so far.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LikeIUsedTo.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

It’s time to get up-to-date and look at a few of 2021’s offerings. Two of the highlights this year have each been collabs between two groups/artists that I already love. Kicking us off with this mini-series is Like I Used To, a charming piece of alt-Country from singer-songwriters Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/WideAwake.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

There are relatively few music artists who, when they are interviewed, or they write an article, can be guaranteed to say something smart, interesting, and entertaining. I’m thinking of the likes of Michael Stipe, or Kristin Hersh. And also Jessica Dobson, the singer/songwriter fronting Deep Sea Diver.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Pacer.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

The Breeders started as a side-project, and the Pacer LP was made as a side-project from that once the Breeders became a full-time thing. Although featuring a different name and line-up, these are still Kim Deal songs sung by Kim Deal, and I consider it to be, in effect, my favourite Breeders record.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/OpenUp.html 2021-04-13T22:40:19+01:00

Although it was clearly John Lydon’s time (as Johnny Rotten) in the Sex Pistols that made him famous, his career as Public Image Ltd would ultimately provide a more enduring body of work. Lydon also had successful collaborations during this time, and it’s 1993’s Open Up, with Leftfield, that I want to look at here.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/BathWhiteEP.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

I mentioned before that Throwing Muses is my favourite band, but when I reach for Kristin Hersh’s records these days, this EP is usually my first port of call. This is the first in a series of articles covering “side projects”.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/TimeIsHardcore.html 2021-03-13T01:03:08Z

High Contrast (aka Lincoln Barrett) is a Welsh electronic music producer and DJ. For his 2020 track Time is Hardcore, he teams up with Kae Tempest, who contributes spoken word and rap - and by singer Anita Blay (formerly CocknBullKid) who provides the chorus vocal.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Idoru.html 2021-03-13T00:57:08Z

There aren’t many new tracks on this blog because the premise is that it’s about songs I’ve lived with long enough to know I’ll always love them. But I want to introduce a few from 2020, starting with Idoru, the final track from Miss Anthropocene, the 2020 LP by Grimes.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/HappinessIsAWarmGun.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Writing about the Safari EP by The Breeders reminded me that I had long planned to mention this song for a while. It’s by far my favourite song by The Beatles - the connection with The Breeders is that they did an ok cover on their first LP Pod.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SafariEP.html 2021-04-02T01:52:49+01:00

The Safari EP marks the transition from the raw Albini-produced early Breeders material, such as their début LP Pod and the more polished (and commercially successful) follow-up The Last Splash.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/AreFriendsElectric.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

As the dying embers of punk faded, this new sound seemed like something we’d been waiting for - the next phase for pop/rock... A big leap forwards while still being rooted in the present.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/OutsideTheTrainsDontRunOnTime.html 2021-03-07T18:48:47Z

If there’s one band whose influence seems to massively outweigh their own commercial success, it’s Gang of Four. Year-in, year-out, we hear new acts influenced by their funk and dub influenced post-punk rock. This song encapsulates everything I loved about them. It’s angry. political, energetic, and yet it grooves.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/MeAndMagdalena.html 2021-03-07T18:48:46Z

This is another great track from the year of many gems, 2016. That year marked the 50th Anniversary of the formation of The Monkees, and a project was put together to make a new record by the three surviving members. This is its highlight track.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/RideOnTime.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Another sample-heavy song, this time taking vocals from an *a cappella* mix of Loleatta Holloway’s 1980 single Love Senstation. Along with an Italian House backing track, the result was a pop dance hit, which still sounds great to me, thirty years on.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Spitfire.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Continuing the theme of sample-based tracks, next up is Spitfire, by Public Service Broadcasting. The song would work absolutely fine as an instrumental, but the samples from the 1942 film “The First of the Few” add so much more.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/PumpUpTheVolume.html 2021-03-07T18:48:43Z

Shortly after sample-heavy Hot Doggie by Colourbox appeared on the 4AD Compilation “Lonely Is An Eyesore”, the label released a collaborative single between Colourbox and label-mates AR Kane as a Double A-Side. The result was less of a collaboration than intended. One side was nearly all AR Kane, the other side was nearly all Colourbox. It was the latter side that got the airplay, and that took the song to the top of the UK Charts.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/HotDoggie.html 2021-03-07T18:48:42Z

Featured on the 1987 4AD Compilation “Lonely Is An Eyesore”, this track showed the sampling skills of brothers Martyn and Steven Young, recording as Colourbox. Soon after, under the M|A|R|R|S guise, they would have a UK number one hit single with a tune based largely on samples from other records - but Hot Doggie samples from TV and film.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Ablaze.html 2021-03-07T18:48:41Z

