Catchy pop gem from the Waterboys‘ self-titled first album about a girl with a boy’s name (in fact, a tribute to Patti Smith). What’s not to like? And why again didn’t we get to hear this on commercial radio?
874. a girl called Johnny
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Monthly Archives: December 2016
25. The Solid Time Of Change
Instalment Twenty-Five of the Solid Time of Change aired Saturday December-10-2016 c/o CiTR.FM.101.9.
Podcast (Solid Time starts a few minutes in). Youtube playlist (incomplete and not entirely accurate).
This program marks the middle point (time wise, not numbering) of our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era – 661 selections from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.
Part Twenty-Five of the journey went as follows:
- Crazy World of Arthur Brown – prelude + nightmare
- Temptations – hurry tomorrow
- Nektar – remember the future [part 1]
- Hatfield + the North – Big John Wayne socks etc …
- David Bowie – station to station
- The Who – Tommy overture
- The Who – amazing journey
- The Who – sparks
- The Who – see me feel me
- Focus – birth
- Focus – Hamburger Concerto excerpts
- Al Stewart – roads to Moscow
Randophonic will be taking a brief break from new programming for the next couple or three weeks. Fresh episodes of the Solid Time of Change will return in the new year, every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9.
875. the backyard
Miracle Legion came our way in 1984 amid the so-called jangle pop resurgence that followed REM’s initial breakthrough. Suddenly it was okay, cool even, for guitars to sound nice again, melodies sweet. In the case of The Backyard, that meant a tight, driving bit of melancholy about early childhood, a time when your whole world was your backyard, but even that could break your heart.
876. you always stand in my way
“Aphrodite’s Child are a weird one from the 1960s, a sort of pop-psychedelic outfit that managed to be both sonically extreme and sentimentally cloying, sometimes in the same song. And oh yeah, they came from Greece. You Always Stand In My Way goes resolutely for the extreme edge of things, with singer Demis Roussos (who would eventually settle into a prosperous career as an easy listening fave) giving his wailing all, whilst keyboardist Vangelis (yes, that Vangelis) tears things up on lead mellotron. I actually found this one in a yard sale sometime in the early 90s, maybe paid a buck for it, the guy who sold it to me sort of scratching his head and mumbling, oh yeah, this bloody record.” (Philip Random)
877. caterpillar
“But The Cure weren’t even Goth! Or so I heard it argued back in the day. How can you be something that hasn’t even been named yet? What they were, was good, sometimes great, which is true of Caterpillar, a wigged out pop experiment if there ever was one. Nothing does what you expect it to, but it always works, keeps the foot tapping, the head nodding, the earworm slithering.” (Philip Random)
878. you’ve got my number (why don’t you use it?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKv1ShR154
“The Undertones being one of the greatest singles bands ever, You’ve Got My Number (why don’t you use it?) being a darned fine single. Though I’ll be honest. I never really liked them that much at the time, for which I blame Edward. One of those obsessive fan-holes who can’t let a good thing speak for itself – has to evangelize it, until you come to hate it, even if you don’t, just to get under the guy’s skin. Anyway, he’s long gone now, haven’t seen him in decades. Which rather sets the Undertones free.” (Philip Random)
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