Farraginous Fridays #24 – Latitude festival special!

Well hello there my farraginous festivites and welcome to the 24th installment of Farraginous Fridays. As you may well have noticed, Farraginous Fridays has now gone fortnightly and to celebrate that I thought I’d take you all to Suffolk’s Latitude Festival (or at least deliver you my playlist from the festival)!
An incredible line-up this weekend I’m sure you will forgive me for not including every great act !!!

Farraginous Fridays #24 – Latitude festival special!    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Fridays #24 – Latitude festival special!    (YOUTUBE)

The National

Kicking off this week’s playlist are south London’s The xx. Islands is the third single from their 2009 debut album, aptly titled xx. These kids will be headlining The Word Arena on Saturday night (competing with indie royalty Belle & Sebastian).

The National will be headlining The Word Arena tonight and Anyone’s Ghost is taken from their latest album Hight Violet , their first release from the Brooklyn crooners on uber-cool indie label 4AD (who will one day give me a job)!

It’s hard to believe that James have been going since 1982! One of those bands who many in the UK will consider one hit wonder merchants (Sit Down) but who have in fact got rather an impressive back catalogue. Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) I discovered through the soundtrack of the great 2005 film The Big White and is one I’m hoping to here tomorrow night when they play the Obelisk Arena.

Angus & Julia Stone

Next up are some devastating atmospherics from Melbourne’s The Temper Trap. Sweet Disposition is the first single from their debut 2009 album Conditions and was more of a success in the UK than in their native Australia. The song’s title is referring to a line from the Ryan Adams song Oh My Sweet Carolina.

I fucking love John Grant and his debut solo album  Queen Of Denmark is my album of the year so far. Such frank and well-judged reflections on life as a gay 40-something man who feels he has nothing to hide or prove anymore. This track is a definite highlight from an album packed with highlights. Saturday afternoon….here we come!

More noises from Australia now, courtesy of the beautiful siblings Angus & Julia Stone. Their debut album of 2007 A Book Like This is just a treat and Just A Boy is my personal favourite from it.

I saw Vampire Weekend last summer supporting Blur in Hyde Park and you rarely see bands having more fun than these guys. Many bands struggle to deliver with their second album but these kids from the Big Apple don’t seem to be having any problems. Horchata is the opening track from 2010’s Contra.

Yeasayer

I HATE white guys with dreads!!! Don’t ask me why, I just do… all of them!!! Except Duke Special. Because he’s special! Sweet, Sweet Kisses is the first single from his 2008 album I Never Thought This Day Would Come.

Jamie Lidell used to be a successful experimental electronica producer, who one day (or on Another Day (sorry!)) decided to become a soul king. He’s got a new album out this year called Compass which is being produced by Beck…which is awesome!

Yeasayer will hopefully be delivering some psychedelic visuals to support their epic pounding pop tunes like O.N.E. on Sunday. The band came to prominence at SXSW in 2007 and their 2nd album Odd Blood released this year should give the mainstream listeners a well-earned slap in the face!!!!

Well that’s your fill for this week kids! I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Latitude themed playlist.

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.

Now I must insist on leaving you so I can get pissed, get pissed on and listen to some incredible music!

Laters!
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Fridays #24 – Latitude festival special!    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Fridays #24 – Latitude festival special!    (YOUTUBE)

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 #22 – Planes, trains and automobiles

Hello my Farraginous Friends!

Welcome to the 22nd edition of Farraginous Fridays, the blog of eclectic musical treats brought to you by your humble narrator Farraginous Francis! This week’s theme is transport so expect to be whisked away on numerous vehicles, solely for your aural pleasure!

Farraginous Friday #22 – Planes, trains and automobiles (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #22 – Planes, trains and automobiles    (YOUTUBE)

Guillemots

Led by uber talented Scottish songsmith Fyfe Dangerfield, Guillemots have released two albums in their 6 year existence. Trains To Brazil is from their debut album Through The Windowpane and is about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes – the Brazilian man shot by police on the London Underground as he was suspected of being a terrorist.

John Denver died, in a rather poetic fashion, in a plane crash back in 1997. Written in 1966 (although not released by Denver until 1969) Leaving On A Jet Plane had a lot of success with other artists, most notably Peter, Paul & Mary in 1967.