The fourth and final LP from School of Seven Bells was completed without main songwriter Benjamin Curtis, who sadly died young in 2013. But it’s a fine record, and the opening track, Ablaze, is a highlight from 2016 - a year of *many* highlights.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SweetJaneCJ.html 2021-03-07T18:48:40Z

A cover of a slower, quieter, version of The Velvet Underground’s Sweet Jane, the song’s writer Lou Reed has apparently gone on record as saying that this take, by Canadian “alternative country” band Cowboy Junkies, was his favourite.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SweetJaneLR.html 2021-03-07T18:48:39Z

This isn’t the first version of Sweet Jane, of course. It’s not even a *typical* version by Reed solo, or as part of The Velvent Underground. But it _is_ really quite stunning. What really makes this, though, is the intro penned by Steve Hunter - and Hunter’s band, which subsequently went on to back Alice Cooper.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/RunningFromTheThoughts.html 2021-03-07T18:48:38Z

The fourth song in my trilogy of Terry Hall-related tracks, here he is providing vocals to the 2007 track Running from the Thoughts on the “Speakers and Tweeters” LP by Dub Pistols.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Sense.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Another one from Terry Hall, and another collaboration. This time it’s with Ian Broudie, who released his version as the title track from The Lightning Seeds April 1992 LP “Sense”. Hall collaborated with Broudie on a few tracks on that album, and sang BVs on this track. A few years later, Hall recorded his own version for his solo LP “Home” - produced by Broudie. This take is pretty similar to Broudie’s - with enough difference that I can definitely say that, although I love them both, I prefer this one.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/OurLipsAreSealed.html 2021-03-07T18:48:36Z

This song was co-written by Jane Wiedlin, rhythm guitarist of The Go-Go’s, and Terry Hall - who was in the process of breaking up from The Specials - and forming Fun Boy Three.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Gangsters.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Punk was running out of steam by 1979, but as a seventeen-year-old who was into whatever was new, this was just as exciting as punk to me. Of course, this wasn’t really new, it was a second wave of ska. But it was certainly still pretty exciting. This is the first of a few tracks on this blog that have a Terry Hall connection.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/NothingLastsForever.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

This is an amazing comeback single. The band had fallen apart when singer Ian McCulloch left in 1987, and drummer Pete de Freitas died in a motorcycle accident in 1989. After the Electrafixion project ended up with the three remaining (and, indeed, original) Bunnymen being involved, the band inevitably reverted to the Echo & the Bunnymen name. This was the lead single from the 1997 comeback LP.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LieDreamOfACasinoSoul.html 2021-03-07T18:48:33Z

Possibly one of the more accessible early-ish songs by The Fall, I originally intended to include this in the “two drummers” theme, but it seems that this actually just preceded the two-drummer period of the band’s ever-fluid line-up, but it’s a great song so it’s time to talk about it anyway.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/BuyNothingDay.html 2021-03-07T18:48:32Z

Following Lime Habit by Poliça, here’s another act that (often? always? not sure...) features two drummers live - The Go! Team. This was the lead single from their third LP Rolling Blackouts, with guest vocals from Bethany Cosentino.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LimeHabit.html 2021-03-07T18:48:31Z

If one uses the release date of the album, rather than the pre-release single, this track counts as being from the golden year of 2016 - for me the finest year of releases since 2004. It’s distinctively Poliça, but without the prominent autotune effects that controversially featured in earlier releases.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ChainsChangedEP.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

This EP came out soon after the untitled Throwing Muses début album, and by that time I’m already thinking that they could be, for me, *The Best Band In The World. Ever.* They retain that status to this day.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/MyBabysTakingMeHome.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Few acts have gone through as many musical re-inventions as Sparks. This is from one of those changes of direction, 2002’s Lil’ Beethoven LP.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Karen.html 2021-03-07T18:48:28Z

Chew Lips looked like they could be on their way to stardom at one point, but sadly it wasn’t to be. One critically acclaimed album and a few singles are all we have, which is a great loss for all of us.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/PaperThin.html 2021-03-07T18:48:27Z

This track comes from 2016, the wonderful year where my annual “best-of” mix tape was one of the greatest I can remember. Paper Thin is by Laura Kidd, who was then using the She Makes War project name, and features Tanya Donelly on BVs.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Weekender.html 2021-03-07T18:48:26Z

