Farraginous Friday # 16 – The magic touch

Welcome to the 16th edition of Farraginous Fridays, the music blog for real music fans!

This week we will be looking at songs engulfed in a puff of smoke! Magic tinges the playlist and I’m sure there will be something for everyone here…

Farraginous Friday #16 – The magic touch    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #16 – The magic touch    (YOUTUBE)

First to wave the wand this week are the cult conjurers, Steve Miller Band. Apparently inspired by Diana Ross, Abracadabra is from the band’s 1982 album of the same name. This tune went to number one in the US and is at #70 in the Billboard‘s Greatest Songs of all Time.

Screaming Jay Hawkins

Two years later The Cars released their joyfully simple hit, Magic. This track was taken from Heartbeat which after the band’s plethora of huge hits, turned out to be their last album.

Now if there’s anyone in the world you wouldn’t want pursuing you romantically, or otherwise, it would be Screaming Jay Hawkins. He rips and roars his way through I Put A Spell On You like a man possessed. By the end of this 1956 hit, the crazy Clevelander has got himself in to a right old state!

In The Morning Of The Magicians is truly one of the most beautiful and magical songs I’ve ever heard. The Flaming Lips have always been savants of spacey other-worldliness and this wonderful track from their tenth studio album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is no exception.

REO Speedwagon‘s peak had long gone by the time their 1984 album Wheels Are Turnin’ came out. But the album still managed to achieve Top 40 singles. Although Break His Spell wasn’t one of these, it still shows, to me, what REO were all about.

Of Montreal

Next up is one of my favourite bands of all time with a joys-of-love type track from one of my favourite albums of all time. Of Montreal have one of the most insanely experimental, peculiar, fun and fucked-up back catalogues around. Your Magic Is Working is from the 2004 album Satanic Panic In The Attic. Chief member, Kevin Barnes, wrote every song and performed every instrument on the album! GENIUS!!!

M. Ward has a natural air of cool about him and his Post War album has exactly that but without a hint of pretentiousness. Magic Trick is designed to feel like a 50s/60s rock ‘n’ roll live show and does indeed make you want to sing along. Listen out for backing vocals from My Morning Jacket’s Jim James.

One of the biggest selling artists in Canada during the 90s, Sloan are still pretty much unknown in the UK and US.  Witch’s Wand is a plea to a friend with a drug problem and is from their 2008 album Parallel Play.

Patrick Wolf

I could resist! I tried and I tried but it I just couldn’t do a magic themed playlist without this storming smash hit from Scottish cheese-meisters Pilot. The band was formed by two member of the Bay City Rollers (David Paton and Billy Lyall) and Magic is from their album debut album of 1974.

Burberry donning multi-instrumentalist Patrick Wolf waves the final wand of the playlist with his 2007 indie-poptastic The Magic Position. This was his last single for 2 years. The quirky and sparkly arrangement of this wonderfully jubilant track makes it the perfect closer to this week’s magical playlist!

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…

Magic love
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #16 – The magic touch    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #16 – The magic touch    (YOUTUBE)

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F09049705362C6EB

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P.

Hello farraginous friends and welcome to the tenth installment of Farraginous Fridays. This week is the first Farraginous Special where we’ll be paying tribute to Sparklehorse‘s Mark Linkous who tragically took his life last week at the age of 47.

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (YOUTUBE)

Having been in many a small punk band in the 80s and early 90s and after an unsuccessful move to L.A., in an attempt to hit the big time, Linkous returned to his hometown of Virginia. There, he formed Sparklehorse and in 1995 released their debut album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. This was a hit with the British media and gave Linkous the chance to tour with Radiohead the following year. Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood said “They were great every night…[Mark's] first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends’ lives too.”

Mark Linkous

It was on this tour that Linkous nearly died. A combination of alcohol, anti-depressants and Valium resulted in him laying unconscious for 14 hours. His legs were trapped under him so when he was found and lifted, the sodium build up resulted in him going into cardiac arrest and he lost the use of his legs for  6 months.

This near-death experience is a strong theme in the 1999 album Good Morning Spider. Following the album’s release he said of the accident ““For a while there, I was really scared that when I technically died — which I guess I did for a few minutes — that the part of my brain that allowed me my ability to write songs would be damaged”.

2001 saw the release of It’s Wonderful Life, another haunting collection of tragically beautiful songs which although well received by critics and musicians alike, did not have a huge amount of commercial success. This album includes collaborations with Tom Waits, Nina Persson (The Cardigans), PJ Harvey and Dave Fridmann.

