Random 10 for Dec. 3, 2007
1. The Three Wise Men, “Thanks for Christmas.” A cheeky Nov. 10, 1983 press release from Virgin U.K. announced the release of this alt-pop holiday classic by shrouding the identity of the actual artists in a tinsel-thin veneer of mystery: “Could it be Culture Club, Human League, Heaven 17, China Crisis or even Slapp Happy? Over to you! Just good clean Virgin fun to keep you guessing right into the New Year. It’s certainly countdown to Christmas party time. Cheers!” Slapp Happy?
But at the top of the press release was the first line of “The 12 Days of Christmas”: “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.” Yes, Partridge, as in Andy of XTC. The single was released on Nov. 21 of ’83, and has since become a staple for alt-rock yuletide celebrations and mix tapes. A few years later, XTC released its atheist rant “Dear God” from Skylarking, forever draping “Thanks for Christmas” in festive, red and green irony.
2. Deerhunter, “Strange Lights.”
3. Acid House Kings, “Do What You Wanna Do.”
4. Nick Lowe, “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.”
5. Radiohead, “All I Need.” A real love song from Radiohead, whom I love to death but had become frustratingly obtuse post-Kid A, but turned it around and released its most accessible music since The Bends on In Rainbows. Thom Yorke is a soul man!
6. The Parson Red Heads, “Punctual As Usual.”
7. Tahiti 80, “Alloveragain.”
8. The Blow, “Knowing the Things That I Know.”
9. Vashti Bunyan, “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind.” A major figure in the British ’60s folk movement, Bunyan debuted in 1965 with this single, a Mick Jagger/Keith Richards composition that those guys never chose to release with their mop-topped pop combo.
From there, Bunyan’s story takes an odd turn. In 1970, Bunyan released her first full-length disc, the Joe Boyd-produced Just Another Diamond Day, and promptly left the music business when that record failed to attract a sizeable audience. She moved to Ireland and raised her kids and tended to animals for the next three decades.
Then Just Another Diamond Day was re-released in 2000 and made a splash with fans of modern folkies such as Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, both of whom collaborated with Bunyan when she returned in 2006 with the excellent Lookaftering. That record doesn’t sound at all like a 62-year-old woman returning from the moors — she sounds young and vital, a peer of Banhart and Newsom rather than an influence.
10. LCD Soundsystem, “Time to Get Away.”
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still reading your blog more than i read the paper … thanks! you are a good writer … keep your day job!