The third in a series of “big songs” - although this has plenty of variety through its near-13 minute length, it sounds more like one song that the previous two, which were constructed from separate initial ideas merged into one.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ParanoidAndroid.html 2021-03-07T18:48:25Z

The second in a trio of “big songs” - long, relatively complex songs that sound like they were the product of putting together separate pieces into one. Like Jesus of Suburbia, Paranoid Android was also made exactly that way.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/JesusOfSuburbia.html 2021-03-07T18:48:24Z

The first in a trio of “big songs” - long, relatively complex songs that sound like they were the product of putting together separate pieces into one. Jesus Of Suburbia was made exactly that way.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/WhiteLove.html 2021-03-07T18:48:23Z

The third track featuring Dot Allison on vocals. Here she is with her electronic trio One Dove on a record produced by Andy Weatherall and remixed by Stephen Hague.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/MessagePersonnel.html 2021-03-07T18:48:22Z

The second of three tracks featuring vocals by Dot Allison - this time a track from her first début LP, 1999s Afterglow.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Dirge.html 2021-03-07T18:48:21Z

This is the first of three songs featuring Scottish singer Dot Allison. Here she features on vocals (and co-writing) on Dirge, the opening track from The Contino Sessions, a classic album by Death In Vegas.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/FilmBurn.html 2021-03-07T18:48:19Z

The third in a trio of songs by a pair of my favourite artists of recent years. Following Salt Spring by Anomie Belle, and Gumball Machine Weekend by Yppah, this track sees them working together on Film Burn, one of several collaborations between the pair on the 2012 Yppah record Eighty One.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/GumballMachineWeekend.html 2021-03-07T18:48:18Z

The second in a trio of songs by a pair of my favourite artists of recent years. Following Salt Spring by Anomie Belle, we have Gumball Machine Weekend by Yppah, from his 2009 LP “They Know What Ghost Know”.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SaltSpring.html 2021-03-07T18:48:17Z

This is the first in a trio of songs by a pair of my favourite artists of recent years. First up is singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Anomie Belle, with Salt Spring from her 2016 LP Flux.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LovelyAllen.html 2021-03-07T18:48:16Z

The final song in a trio of tracks by bands with sweary names, and the second instrumental. It combines electronics with live instruments in a tune that really “grooves”.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Olympians.html 2021-03-07T18:48:15Z

The second in a trio of songs by bands who couldn’t resist getting a bit sweary in their names, this is a powerful, uplifting, instrumental that fitted in perfectly when used in the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/QueenOfHearts.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

The first of three songs by bands whose names include the F word. This track from Fucked Up is shouty and furious as the character “David”, but sweet and soft as “Veronica” responds. But it’s always catchy and tuneful.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/EBowTheLetter.html 2023-07-23T05:08:07+01:00

This is the song that actually triggered the idea of doing a songs blog. I declared on Twitter (back when that was a thing) that this is a song that I felt I could never truly tire of, and that inspired the idea of a “Songs I’ll Never Tire Of” blog. The crap blog name held me back from actually starting something, but eventually I got around to it, renamed it, and here we are. This tune was released after R.E.M.’s popularity peak, but to me it still stands out as the highlight track from a pretty-decent catalogue.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ITrawlTheMEGAHERTZ.html 2021-04-02T01:52:49+01:00

Prefab Sprout were a pretty popular band in the 80s that, to be honest, I didn’t really like that much. But 20 years later I heard about singer Paddy McAloon’s solo record and it’s a fascinating story, which resulted in an amazing album. In 2019, this album was re-released under the Prefab Sprout banner. I Trawl The Megahertz is the second in a pair of “spoken word” records.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/TheGift.html 2021-03-07T18:48:11Z

The first of two “spoken word” songs, this is the tale of Waldo Jeffers, who misses his girlfriend Marsha after she returns home when school ends. He decides to post himself in a box to see her. It doesn’t end well for Waldo. “That schmuck.”