Oh My God, Charlie Darwin by The Low Anthem is such a lush and diverse album and contains a few heart ripping songs including To Ohio. “Every new love is just a shadow”, the narrator sings on his train journey from Louisiana trying to forget the death of a loved one.

Jens Lekman

I remembering hearing Jens Lekman‘s Black Cab for the first time. It was played by the DJ after a very emotional gig and it seemed to perfectly capture the sadness and despair of a lost soul. Such an incredibly stirring, tragic song.

I don’t know how many times I have to bang on about it but The Decemberists‘ 2005 album Picaresque is fucking fantastic and this 12-string guitar led beauty. The Engine Driver, is just one of the many reasons you should listen to it.

Belgian-born, Australian-raised Wouter De Backer took some time out of his band The Basics to work on a little solo side-project called Gotye. Night Drive comes from his crippling emotional second studio album Like Drawing Blood.

1991 marked a comeback for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or OMD) with this fantastic single Sailing On The Seven Seas. The group had effectively become a solo effort at this stage after members departed leaving Andy McCluskey as the only remaining member.

Manic Street Preachers

A true indie classic next up, with Manic Street Preachers‘, Motorcycle Emptiness. I still think their debut album Generation Terrorists is their finest work musically to date although lyrically their strongest material came a short while later when (the disappearing) Richie was at the literary helm!

I Drove All Night was recorded by Roy Orbison in 1987 but the record company only decided to release it after Cyndi Lauper had huge success with it in 1989. Produced by ELO’s Jeff Lynne, this rousing pop classic features Jason Priestley and Jennifer Connelly in it’s music video… FACT!

It’s a kind of guilty pleasure, this one. I’m a huge fan of Neil Hannon’s The Divine Comedy and his plethora of work is highly impressive. National Express is seen to many a fan as Hannon selling out (and to critical non-fans as a sneer at the working classes)  but no one can deny the fantastically full and playful orchestration of this 1999 joyful masterpiece! The official music video is brilliant also.

Well I’m afraid that’s all for this week folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey of this week’s transport 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.

Ta ra!
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #22 – Planes, trains and automobiles (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #22 – Planes, trains and automobiles    (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly

Well hello there, my farraginous faithful and welcome to this, the 21st edition of Farraginous Fridays! This week we’ll be looking at farraginous fallibilisms, fatalism and blind faith! That’s right, this week’s theme is of a religious nature!
Let us pray!

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys 😉

Monsters Of Folk

Starting things off this week are uber-supergroup Monsters Of Folk. Made up of Jim James, M.Ward, Conor Oberst and long-time Bright Eyes member Mike Mogis; these guys managed to produce one of the finest albums of 2009. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F) is the opening track from the album so seemed a great place to start.

Bostonian crooners Willard Grant Conspiracy have never quite gained the cult status of Tom Waits or Nick Cave but Grant has written songs equally as beautiful and tortured. The Pugilist contains some of my favourite lyrics of all time. “Let God and the Devil wrestle for souls” sums up the torture and brutality of the song perfectly.

A bit of bluegrass next with country legend Bill Monroe and his cover of the Hank Williams classic I Saw The Light. I remember first hearing this song some years back when hearing Bob Dylan play it at Bournemouth International Centre. It’s joyful enough to make any atheist sing along with “Praise the Lord, I saw the light!”.

The Hidden Cameras

Joel Gibb and his Hidden Cameras are up next with a healthy slab of gay church folk music! Heaven Turns To is taken from the crazy Canadians’ 2006 album Awoo.

A second Farraginous Friday outing for soulful wretches Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. He’s been knocking out tunes since 1983 and this track from 2001 album No More Shall We Part is one of his most sensitive and touching efforts.

Ed Harcourt is a man who’s never quite reached the giddy heights of success that you feel you probably deserves. His first album Here Be Monsters was, or should I say is, a mini masterpiece and God Protect Your Soul is just one adventurous gem from it.

Taken from the The Pogues‘ 1988 album of the same name, If I Should Fall From Grace With God was the follow-up single to Fairytale Of New York and rather unfortunately only peaked at #58 on the UK singles chart. But, to me, it really captures the Irish folk-punk sensibility that made them a success in the first place!

Depeche Mode

Marc Bolan stole Norman Greenbaum‘s sound! There, I’ve said it. Listen to Spirit In The Sky from way back when in 1969 and tell me the riff, rhythm, lyrics and vocals don’t sound exactly like 80% of T-Rex’s output in the early to mid 70s. Go on, I dare ya!