Linkous also had a close working relationship with the troubled singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston, who has had a life long battle with mental illness. He produced his 2003 album Fear Yourself and also The Late Great Daniel Johnston which saw him bring together many great musicians to cover the songs of the still-living artist. This album also features a collaboration with the Flaming Lips, which I have included on this playlist.

Dark Night Of The Soul

His last completed work was Dark Night Of The Soul. On this album he collaborated with Danger Mouse and David Lynch and brought another incredible group of musicians to contribute to the album.  James Mercer (The Shins), Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Frank Black (Pixies) just to name a few. Although legal issues have meant the album has not had an official release, the album can be listened to in its entirity HERE.

On Saturday 6th March Mark Linkous took his own life by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle outside a friend’s home. He had apparently been drinking heavily and had been having many personal problems. Alcohol and depression was something he had battled with for the most part of his adult life.

His tender voice, bittersweet lyrics, intriguing collaborations and interestingly complex, yet subtle arrangements have always fascinated me. So many of his songs can make me simultaneously smile and cry. He will be sorely missed and I hope those of you less familiar with his work will enjoy some of the wonderful music created by this truly beautiful and honest artist.

Please do leave your comments and thoughts on the playlist and Sparklehorse or any feelings you have regarding Mark’s death or his music.

Thanks
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #10 – Mark Linkous R.I.P. (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farraginous frontier

Greetings my farraginous faculae and welcome to the third edition of Farraginous Fridays.

A big thank you for those of you who read and commented on last week’s babe-based installment; it’s always good to have your rhapsodical remarks. This week I’m looking at music under the far more vast and undiscovered umbrella of SPACE!

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farraginous frontier (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farragionus frontier (YOUTUBE)

The first astronomical disc to be spun this week is The Tornados‘ Telstar. This song from 1962 was named after the first satellite launched into space that was capable of relaying television signals. Written and recorded  by the ever eccentric Joe Meek, this instrumental serves as a suitable and jubilant introduction to our gallant journey into the galactic musical galleries of the slightly less well-known. Try not to hum this for the rest of the day.

The Flaming Lips

Our shuttle’s next stop is with our Oklahoman, balloon-bearing friends, The Flaming Lips. It is my true belief that this wonderous band, led by the forever-young and exuberant Wayne Coyne, should be the first band to perform in space. Their live shows are comparable to having all of your birthdays and Christmases from the age of 3 through to 10 rolled into one. The sleeve notes for this song describe it as “An untested hypothesis suggesting that the chemical (in our brains) by which we are able to experience the sensation of being in love is the same chemical that caused the ‘Big Bang’ that was the birth of the accelerating universe” and I believe every joy-emitting word of it. The Soft Bulletin, from which the song originates, is arguably their best album; an ambitious leap from quirky, psych-punk-heads to purposeful and experimental, cosmic rockers.

Ears firmly pressed against the walls of the craft, we can hear moon-clambering frustrations from the painfully consistent Eels. Also gazing up at the stars (or maybe the heavens?) is the talented multi-instrumentalist that is Sufjan Stevens.

Ozma

Ordinarily firing out heavy power pop-laden guitar riffs with some extra twinkling from their aptly named (for the purposes of this blog post) keyboardist Star Wick, Ozma (ruler of the land of Oz?) deliver a peculiar and catchy Russian-based affair into our cosmos on this occasion. Flight Of Uri Gagarin, sees this Pasadena based quintet toy with traditional Russian instruments such as the balalaika to create the sound which defined their self-styled “Russian cold fusion” album, The Doubble Donkey Disc.
Never will there be a more perfectly obscure way to enjoy the story of  man’s first triumphant departure in to space.

The gravity defying Super Furry Animals bring us a song that sincerely makes every man, woman and child want to travel in space… or at least to the dance floor. Rings Around The World is the fantastic opening track from the album of the same name.

The Only Ones

We land, this week, with the 70′s classic Another Girl, Another Planet from South London-born, punk-rockers The Only Ones which, coincidentally, was their only big hit. A surprisingly chirpy number considering the lacerated vocals of Peter Perrett depicting his struggle with drug addiction (“Space travels in my blood”).
The song is a regular feature on all rock ‘n’ rollers’ playlists, appearing on many a punk-rock / new-wave box set and I think the perfect way to end this week’s planetary playlist.

I truly hope you’ve enjoyed the little adventure of Farraginous Friday #03 and that you will add all comments you have regarding individual songs, the playlist or Farraginous Fridays in general.

Please continue to spread the word to all your friends and feel free to subscribe to the blog via email or the RSS feed on the right hand side of this page.

An extraterrestrial ta-ra for now…

Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farraginous frontier (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farragionus frontier (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farraginous frontier (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #03 – Space : The farragionus frontier (YOUTUBE