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Nautilus.html 2021-03-07T18:48:10Z

Scot composer and musician Anna Meredith combines electronica with classical instruments to produce music that has connections to past yet which still sounds fresh and modern.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/TheKingOfRome.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Written by Dave Sudbury in the 80s about a homing pigeon, and recorded in 1988 by June Tabor, this live version by folk group The Unthanks (backed by the famous Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band) is a thing of rare magnificence. As, apparently, was the eponymous pigeon :)

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SymphonyOfSorrowfulSongs.html 2021-03-07T18:48:08Z

I’m definitely not an aficionado of classical music, so it’s probably inevitable that my tastes in contemporary classical are at the more populist end of the scale, but this is a beautiful, emotional, piece. You probably wouldn’t file it under “easy listening”, though.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Amser.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Gwenno Saunders came to relatively wide public awareness as a member of The Pipettes, but has forged a successful solo career since. In 2018 she released an album in the Cornish language, but here I’m highlighting Amser - the Cornish-language track of her otherwise-mostly-Welsh 2014 LP Y Dydd Olaf.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LaValseAMilleTemps.html 2021-03-07T18:48:06Z

Belgian Jacques Brel achieved success beyond the French-speaking world, and has influenced artists from many cultures and genres. This piece is quite amazing in the way it plays with language, and with tempo. Starting off as a slow waltz, it puns its way to a high-speed crescendo.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Birthday.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

As the début single from Icelandic band Sugarcubes (originally Sykurmolarnir in their native language), this was the first chance most of us got to hear the inestimable talent of Björk Guðmundsdóttir. Obviously it was released in English too, but the original Icelandic version just sounds perfect to me. When I first heard this track, I was massively excited about this new talent, and Björk remains one of the most interesting artists performing today.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/FarFarAway.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Slade were stylistically lumped in with the UK ’glam’ movement, but they were streets ahead of some of the producer-led fodder like The Sweet. These two singles came out as their peak popularity was waning, but this is a pair of fine tracks from the surprisingly good Slade in Flame film.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/HeartOfGlass.html 2021-03-07T18:48:03Z

Another landmark record in terms of production, this is one of those records that still sounds amazing over 40 years on. Like the previous song on this blog, it has a hook whereby the time signature sometimes changes. Golden Brown adds an extra beat here and there, but Heart of Glass skips a beat. Reportedly the result of an editing accident which was kept when it sounded great, the result is an iconic “middle 8” section which sounds wrong when repeated in normal time in an extended version.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/GoldenBrown.html 2021-03-07T18:48:02Z

This is the first of a few great songs which add or skip beats in one of their distinctive hooks. In this case, a song in waltz time introduces an occasional bar of common time in the distinctive intro riff.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/AllMappedOut.html 2021-03-07T18:48:01Z

Another song from the 2004 “Golden Era”. This one is heavily influenced by the “New Romantic” movement of the late 70s, early 80s.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Interstate5.html 2021-03-07T18:48:00Z

Another one from the golden year of 2004, this is another of my all-time favourites. The Wedding Present at this point wasn’t a reformed original line-up, but a renamed and refocussed version of Cinerama.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ThruTheGlass.html 2021-03-07T18:47:59Z

The standout years in my annual best-of-year compilations are 2004 and 2016. The mix for the former kicked off with this track from Cornwall’s Thirteen Senses.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/NightNurse.html 2021-03-07T18:47:58Z

Whatever the genre, a great melody and great singer are a special combination. Night Nurse is such a song, and Gregory Isaacs is such a singer. This completes a trilogy of reggae songs. There are likely to be more some time later.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ThrowDownYourArms.html 2021-03-07T18:47:57Z

Although Sinéad O’Connor is an amazing songwriter, she is best known for her version of a song written by Prince. This is a cover, but not that one - this track is from an album she made of classic reggae songs she grew up with.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/PrivateLifeShesLostControl.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

After a disco period, Jamaican model and singer Grace Jones brought out a dub-heavy reggae album of covers in 1980, and had a hit single with her version of The Pretenders song Private Life. Arguably even more astonishing is her take on Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control, which formed the B-side of the single.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/KeepMe.html 2021-03-07T18:47:55Z

This is a great song. And Pesky is surely a genius name for a band of kids?

https://songstothesiren.com/song/EverythingIsTheSame.html 2021-03-07T18:47:54Z

I’m writing this in April 2020, as we approach the 10th anniversary of the release of Pull In Emergency’s eponymous album - and it’s almost certainly my most-played LP since it came out. It’s a very fine piece of work - from a band that were in their mid-teens when it was made.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Torn.html 2021-03-07T18:47:53Z

With Natalie Imbruglia’s take on the Ednaswap song “Torn”, I’d suggest that we are getting into the relatively small list of “covers that sound better than the original” - regardless of whether you consider the “original” to me Ednaswap or Lis Sørensen.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/FlowersOfRomance.html 2021-03-07T18:47:52Z

Just three years after John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) walked out on the Sex Pistols, he was releasing his third PiL album. Moving on from the dub/disco/krautrock influences of Metal Box, The Flowers of Romance was even more experimental. Largely led by huge drum sounds and percussion loops, the sound influenced artists well beyond the punk and post-punk scenes.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ItsOn.html 2021-03-07T18:47:51Z