Personal Jesus is taken from arguably Depeche Mode‘s finest album Violator. Numerous cover versions have been done of this 1989 hit. The most notable of which is Johnny Cash’s 2002 attempt which is definitely worth a gander.

Whether his soul will end up in heaven or hell is all that’s on Spiritualized front man Jason Pierce’s mind. This beautiful song is from the Rugby born group’s 2001 album Let It Come Down. Pierce wrote the entire album and it’s score over a four-year period following a relationship break up and is a truly challenging and heart breaking masterpiece!

That’s all for this week my delightful disciples so we close the sacred book of Farraginous Fridays for another 7 days. I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Godly suggestions and will add your own suggestions below!

Please, 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 #21 – Something Godly    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #21 – Something Godly    (YOUTUBE) Tracks 2 & 3 & 4 not available on youtube so I’ve added a couple of alternatives for you guys 😉

Farraginous Fridays #20 – Food for thought

Hello my lovely, lovely people! I hope you’re all hungry, as we have a delightfully delectable playlist for you this week. As you may now have guessed this week’s playlist is food themed and I hope there is enough on here to fill you up good and proper!

Farraginous Friday #20 – Food for thought (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #20 – Food for thought (YOUTUBE)

Beach Boys

Starting us off this week is Brian Wilson and his ravenous bunch of Beach Boys. Vegetables is an ode to the great greens of the earth. I love the crunching sound effects added as percussion (by Paul McCartney) on this 1967 classic.

It still amazes me that Barbie Gaye was only 15 when she recorded My Boy Lollipop back in 1956. It proved to be her only hit and she has since vanished in to obscurity…

Next up we have Crowded House‘s humorous comment on US excess. Chocolate Cake is taken from their hugely successful and possibly best album Woodface. Take a look at what Tammy Baker’s looking like these days here. Sheesh!

I had the great fortune of seeing John Grant in concert recently. My review of which can be read here. I Wanna Go To Marz is a beautiful song and the lyrics were mainly taken from a 1940’s sundaes menu from the sweet shop Grant used to visit as a child.

There couldn’t possibly be more food similes included in 10CC‘s jaunty 1975 single, Life Is A Minestrone. One of the most fun songs on this week’s playlist, I can’t help but smile at the thought of life being compared to a minestrone.

Supertramp

A sinister shadow seems to follow Tom Waits around. The lyrics for Ice Cream Man could be taken as is, but I think most of us can tell that Waits isn’t handing out free popsicles for nothing!

Although it only reached #9 in the UK charts back in 1979, Breakfast In America has become a regular fixture on most classic rock radio stations. Supertramp at their most playful and poppy and not too prog for the average listener.

Now I mentioned fun earlier on and I wish to emphasise the fun in Tally Hall‘s ridiculous Bananaman. Taken from their album Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum this song certainly leans to the comic side, somewhat. But the album is full of ingeniously inventive pop craftings. “Do you want a banana?”

The B-52s

Next up is an absolute classic from my youth. Peaches by Presidents Of The United States Of America was released in 1996 and was even nominated for a Grammy. The band admit to having borrowed riffs from Bad Company, but if I’m honest, this is better than most of Bad Company’s output anyway…

More honesty from you humble narrator here when I tell you that I’m not entirely sure what it is that I like about The B-52s‘ Rock Lobster. It’s maybe too long, the lyrics are preposterous and the vocals highly irritating in places. But, by fuck it sounds like they’re having an amazing time playing it!!!

Right, that’s your fill for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed the food-based Farraginous Friday playlist this week and that you’ve whet your appetite for leaving comments below!

Please, 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.

Later darlings
Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #20 – Food for thought (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #20 – Food for thought (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #19 – True colours

Hello my farraginous friends and welcome to the 19th edition of Farraginous Fridays! This week will be a colourful affair, with the songs having to include a colour of some variety in their title. Let us begin…

Farraginous Friday #19 – True colours (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #19 – True colours (YOUTUBE)

Fleet Foxes

A swarm of harmonious brilliance starts off our playlist this week with Fleet Foxes and their heartstring-tugging White Winter Hymnal. This comes from their much celebrated and wonderful eponymous debut album of 2008.

