Archive for the ‘The police’ Category
- August, 1979
The middle of August, 1979 and I’d just turned 6. That’s me in the picture above, apparently. JP was on good form, although I was still a bit young to fully appreciate his genius. This was a shame really, as I was about to miss the one and only session by The Police. Not only did Sting and chums have a single in the top ten at the time, they also finally realised their dream of getting a Peel session, not that JP himself was terribly impressed by their effort. Other highlights of the mid August show included Dolly Mixtures first and only session. Full as possible details of the show have been lovingly cobbled together by my friends over at the Peel wiki, and you can download the little gem here.
Elsewhere, another band who, like the Police, had ‘pestered’ JP greatly to get on the show – U2 – were making their first big radio interview. Michael Jackson released his first breakthrough album Off the Wall, and on the telly we were treated to the very scary – I was 6 – Sapphire and Steel, among other things. Am I the only one who’d completely forgotten about Outer Spacers?
Here’s what magazines looked like back then.
If you want to look through the entire mid-August 1979 edition of Smash Hits, you can do so by clicking here (courtesy of the remarkable Like Punk Never Happened).
- Podcast 12 in all its glory
Typical, isn’t it? Even though you hadn’t been waiting for me to do a podcast, two of them show up almost at the same time. Believe it or not, I rarely use these as an opportunity to indulge in, er, self indulgence, although I’m perhaps a little guilty this time around, particularly with my first selection, Hole’s ‘Celebrity skin‘. I did manage to get a reference to ‘Margrave of the Marshes’ in there to throw you off the scent though, plus I have to remember that there are those among you who aren’t quite as approaching middle age as I am and may never have heard it before.
The main reason I had to cobble this podcast together so quickly after the last one is that, by hook or crook, I’ve managed to get hold of a copy of Franz Ferdinand’s new release and have shared 3 tracks from ‘Tonight’ with you today: ‘Ulysses’, ‘Turn it on’ and ‘No you girls’. Another newly released long player I’ve stumbled ass-backwards into owning is John Frusciante’s ‘The Empyrean’, from which you can enjoy the opportunity to listen to his interpretation of ‘Song to the siren’ (including some probably woefully incorrect discussion of the song’s place in Festive 50 lore).
There’s another live selection for you all, this time from The Police. The concert, recorded in Melbourne, Australia in early 1981, is a real curio, as it contains some incredible backstage chatter from the band members and their manager, Miles Copeland (brother of drummer Stewart). Songs you can enjoy are: Voices inside my head / Don’t stand so close to me / Walking on the Moon / De do do do, de da da da / backstage interview / When the World is running down, you make the best of what’s still around / Message in a bottle / Roxanne / backstage interview / Can’t stand losing you / Reggatta de blanc / Be my girl / So lonely.
Other tracks featured include Cocteau Twins’ ‘Pitch the baby’, Polly Paulusma’s ‘Back to the start’, Nightjar’s ‘Poor man’s son’, ‘Bad before good’ by Day One, Kalli’s ‘It’s over’, ‘Lord, Ive been on fire’ by BC Camplight, Soundgarden’s ‘Like suicide’, ‘N.T. parts 1 & 2 [original full length album version]’ by Kool & the gang and Jesse Malin’s ‘Broken radio’.
Click here or scroll down a bit for download / listen now options.
- Franz Ferdinand’s new album: PODCAST 12
Download: 125mb for more than 2 hours of smashing tunes. Alternatively, listen now:
