Songs to the Siren

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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”.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.