Right then - this post officially moves DHS into the Blogosphere. We've had six complete DHS lists already and this blog now contains the entries from the start of DHS7.
It is therefore encumbent on me to pass comment on the previous ten tunes chosen and then to propose my next five. On the whole I enjoyed the last two selections - a good representation of all that DHS is about - specific thoughts would be...
Vandellas - Heatwave - such a classic that it's almost 'a standard' - have to say I prefer the edgy, 'experimental', version that the Jam did in the early 80s.
Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis - arrived shortly after Pump Up The Volume, and arguably wouldn't have existed without it, but in my humble was a much more enjoyable record.
St Etienne - Cool Kids Of Death - proper tune - lovely record - another one that's difficult to belive we haven't already featured - had a couple of high profile remixes but this, original, remains my favourite - really nice.
Mit - Rauch - not heard this before and it's obviously presented here in the context of a compilation mix - would like to hear the full length version - reminiscent of the Jon Hopkins track featured a while back - nice.
M83 - Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun - I could say everything about this and will struggle to say nothing. Not the first track from its album to feature on DHS - almost made it onto my 'Terminal Morraine' Mix but lost out 'cos I felt I could only include one track per artist - the whole album this comes from is wonderful and is one of very few, in my humble experience, that benefits from a start-to-finish, one-off, listen all the way through. This is certainly one of the album's peaks.
Nina Simone - Feeling Good - massively recognisable vocal, endlessly sampled - and with very good reason.
Burt Bacharach - What The World Needs Now - I love most of Bacharach's stuff - have included a couple of his in previous DHS lists - best thing about this is that it's NOT The Carpenters version - not because that's a bad interpretation - just that this is a much underplayed version of a very well known tune
MARRS - Pump Up The Volume - hip-hop was already up and running, house music had been born and was rapidly putting on weight and then this arrived. Landmark record though and no mistake.
Lupe Fiasco - Shining Down - Hmmmm - it's ok - when he's good he's really, really good but this is ok - really, really ok.
Vince DiCola - War/Rocky - hahahahahaha - I'm the wrong person to comment on this - only ever seen the second Rocky film (far as I remember) - if I was a fan of the films mybe this would mean something more to me.
And so the DHS spotlight once more is mine - and to make this selection work I need you to regress 25 years (which I appreciate is more threatening for you two than it is for me) - we're going mid '80s and the whole world has absurdly broad, artificially padded, shoulders.
REO Speedwagon - Can't Fight This Feeling - currently being featured in a TV advert campaign and it probably will be in another 10/15 years time - strangely enduring middle-of-the-road American pap/brilliance.
Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is - another tune I can't believe we've not yet featured - all about the piano.
Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays - the only song I know that exists about that strangely sinister, bleak and remarkable story of the mass murdering American school girl - good job Geldoff did Live Aid though 'cos this was as good as his composing ever got
Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out - The original version of this was released in about '83 and featured both on one of the very earliest 'Now That's What I Call Music' compilations and also an early tape that I recorded from pirate radio (JFM or Horizon?!). It was a Level 42 type, upbeat, 'jazz-funk' number. I really liked it (it's also on Spot). And then I found this version. Recorded live, many many years after it was originally released - this is a much more 'mature' version - slowed down considerably I think it benefits from more time and space to fit his piano playing in and it builds a mood that was only hinted at in the original. I love this - another example of why Spotify is brilliant - search for an original, find the original AND some other options.
UB40 - One In Ten - I first heard UB40 before I really knew what the difference was between 'pop' and 'underground'. As it happens UB40, at that time, were still an underground band - doing their thing and not yet reduced to cover versions and diluted pop/reggae nonsense. I have a live album from around the time that this song was out - http://open.spotify.com/album/7lZfzpGCsYEKZYg48oo786 - and as far as I'm concerned it's still fabulous. This was most their most commercially successful song from that early period though - and with good merit. Tune.
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