Okkervil River‘s Will Sheff is genuinely one of my favourite songwriters and in Black, he steps away from his usual morose ballads to slap us round the face with this rousing effort from their 2005 ode to Tim Hardin (via Scott Walker) Black Sheep Boy.

The eerily talented Devendra Banhart is up next with Little Yellow Spider. Banhart apparently slots in to the New Weird America genre and on first listen, you can hear why! Glorious psych folk from the half-Venezuelan troubadour.

Chubby Australian Alex Lloyd is next on the agenda with his genius pop masterpiece, Green. Better known for his successful, if dire, track Amazing, Lloyd’s second album Watching Angels Mend went double platinum in Australia after it’s 2001 release.

Billy Joel

More tender and touching verse from the incredible James Mercer of The Shins. Red Rabbits comes from their Grammy-nominated album of 2007, Wincing The Night Away. The album is so-called as Mercer apparently suffers hugely from insomnia.

Weezer are one of the biggest selling artists in America. Pink Triangle is from their second album Pinkerton and is about a man who sets his sights on a lesbian who thinks that he’s gay. Classic!

Shades Of Grey is a great foot-tapper taken from Billy Joel‘s River Of Dreams. A man who’s understanding of the world around him doesn’t seem to be any clearer the older her gets, is the theme of this track.

Gay icons Erasure are up next yet with possibly my favourite track from their impressive back catalogue. Crisp and full synths swoop through the incredibly uplifting Blue Savannah.

LCD Soundsystem

As you might be able to tell from previous Farraginous postings, I am a huge fan of The Flaming Lips. Lips front man Wayne Coyne provides the vocals to The Golden Path. Mixing Coyne’s genius delivery with a pounding beat and sensitive arrangement cunningly supplied by The Chemical Brothers, does a good track make!

Signing off this week are alt-dance-punk legends LCD Soundsystem. Sound Of Silver is from their second album of the same name. The bands 3rd album This Is Happening came out this year and band leader James Murphy declared it would be their last. “”We’ll make this the last record and we’ll do exactly what we want and go out happy” were Murphy’s words. But something tells me this won’t be the last we’ll here from him!

Well that’s all for this week! I hope you’ve enjoyed the colourful palette that was this week’s list.

Do leave your suggestions below as I’m sure many of you have many of your own ideas of what you’d like to include on a colour themed playlist!

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 #19 – True colours (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #19 – True colours (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #18 – Money, money, money

Good day my frivolous farraginous friends and welcome to the 18th edition of Farraginous Fridays!

Due to the apparent economic peril we are facing in this country I thought I’d cash in on this by setting this week’s playlist theme as money. Songs about having it and not having it are generally what it’s about! Please do add your own suggestions in the comments section below! We can’t farraginise without you!’d think.

Farraginous Friday #18 – Money, money, money      (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #18 – Money, money, money      (YOUTUBE)

The Drifters

The Flying Lizards‘ take on Barrett Strong’s 1959 hit Money starts the tills rolling this week. Singer Vivian Goldman  really doesn’t beat about the bush about what she wants! These New-wave experimentalists released this version (and probably the best known version) in 1979 and it appears on numerous films and TV shows. It was to be the band’s only Top 40 hit.

Money Honey was the debut single for legendary doo wop group The Drifters . The song was written by (the then lead singer) Clyde McPhatter. A man, who, struggling for money, asks his woman to help him out and it turns out she’s getting some (and money) from another fellow. Charming! Notable covers of this come in the form of Eddie Cochran and The King himself, Elvis Presley.

R.E.M., in my opinion, have two very underrated albums; New Adventures In Hi-Fi and the wonderful stadium filling Monster, from which our next song, King Of Comedy, is taken. An air of cool breathes through this track, leaving enough space for some sweet sounding drums and crunchy, gutsy guitars. Apparently the working title for this track “Yes, I Am Fucking With You”. Can’t decide which I prefer.

Pet Shop Boys

The next track on the list is Alice Cooper‘s Billion Dollar Babies. Taken from the 1973 album of the same name, this tune features folk legend Donovan on falsetto backing vocals. The album is arguably Cooper at his creative peak and the album name was, the following year, the subject of a legal suit after members of the band split to form their own group called Billion Dollar Babies.