The indie/dance crossover sound from the late 80s and early 90s might well have had its home in Manchester, but these London boys gave them more than a run for their money.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SomethingGood08.html 2021-03-07T18:47:50Z

This record takes a sample from Kate Bush’s single Cloudbusting, and builds a new song around it - though my preferred version is the 2008 remix that replaces Bush’s vocal with a re-recorded part.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Mathematics.html 2021-03-07T18:47:49Z

Cherry Ghost started as the solo project of singer-songwriter Simon Aldred, and this the first single, a beautiful waltz-time piece.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/WisheryUpular.html 2021-03-07T18:47:48Z

South Africa-born Aussie Pogo makes tunes from edits of video, particularly from Disney films. I couldn’t decide whether to include Upular or Wishery, so consider this a “double A side” entry in the blog.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/INeedSomeFineWineAndYouYouNeedToBeNicer.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

Imagine coming up with a title and lyrics this good when English isn’t even your first language.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Fish.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

This is the point at which I introduce you to my all-time favourite band. Some of their finest stuff isn’t that easily accessible - but this is the song I’d use to introduce a new listener. It’s distinctively different to anything else you’ve heard, yet it’s not weird enough to scare people off.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/WeCanWorkItOut.html 2021-03-07T18:47:45Z

This song (approximately, at least) marked the transition from the old twee pop Beatles to the much more interesting act that they became.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/GloryBox.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

The Bristol Sound, aka Trip Hop, was the dominant sound of this era for me. Grunge was still hanging in there, but this really was something new, and Portishead were at the forefront of it. This song is built on an Isaac Hayes sample that became quite ubiquitous, and is still making an impact on popular music today.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SilentNight.html 2021-03-07T18:47:43Z

This version of the early-19th Century Christmas carol is mixed with a simulated news bulletin based on events of 3rd August 1966. No mention, sadly, of England’s World Cup win only five days previous.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Deceptacon.html 2021-03-07T18:47:42Z

An absolute banger from Le Tigre, a punky electronic three-piece featuring Kathleen Hanna, formerly of the legendary Bikini Kill.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/JustLikeHeaven.html 2021-05-03T23:54:42+01:00

Although The Cure had been well established in the UK, this was the song that broke them to a bigger US audience. This song has also stood up to a wide variety of treatments in cover versions.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ImNotInLove.html 2021-03-07T18:47:40Z

This song was released only a few months before Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and although it doesn’t have the complexity of songwriting of the latter, I’d suggest that it is an even more astounding leap forward in the state of the art of sound production.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/NumberOneSongInHeaven.html 2021-03-07T18:47:39Z

After a period as a guitar-based rock band that saw Sparks earn considerable commercial success, they teamed up with Giorgio Moroder to execute a complete change of direction. As it turns out, there would be several more such big changes throughout the band’s career - which is still going strong.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/PlanetOfSound.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

The first single from the fourth (and last until the band later reformed) Pixies album, this is the tale of an alien who picks up transmissions from Earth. They head over to find the source, the “planet of sound”.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/ClearestBlue.html 2021-03-07T18:47:37Z

A glorious uplifting pop tune from the Scotland’s three-piece Chvrches.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/TinyFeet.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

This is my most-played tune since I moved all my music into iTunes (now Apple Music) about 15 years ago - yet the version I play was never released.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/LostInThePlot.html 2021-03-07T18:47:35Z

This is a song in three movements from the Canadian band’s second album. It doesn’t have a conventional verse-chorus structure - it’s more like a linear piece with three distinct sections.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/IntoU.html 2023-06-18T05:00:31+01:00

A song by producer Richard X featuring a vocal from Jarvis Cocker and a sample from Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You creates something even greater than the sum of its parts.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/Supervixen.html 2021-03-07T18:47:33Z

The opening track of the début album, and literally within 5 seconds it presents a hook *so* strong, I’m smitten for life with this song. The “hook” is just a gap. Yet, to me, this is simply the greatest intro of all.

https://songstothesiren.com/song/SongToTheSiren.html 2021-03-07T18:47:32Z

This is the song that gave this blog its title, so it seems right to open with it. Although it’s a cover, this is the most famous version and, I’d claim, the definitive version. Recorded by Liz Fraser and Robin Guthrie of 4AD act Cocteau Twins, this was released on the B-side of a 12” release, then the A-side of a 7”, before appearing on the first This Mortal Coil album *It’ll End in Tears*