Farraginous Friday #23 – Good day sunshine

Hello Farraginous followers! Welcome to the 23rd installment of Farraginous Fridays! As the British summer has really got going weather-wise, I thought it appropriate for this week’s list to be sun & summer themed.

Farraginous Friday #23 – Good day sunshine    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #23 – Good day sunshine    (YOUTUBE)

Lucky Soul

Butter wouldn’t melt in the mouth of Lucky Soul‘s Ali Howard. Deliciously summery bubblegum pop from this South London 6-piece with their 2007 track One Kiss Don’t Make A Summer.

One of the poppier and accessible efforts from the delightfully disturbed Of Montreal. Oslo In The Summertime is a lonely look at a man slowly losing it in Norway’s capital from Athens’ finest!

Country rock legend Don Henley is up next with his overly covered classic The Boys Of Summer. In fact I say it’s Henley’s; he only wrote the words! The music came courtesy of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. FACT!

Everyone if familiar with Lauren Laverne and her TV/radio presenting pursuits but not everyone is familiar with her old pop group Kenickie. Stay In The Sun is a definite highlight from their otherwise rather dull second album of 1998 album, Get In.

The Magnetic Fields

It’s a downbeat affair next with The Magnetic Fields and their desperately sad I Don’t Believe In The Sun. Can’t recommend the incredible triple album 69 Love Songs enough!!

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you and say that Blister In The Sun is the only Violent Femmes song that I know. It’s instantly recognisable hooks and catchy lazy vocals make this a perfect sunny sunshine track!

The Libertines took the english indie scene by storm in 2002 with their debut album Up The Bracket. I think Don’t Look Back Into The Sun may well be my favourite of their tracks and it was released as a single 2003 but never appeared on an album.

2008 saw Elbow release their most poppy and succesful album to date. One Day Like This is such a glorious song with a beautifully full and lust arrangement. Begs to be played loud!

a-ha

Couldn’t resist this one, a-ha‘s The Sun Always Shines On TV is such an effortlessly epic pop anthem I just had to include it. Apparently the band were all suffering from severe flu while recording this song… doesn’t really show on the recording… don’t know why I bothered mentioning it.

Finishing us off this week are indie royalty Belle and Sebastian. This has to be one of the best pop songs ever written; Another Sunny Day encapsulates so much of the British summer in just 4 minutes! An adorably addictive pop smash from the Scottish legends!

That’s your lot for this week my sun-kissed lovelies! I hope you’ve enjoyed the summery blast of this week’s sun & summer themed playlist. Don’t forget, if you don’t have Spotify then there is always the Youtube link. So no one need miss out!

Remember to add your suggestions below and please do continue to invite new listeners to the blog! The easiest way is to invite people to the Facebook group dedicated to Farraginous Fridays. You can find it here – http://groups.to/farraginousfridays.

Laters!
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #23 – Good day sunshine    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #23 – Good day sunshine    (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #15 – A good sport

Hello farraginous friends and welcome to the 15th installment of Farraginous Fridays! This week’s playlist will be sport themed but I’ve refused any anthems or “sport songs” so to speak. So no ‘Three Lions’ or raps from John Barnes I’m afraid! But I can assure you we have a right old sporty mix nonetheless.

Farraginous Friday #15 – A good sport    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #15 – A good sport    (YOUTUBE)

1) A second farraginous outing for our story-laden friends The Decemberists, as they kick us off this week with The Sporting Life. Well known for their wordy yarns, this track tells the story of an adolescent boy going through the motions of failing his father, losing the girl and learning the tough lessons that life teaches you.

Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian‘s Piazza, New York Catcher makes reference to baseballer Mike Piazza, whose sexuality has been a topic of discussion for the US media. This is possibly my favourite track from the Scottish indie outfit’s 2003 album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

Folk-pop legends Simon and Garfunkel are up next with their moving story of loneliness and poverty in New York city. The Boxer was released in 1969 and had an extra verse in it that was dropped on the studio track but can still be heard on some of their live recordings.

Come On are one of the more forgotten bands from New York’s new-wave scene of the late 1970s.The playful nature of Housewives Play Tennis makes you wonder why. Talking Heads’ David Byrne was a huge fan and apparently took David Bowie and Brian Eno to see them at CBGB’s back in the day!

Take The Skinheads Bowling by Camper Van Beethoven is taken from their 1985 album Telephone Free Landslide Victory. It is probably their most well-known song and has had some impressive covers of it over the years (Manic Street Preachers,  Teenage Fanclub to name two).

The Duckworth Lewis Method

The Divine Comedy‘s Neil Hannon started this cricket themed act (The Duckworth Lewis Method). The band name refers to the method for working out… oh I’m not particularly interested but for those that are, click here. The Age Of Revolution enthuses about the breaking down of barriers and the globalisation of the sport.

England 2 Columbia 0 is a wonderfully South American flavoured pop tune from Kirsty MacColl‘s last album Tropical Brainstorm. The narrator says “I’m going to Brazil”, to assumedly escape her troubles, which makes the fact MacColl died on a trip to South America from a freak boat accident all the more tragic.

Bicycle Race shows Queen at their most playful and inventive. So many simple melodies combined to make an incredibly creative and complex song. The Jazz album, from which this song is taken, split the critics: A Rolling Stone reviewer even ludicrously described Queen as the “first truly fascist rock band”.

Kraftwerk

Now another cycling themed tracks. The sampled breathing noises in Kraftwerk‘s Tour De France, are initially quite uncomfortable but do eventually ease us in to electro-percussion pattern of this interesting track from their 1983 album of the same name. A few of Kraftwerk‘s members are keen cyclists and are known to have taken part in many cycling events.

No sign of letting up, Animal Collective released their 8th studio album in 2007.  Merriweather Post Pavilion featured this track, Brother Sport, a track written by member Panda Bear to encourage his brother to talk about past ordeals. The sunshine psychedelic sound and catchy, repetitive melodies makes this track a perfect closer to this week’s list!

Thank you for listening and I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s mix. Do leave comments below if you have ANYTHING to say about the selection or any tracks which you would have included in the list.

Please do continue to tell your friend’s about Farraginous Fridays. Send them along to the Facebook group here – http://groups.to/farraginousfridays or just invite them straight to the blog at http://farraginousfridays.com.

Until next time…

Love
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #15 – A good sport    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #15 – A good sport    (YOUTUBE)