Going for broke next are New Wavers ABC with their 1984 track How To Be A Millionaire . This track wasn’t a big hit, only reaching #49 in the UK charts, but I think it’s one of their catchiest and most brilliantly produced songs. A smile always creeps across my face when the “Billions of pounds” sample makes an appearance.

Not a lot I can say about the flamboyant-yet-timid Pet Shop Boys. The London electro duo have sold in excess of 50 million records world-wide. Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money) – is from their debut album Please. Neil Tennant says the song was inspired by the two lead characters from the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy.

Next up are the hugely influential New York based MC/DJ hip hop combo Eric B. & Rakim. Paid In Full is the fifth and final single taken from their debut album of the same name. I love the minimal and subtle arrangement of this track but I think my favourite part is when our heroes decide to fuck off mid-track and leave the beat going.

Eric B. & Rakim

Some lefty-hippy bounce up next with California’s Singing Bear. Billionaire sees the narrator saying how he would and would not spend princely sums of cash on. Expect to hear anti capitalist rants, weed smoking and also a curious Mexican sounding accent at one juncture!

Brummie one-hit-wonders Hollywood Beyond check in next with their 1986 track What’s the Colour of Money. If electro had been invented by the sea in medieval Britain then I think it would have sounded like this. Seriously, tell me that I’m wrong.

Now, I’ve decided to finish up with some classic dad-rock from the gyrating Geordies, Dire Straits. Money For Nothing was officially documented as a Straits/Sting writing collaboration but the tantric titillator insists he only wrote one line (“I want my MTV“) and supplied some backing vocals.  The track comes from their 1985 album Brothers In Arms. Mark Knopfler claims that many of the words used in the song, stole straight from a guy working in a New York department store.

That be all for this week I’m afraid. I hope you’ve enjoyed the cash-ridden melting pot that was, this week’s Farraginous Fridays playlist.

Do leave your suggestions below as I’m sure many of you have many of your own ideas of what you’d like to include on a money themed playlist!

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 #18 – Money, money, money     (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #18 – Money, money, money      (YOUTUBE)

Farraginous Friday #17 – Name that movie

Greetings my farraginous friends and welcome to the 17th installment of Farraginous Fridays!

This week I’m looking at film theme songs. The catch being that the song titles have to match the film titles! Trickier than you’d think. Let the film-fest…. BEGIN!

Farraginous Friday #17 – Name that movie    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #17 – Name that movie    (YOUTUBE)

Liza Minnelli

Liza Minnelli‘s grand performance for the title track of Bob Fosse’s tragi-musical classic Cabaret, seems the perfect way to kick off this week’s jolly mix. Pipped to the post by The Godfather, Cabaret nearly won Best Film at the 1972 Oscars. She certainly knows how to belt out a tune and put in a wonderful performance as struggling singer Sally Bowles.

Stand By Me was a 1986 Stephen King adaptation about boyhood memories and this much-covered song from Ben E. King was it’s wonderfully apt theme song.

Now Xanadu is not a particularly good film but this catchy Electric Light Orchestra & Olivia Newton-John tune is anything but a rotten tomato. Newton-John also stars in the film alongside dance-musical legend Gene Kelly (keep an eye out for him a little later in the playlist).

A bit of a guilty pleasure next with Ray Parker, Jr.‘s Ghostbusters. I remember hiding my moves on a school disco dance floor as this classic pumped out through the stereo; I think children did before me and probably still do. Taken from the 1984 film of the same name (obviously).

The Psychelic Furs

The much referred to Singin’ In The Rain is next where Gene Kelly pulls a blinder vocal and dancing-wise. The video is a must see. As is the use of it in a rather disturbing scene from Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange.

Er… speaking of guilty pleasures this line-dancing foot stomper from 1980’s 9 To 5 is probably what Dolly Parton is best known for (bar a couple of much-loved physical assets). I can’t apologise enough.

Anything with Harry Dean Stanton in is worth watching which is possibly why The Psychedelic Furs‘ Pretty In Pink has made it on to this week’s list. HDS + cult British band = winner!

Ok, I’m sick of apologising! This is a BRILLIANT song! Limahl is up next with his theme song for the 1984 children’s classic, Never Ending Story. Made in Germany, this film was (at the time) the most expensive film ever to be produced outside of the US!

Will Smith

The only thing that annoys me about Will Smith‘s Men In Black is him constantly referring to “MIBs”. One can only assume that the galaxy-defending job of these ‘Men in Blacks’ is more important than basic grammar. The only song where women cheerily sing about men who “won’t let you remember“.

Finishing up the playlist this week is Kenny Loggins with his theme song for Herbert Ross’ Footloose. Kevin Bacon is positively quite simply sizzling as the one kid with one chance in this 1984 musical. The song was Oscar nominated and spent 3 weeks at number one in the US chart. Bonus points for anyone who posts pictures/videos of them imitating Bacon’s famous solo routine.

That’s all for this week folks and I hope you’ve enjoyed the camp-fest that was, this week’s Farraginous Fridays playlist.

Do leave your suggestions below as I’m sure many of you have many of your own ideas of what you’d like to include on a movie themed (exact titles, remember) playlist!

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 #17 – Name that movie    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #17 – Name that movie    (YOUTUBE)

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 #14 – Let’s go home

Hello all!

Welcome to the 14th edition of Farraginous Fridays!
This week we’ll be looking at songs which centre around the theme of returning home. I tried to pick out an interesting bunch and steer clear of the overly obvious ones… I hope you like it!

Farraginous Friday #14 – Let’s go home    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #14 – Let’s go home    (YOUTUBE)

Starting us off this week is ‘The Velvet Fog’, also known as Mel Torme with his 1962 swinger, Coming Home Baby. Torme was also an actor and author but was best known for his Jazz singing. The number of times he insists that he’s “Comin’ home”, you can’t help but believe him!

Citizen Cope is up next with My Way Home from his 2004 album The Clarence Greenwood Recordings. Greenwood (yes Clarence Greenwood is his real name), started out as a DJ for hiphop outfit Basehead. His eclectic soul/MOR/hiphop styles are  perfectly displayed on this sumptuous laid back track.

Midlake

Midlake have been one of the leading alt-country artists of the last five years. Head Home is from their second album The Trials Of Occupanther. Easily my favourite track of theirs, Head Home has a strong Fleetwood Mac drive to it and the dreamy melodic harmonies are a perfect way to ease yourself in to the weekend.

Best known for their irritating classic Fog On The Tyne, Lindisfarne, prove here that they really know how to pen a good pop song. Run For Home was a top ten hit for the northeasterners in 1978 and the lyrics so beautifully depict a man who’s seen all he needs to see in life and yearns for the comforts of home.

Pop maestro Edwyn Collins suffered a double stroke in 2005 and his Home Again album of 2007 was the first after it. Wounded optimism spreads throughout the album and the track Home Again is a rare tear-jerker from the man who’s hits have always had us dancing.

Welcome Home was the first single (and also a number one hit) from 70’s folk duo Peters & Lee. The rich, yet chirpy brass arrangements on this track always make me smile… almost to the point that I find the track hilarious. I insist that every ‘welcome home’ party should have this start up at the “Surprise!” moment!

Now speaking of hilarity, I’m never quite sure how to deal with Lou Rawls. See You When I Get There is a classic Rawls track and it’s Barry White-styled “funky disco” schmoozings do, rather irritatingly make you want to take to the dance floor. I’ll say no more than Lou Rawls is “comin’ home to groove“.

Better known as “that band that had the Eurythmics in”, The Tourists , did indeed count Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart as members. Pete Coombes was the main creative force behind the band and So Good To Be Back Home Again was their biggest (self-penned) hit back in 1980.

Joe Jackson

This The Pale Fountains track (and in fact the whole album) was produced by The Lightening Seeds‘ Ian Broudie. This Smiths-esque track, 27 Ways To Get Back Home was never released as a single, but bloody well should have been!!!

More Marr-type offerings from the legendary Joe Jackson finish off this week’s playlist. Home Town is from Jackson’s underrated album Big World of 1986. The album was recorded in front of an audience who were asked to keep quiet during the recording. You can feel the energy of the live performance on this track about returning home knowing it will never be the same as you remember it.

That brings us to end of another eclectic Farraginous Friday!

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 and please do make some suggestions for more returning home themed tunes!

Please do continue to tell your friends 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.

Welcome home my friends!

Farraginous Francis x

Farraginous Friday #14 – Let’s go home    (SPOTIFY)

Farraginous Friday #14 – Let’s go home    (YOUTUBE)

p.s. Here’s a little coming home track that you won’t find on Spotify… enjoy 😉

http://www.myspace.com/thepalefountains